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What Is Microsoft Power BI?

Power BI can help you connect your data into a single source of truth, uncover powerful insights from this data, and translate them into impact across your organization. Connect data across clouds, databases, and engines to OneLake to create a single place to manage and analyze your data while minimizing data duplication and movement. Turn your data into visuals with advanced data-analysis tools, AI capabilities, and a user-friendly report-creation tool. Turn these insights into impact and help

Who Uses Microsoft Power BI?

Power BI is used by developers, analysts, IT, and other businesses to visualize and analyze data on a unified interface.

Microsoft Power BI Software - Overview Power BI
Microsoft Power BI Software - Power BI Desktop
Microsoft Power BI Software - Govern and protect your data
Microsoft Power BI Software - Data Hub
Microsoft Power BI Software - Sharpen your Power BI Skills

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Reviews of Microsoft Power BI

Average score

Overall
4.6
Ease of Use
4.1
Customer Service
4.1
Features
4.5
Value for Money
4.4

Reviews by company size (employees)

  • <50
  • 51-200
  • 201-1,000
  • >1,001
Максим
Максим
Analyst in Norway
Verified LinkedIn User
Utilities, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Good and improving

4.0 7 months ago

Comments: As an analyst, I appreciate the versatility of Power BI, but feel that more improvement for use cases needed

Pros:

It is a combination of all you need: visuals, analysis, data cleansing in one place, which has lots of native connectors.

Cons:

Power BI is not the most efficient tool in terms of operatinal memory, and it lacks some features which you would expect it to have.

Pawel
Head of Retail in UK
Retail, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Good finance and stick reporting tool

4.0 4 weeks ago New

Comments: Overall it's a good option to view finance reports

Pros:

Very functional and has plenty of view options

Cons:

Sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming as there's alot of data to view

Nicolas
Data manager in France
Government Administration, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Probably the worst dataviz software out there

1.0 10 months ago

Comments: Go Tableau, only one which deserves my attention

Pros:

None, it's really everyday just another bad stuff happening

Cons:

It's slow, buggy, you can't do what you want to do, counter intuitive, no community

Pathan
Project and Program Consultant in India
Architecture & Planning, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

POWER BI - Visualize your Data

5.0 3 months ago

Comments: The UI is great & easy to make your dashboard. The insights we get from a click is a cherry on the top.

Pros:

The number of ways we get to show the data is the visualization part.

Cons:

The DAX query can be simplified like Excel would be more helpful.

Davide
Sales Manager in US
Chemicals, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

My Experience with Microsoft Power BI

5.0 last month New

Pros:

Its an easy to use tool that allows you to analyze data like a pro. The tool has many features and capability such as statistical analysis, data cleaning, reporting and data visualization. It offers seamless integration with Microsoft ecosystem.

Cons:

There is nothing that was so odd with the tool.

Harpreet
Continuous improvement specialist in Canada
Automotive, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Data Visualization

5.0 2 weeks ago New

Comments: I am using BI in my current and last company and it is one of the best tool to manage and share visualization

Pros:

Very best tool for visualization and data management

Cons:

One wrong DAX query can mess all the connected tables

Jace
Sr. Project Manager in US
Computer Software, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

#1 in the industry for a reason

5.0 last month New

Pros:

This is one of the best analytics tools on the market. We can combine multiple data sources into 1 report, create relationships and many other amazing things.

Cons:

The licensing and limited capabilities to share to others. Also, it requires a lot of memory to run on a laptop, I recommend buying some additional RAM

Ajoke
Regional Network Analyst in UK
Information Technology & Services, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

My Power BI Experience

5.0 last month New

Pros:

It is a good visualization tool for creating interactive dashboards

Cons:

It sometimes does not update in real-time

olamide
performance analyst in UK
Automotive, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

seamless data sharing

5.0 2 months ago New

Comments: Its data visualization and the integration between other Microsoft products make its easy to work

Pros:

I really appreciate the seamless integration between all the tools in power and easy to link to excel and power point.

Cons:

What I like least about Microsoft Power BI is for beginners it could be overwhelming.

