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Microsoft Power BI vs Tableau: Which is a better fit?

Updated on January 16th, 2025
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What's your intended use case?
Summary
Key features rated by users
Features selected based on 5,542 reviews from Data Visualization users.
% Fit
Missing features
Feature ratings
Data Visualization
4.7
Reporting/Analytics
4.6
Multiple Data Sources
NA
Dashboard Creation
4.4
Data Import/Export
4.5
% Fit
Missing features
Feature ratings
Data Visualization
4.7
Reporting/Analytics
4.5
Multiple Data Sources
NA
Dashboard Creation
4.6
Data Import/Export
4.3
User satisfaction
4.6
User reviews1,762
Ease of use
4.1
Functionality
4.5
Value for money
4.4
Customer support
4.2
4.6
User reviews2,309
Ease of use
4.1
Functionality
4.5
Value for money
4.2
Customer support
4.2
Price starts from
/user
Monthly subscription
Free version
Free trial
/user
Monthly subscription
Free version
Free trial
Best for

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

Tableau empowers people throughout the organization to easily ask and answer questions of their data with intuitive, AI-powered tools to make better business decisions every day.

User reviews
pros & cons
1 / 4
View Reviews
1 / 4
View Reviews
Video reviews
Eric H
CFO
4.0

Eric H.: Hi, my name is Eric. I'm a CFO, I give Power BI four stars. And for more reviews like this, please click below. Before Power BI, we used Tableau. We used it on a trial basis, and while it was all right, an early leader in this space, it just didn't integrate as well as Microsoft Power BI with the whole suite of products that we use as a company. We chose Power BI because it is easy to integrate with the rest of the Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel. It has powerful analytics tools and it allows for some pretty cool graphics and dashboarding as part of that data visualization suite. It was relatively easy to get started with Microsoft Power BI. The integration with the rest of the Microsoft Office Suite really helps. There is some challenges though with data integration, making sure that the data is in the right format to be loaded into Power BI, but once you go from there, it's pretty easy and feels very intuitive if you're used to the rest of the Microsoft Office Suite. My advice for anyone looking to implement Microsoft Power BI would be to first watch some YouTube videos or take a tutorial or maybe even a class. Getting the data validation, data integration piece is really key to the functionality of the system. It can pull in some awesome graphics, some really good dashboards and analytics, but if you don't set up the data right, you'll never get it to work properly.

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video-11357371-1c44-46bd-6f63-08dc5a838637
Raju R
Ops manager
4.0

Raju R.: Good morning, Raju, Digital Ops Manager in Walmart. I give Tableau four out of five. Business problem plus, compare the metrics between its department and to the overall market. The most thing I like about Tableau is the highlighted part, I like most. The performance with the higher value come to the top and the lower performance come to the bottom with the highlighted things. That is the must I like. And another thing, it is easy to change between the tabs. That's what I liked. It loaded very slow. And when I tried to run some report, it keeps loading, loading, loading, and I have to close, and turn in again. That's the part I don't like.

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User interface
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1 Video
208764 video thumbnail}
1 Video
176586
5 screenshots
208764
4 screenshots
Do these products fit your needs?

Prioritize real-user-identified key features according to your needs to find your best fit.

Logo Img
--%
Logo Img
--%
Access Controls/Permissions
207
Important
Activity Dashboard
388
Important

Microsoft Power BI

18/35
  • Access Controls/Permissions
  • Customizable Branding
  • Customizable Templates
  • Data Capture and Transfer
  • Data Mapping
  • Drag & Drop
  • Historical Reporting
  • Multiple Data Sources
  • OLAP
  • Predictive Analytics
  • Real-Time Data
  • Relational Display
  • Scheduled/Automated Reports
  • Search/Filter
  • Third-Party Integrations
  • Trend Analysis
  • Visual Discovery
  • Activity Dashboard
  • Ad hoc Query
  • Ad hoc Reporting
  • API
  • Collaboration Tools
  • Customizable Dashboard
  • Customizable Reports
  • Dashboard Creation
  • Data Connectors
  • Data Import/Export
  • Data Management
  • Data Visualization
  • Real-Time Analytics
  • Real-Time Reporting
  • Real-Time Updates
  • Reporting/Analytics
  • Reporting & Statistics
  • Visual Analytics
See All features
Hide Data Visualization Software Features -

Tableau

Top Features
30/35
Show Data Visualization Software Features +
Microsoft Power BI
Deployment
  • Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
  • Desktop - Mac
  • Desktop - Windows
  • Desktop - Linux
  • Desktop - Chromebook
  • On-Premise - Windows
  • On-Premise - Linux
  • Mobile - Android
  • Mobile - iPhone
  • Mobile - iPad
Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • Phone Support
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Chat
Training
  • In Person
  • Live Online
  • Webinars
  • Documentation
  • Videos
Tableau
Deployment
  • Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
  • Desktop - Mac
  • Desktop - Windows
  • Desktop - Linux
  • Desktop - Chromebook
  • On-Premise - Windows
  • On-Premise - Linux
  • Mobile - Android
  • Mobile - iPhone
  • Mobile - iPad
Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • Phone Support
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Chat
Training
  • In Person
  • Live Online
  • Webinars
  • Documentation
  • Videos
Microsoft Power BI
  • By Microsoft
  • Located in United States
  • Founded in 1975
Tableau
  • By Salesforce
  • Located in United States
  • Founded in 2003
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