Microsoft Power BI
Windows and Microsoft 365 businesses with a builder willing to learn Power Query and DAX.
Quick overview
- Pricing
- Free Desktop; Pro $14/user/mo (paid yearly)
- Plans
- Free account: Power BI Desktop for building reports, no sharing. Pro: $14/user/month paid yearly (1 GB model memory, 8 refreshes/day, 10 GB storage per licence; included in Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5). Premium Per User: $24/user/month paid yearly (100 GB models, 48 refreshes/day, XMLA read/write). Fabric capacity (F SKUs) and Power BI Embedded: capacity-based, variable pricing; viewers need no paid per-user licence only on F64 and above. Power BI Report Server (on-premises) licensed via F64+ reserved capacity or SQL Server Enterprise/Standard core licences. Prices vary by country.
- G2 rating
- Not yet verified
- Comparisons
- Featured in 4 comparisons
Key features
- Power BI Desktop for data prep, modeling and report building
- Copilot for natural-language questions and report generation
- Sharing into Teams, PowerPoint and SharePoint
- Paginated, print-ready reports
- Power BI Report Server for on-premises hosting
Pros
- Strong modeling depth for $14/user/month
- Shares into Teams, SharePoint and PowerPoint
- Free Desktop for building and evaluating
- PPU upgrade lifts model limit to 100 GB
Cons
- Power BI Desktop runs on Windows only
- Every viewer needs a paid licence below F64 capacity
- DAX and Power Query learning curve
Microsoft Power BI in our comparisons
Best BI Tools for Small Business
Zoho Analytics is the best BI tool for most small businesses: a free plan, flat pricing with users included, and native connectors with prebuilt reports for accounting, CRM, ad and ecommerce apps. Data Studio is the best free choice for Google-centric teams.
Emily RodriguezUpdated October 2026Best Dashboard Software
Geckoboard is the best dashboard software for teams that want live KPI dashboards and TV displays without a data team. Databox suits marketing teams, Klipfolio suits teams that want custom dashboards for many users, Data Studio is the best free option, and Power BI or Domo fit when you need a full BI platform.
Emily RodriguezUpdated October 2026Power BI alternatives
Tableau is the best all-round Power BI alternative, with Mac authoring and a self-hosted option. Choose Data Studio for Google shops, Metabase for open source, or Zoho Analytics on a budget.
Emily RodriguezUpdated October 2026Tableau alternatives
Switch to Microsoft Power BI for comparable authoring at a much lower per-user price. Choose Data Studio if you need free, Metabase for open source or self-hosting, and Sisense for embedded analytics.
Emily RodriguezUpdated October 2026