In this chapter, a comparison between Power BI and other BI tools such as Tableau and SSRS is carried out.
Power BI vs Tableau
Tableau is considered one of the leading tools in the BI market. Power BI is considered an emerging tool in close competition with Tableau because of its backend data manipulation features and connectivity with the list of data sources. Tableau is one of the best data visualization tools in the market and is used by medium and large enterprises. Power BI is closely integrated with Office 365 suite, and hence it is compatible with other sources such as SharePoint.
| Feature | Tableau | Power BI |
| Data Visualization | Tableau provides strong data visualization and is one of the main data visualization tools in the market. | Power BI provides a strong backend data manipulation feature with access to simple visualizations. |
| Size of Dataset | Tableau can connect much larger datasets as compared to Power BI. | Power BI has a limit of 1GB of data in the free version. |
| Data Sources | Tableau covers a vast range of data sources to connect with for data visualization. In Tableau, you select the dataset first and visualizations are used on the fly. | Power BI covers most of the data sources available in Tableau. It is closely integrated with Office 365, hence provides connectivity to SharePoint. Power BI online version also supports direct visualization on Search Engine, though, only Bling is supported at this point. |
| Costing | Tableau is expensive as compared to Power BI but still under budget for the small and medium enterprises. | Power BI provides a free version with a 1GB limit on the dataset. Power BI Pro is also a cheaper solution when compared with any other BI tool. |
| License and Pricing | Tableau Desktop Profession: USD70/user/month and it can connect to hundreds of data sources. Tableau Desktop Personal: USD35/user/month and it can connect to data sources such as Google Sheets and Excel files. Tableau Server: Minimum 10 users with the cost of USD35/user/month Tableau Online with a private cloud: USD 42/user/month | Power BI: Free 1 GB storage 10k rows/hour data streaming Power BI Pro: USD9.99/user/month 10 GB storage 1 million rows/hour |
| Implementation | Tableau provides different implementation types as per organizational needs panning from few hours to few weeks. | Power BI uses cloud storage and includes a simple implementation process. |
Power BI vs SSRS
| Feature | SSRS | Power BI |
| Data Visualization | SSRS is mostly used for Pixel-perfect reporting and average dash-boarding features. | Power BI provides a strong backend data manipulation feature with access to simple visualizations. |
| Size of Dataset | No such limit in SSRS. It can connect to much larger datasets as compared to Power BI. | Power BI has a limit of 1GB of data in the free version. |
| Data Sources | SSRS covers a vast range of data sources to connect with for BI reporting. | Power BI covers most of the data sources available in Tableau. It is closely integrated with Office 365, hence provides connectivity to SharePoint. Power BI online version also supports direct visualization on Search Engine, though, only Bling is supported at this point. |
| Costing | SSRS pricing details are available only upon request. | Power BI provides a free version with a 1GB limit on the dataset. Power BI Pro is also a cheaper solution when compared with any other BI tool. |
| License and Pricing | SQL Server Enterprise License. It is available on the cloud – AWS, Azure, and other providers. | Power BI: Free 1 GB storage 10k rows/hour data streaming Power BI Pro: USD9.99/user/month 10 GB storage 1 million rows/hour |
| Implementation | SSRS implementation is complex as compared with Power BI. | Power BI uses cloud storage and includes a simple implementation process. |