Sar
Marketing in Australia
Entertainment, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Good visualisation but requires correct set up

5.0 last month New

Comments: Good experience easy to have everything in one place

Pros:

Nice visualisation and easy to filter everything

Cons:

Sometimes the data is wrong but that’s cause of different reasons

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Microsoft Power BI: Your Data's Storyteller

5.0 6 months ago

Comments: I have been using Bower BI with more than four years now and It is one of the best data visualisation tool that I have came across. You can do all kind of data analysis in Power BI like Like data presentation, analysis, forecast etc. I find it easy to learn and very interactive for a user.

Pros:

1. User-friendly interface: Its intuitive design makes it accessible to users with varying technical expertise. 2. Interactive visualizations: Creates engaging and interactive dashboards and reports. 3. Customizable reports: Enables users to tailor reports to their specific needs.

Cons:

Dependency on Microsoft ecosystem: Relies heavily on Microsoft products and services.

Galaad
Supply Chain Analyst in France
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Ease of use and great on-boarding experience

5.0 last year

Comments: I am a supply chain analyst. I use the product daily for reporting and ad-hoc analysis. I often confronted to massive data base and multiple data source. PBI empowers me to build complex data model and produce sharps dashboard for others user in my organisation.

Pros:

I really like the profusion of learning media for PBI (webinar, forum, microsoft learning experience and LinkedIn Learning). You can learn at your pace. Quickstarting is easy. Becoming proficient require a bit more patience but is relatively easy for people using other microsoft tools (Excel). I like that the product is deployed in many company. The competencies are transferable. I like the well defined working environnement (Query -> BI -> Viz) and the provided editor that are really enabling for people like me that are not developper by trade. Automation of import, analysis and viz is also a real game changer for people that were dependant on Excel before.

Cons:

I dislike the lack of userfriendly info for more complex developpement. I feel not guided enough regarding more technical information regarding the product.

John
General Manager in UK
Fishery, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Our one solution for all-things data

5.0 last year

Comments: MS Power BI has been a wonderful asset for our data side. We use it for all kinds of things from putting together a basic report for a presentation to designing dashboards with a dozen KPIs all being synced in realtime. It's hugely powerful and maintains good performance even with large data sets. 10/10 would recommend.

Pros:

We used to be on Excel which was pretty good by itself, but Power BI takes it to a whole another level. It has tons of advanced features like better data connectors, embedded reports, better dashboards and worklows, the ability to handle bigger data, and more.

Cons:

It would be good to have more dashboard and report templates to work off of, and we've had issues with cloud syncing in the past that caused us a lot of headache.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Intuitive interface

5.0 last year

Comments: Has an active community of users who share knowledge, solve problems and contribute to the development of the platform.

Pros:

Allows real time updates and integration with microsoft tools

Cons:

Some users habe note that there ir a learning curve, especially for those who are new to the tool or have no prior data analysis experience.

Katie
Co-Owner in UK
Retail, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Our trusty BI tool for all-things data

5.0 last year

Comments: I've been a huge fan of Power BI since we switched to it from Excel. We use it to create dashboards, set up automated reports, and anything else that requires reporting. In the years that I've used it, I've very rarely ran into bugs or performance issues. It's relatively easy to set up, has very advanced reporting capabilities, and tons of integrations you can set up pretty easily to pull data from different places. You can't fault it for BI.

Pros:

We used to use Excel but switched over to Power BI for the more advanced features. And they've been very very handy for us. The data cleaning works a lot better, there's tons more cutomization options, and some integrations have been made much easier compared to just Excel.

Cons:

The imterface isn't the best to be honest, especially compared to stuff like Tableu. But gets the job done nonetheless.

Anonymous reviewer
Transportation/Trucking/Railroad, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Microsoft PowerBi review

5.0 3 months ago

Comments: I have created multiple dashboards, and I love it

Pros:

Powerful software, improving all the time.

Cons:

No much to dislike :), this software is excellent

Victor
Pharmacy Manager in US
Pharmaceuticals, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Power BI used at a pharmacy

4.0 7 months ago

Comments: It is simple to use at the pharmacy and gives us a clear picture of how the store is doing. Since we are only looking at data, it is very practical.

Pros:

The ease of use allows for daily access of the stores information. It give us the opportunity to compare numbers to the previous year and see any trends

Cons:

The charts created can be easier to read. The x and y axis aren’t usually labeled so if we are looking at the chart without knowing what info it is charting it can be confusing

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Management Consulting, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

The Greatest Visualization Tool Ever Is Power BI!

4.0 10 months ago

Comments: My preferred tool for data analysis is Power BI. As a Business Intelligence Analyst, I occasionally need to obtain data insights and carry out predictive analysis. For me, Power BI visualization makes things pretty simple. It assists me in determining what kind of data storage the data would require.
Additionally, anyone can create reports locally on their device.
Lastly, PowerBI desktop is available to all users for free.

Pros:

The most user-friendly analytics program is Power BI. Among all the data visualization applications on the market, it has the most user-friendly interface. It offers nearly every kind of graph, chart, and visual aid required for analytics. Data transformation on-the-go is made easier using Power BI's (Power Query) data transformation feature.

Cons:

This is the one limitation I see in PowerBI, users need be somewhat proficient in writing SQL queries and the DAX language, which is used to produce the calculated columns and measurements. However, little technical knowledge is needed for paginated reports.

Bodamer
Foreign Language and Localization Administrator in Germany
Translation & Localisation, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Microsoft Power BI is a reliable source of truth. It provides very accurate insights about our business.

5.0 7 months ago

Comments: It has been a very solid working experience with Microsoft Power BI. It has proved to us time abd again to be a very reliable source of truth by providing us with accurate insights that help us understand our business performance. It also guide us to take actions to optimize our business operations.

Pros:

Microsoft Power BI has very powerful data analysis tools which allows us to get very accurate and in-detail insights about our business performance. The reporting tool works so excellently and is very easy to use. It provides all our data and information with optimum security which helps us avoid loosing sensitive information.

Cons:

No dislikes about Microsoft Power BI. There is nothing challenging about it to comment about.

Johan
Application Management in Sweden
Computer Software, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Very powerful reporting

4.0 5 months ago

Comments: It's a great tool for creating reports and diagrams.

Pros:

The possibilities to create very complex reports

Cons:

You need a lot of SQL experience to create complex reports.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Banking, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

My Review of Microsoft Power BI

5.0 10 months ago

Pros:

I like the fact that it gives me more features to be more creative in my reports and data analysis compared to other software.

Cons:

I do not dislike anything about this software

Warren
CFO in Canada
Apparel & Fashion, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Benefits of Microsoft Power BI

5.0 3 months ago

Comments: Overall very pleased with this product. It allows us to customize our own reports and dashboards without the need for costly ERP consultants.

Pros:

The ability to create impressive looking dashboards and reports on our own.

Cons:

Somewhat complicated to attach it to a database.

Graeme
Head of Operations in UK
Marketing & Advertising, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Use Power BI to transform your complex data into a clear dashboard

4.0 7 months ago

Comments: My overall experience with Power BI is very positive. Before I used it it was extremely hard to see that data I needed in such a clear way. It's generally very easy to use.

Pros:

It is a clear way of visualizing complicated and complex data.

Cons:

It can be a little clunky at times when loading the data into the system.

Tanner
Integrity Engineer in US
Oil & Energy, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Power BI is Great

5.0 4 months ago

Comments: I use this product daily to get information for my work and it is a lifesaver.

Pros:

I typically only use it for information purposes, but the amount of information stored within this product is amazing.

Cons:

Sometimes it won't load data correctly if you have it open for a long period of time and you have to refresh your screen.

Galateya
Executive Administrative Assistant in Bulgaria
Computer & Network Security, 5,001–10,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Recommendation for Microsoft Power BI

5.0 4 months ago

Comments: My overall experience with Microsoft Power BI is super positive

Pros:

The most I like about Power BI is the automation and how it made my work life easy when it comes to making reports.

Cons:

There is nothing I like least, in general there are only Pros for Power BI