Kevin JohnsonMicrosoft Power BI is a business intelligence (BI) platform based in Redmond, Washington, that offers BI solutions, analytics, and data reporting tools. The application was conceived by Thierry D’Hers and Amir Netz at Microsoft and designed by Ron George in 2010.
In Sep 2013, Microsoft renamed the Project Crescent app to Power BI. This first Power BI version was based on Power Query, Power Pivot, and Power View. Microsoft enhanced the app with new features, including enterprise-level data connectivity and security options.
In Jul 2015, Microsoft released Power BI to the public to help nontechnical users aggregate, analyze, visualize, and share data. The company employs over 10,800 people. [1]
Power BI is part of Microsoft Power Platform and available via mobile devices or desktops as a SaaS product. Businesses can use the Power BI Desktop free version, Power BI Pro for $9.99/user/month, or Power BI Premium for $20/user/month.
Power BI’s Excel-based UI and deep integration with other Microsoft products can entice organizations seeking a versatile self-service tool. Users can connect, transform, and clean disparate data sets and visualize the data with charts or graphs. They can also share the info with other Power BI users across the organization
In Mar 2022, Microsoft enhanced Power BI capabilities to increase backup speed 22 times and reduce restore time by 30%. However, Power BI faces stiff competition from Tableau, Looker, Sisense, Qlik, Domo, Posit, SAP, and MicroStrategy. [2]
Here is an in-depth analysis of Power BI’s top competitors and alternatives:
1. Tableau
Year founded: 2003
Headquarter: Seattle, Washington
Tableau is a visual analytics platform owned by Salesforce. It is part of Salesforce Customer 360 and provides AI, collaboration, and data management tools. In 2022, Salesforce had over 73,500 employees.
Tableau helps businesses leverage analytics to support data-driven decision-making across all organizational levels. Users can rely on its integrated CRM platform to improve customer relations and business processes.
In May 2022, Salesforce introduced the next generation of Tableau Cloud to deliver advanced analytics and automated insights. Salesforce Tableau is the top Power BI competitor and alternative. [3]
2. Looker Data Sciences, Inc.
Year founded: 2011
Headquarter: Santa Cruz, California
Looker is a computer software company acquired by Google in 2020 for $2.6 billion. It offers a data exploration and discovery BI platform. In Sep 2022, Looker’s parent company, Google, had 187,000 employees, but the tech giant laid off around 6% of its staff in Jan 2023. [4]
Google offers a wide range of BI products. Since 2020, the company has been integrating its BI solutions into Looker to create a unified BI platform. In Oct 2022, Google launched Looker Studio and Looker Studio Pro to replace Google Data Studio.
The company also unveiled Looker enhancements to link Google Cloud solutions. Google’s BI products make Looker the most comprehensive Power BI alternative. [5]
3. Sisense
Year founded: 2004
Headquarter: New York City, New York
Sisense is a BI and analytics software provider owned by Periscope Data Inc. Sisense’s BI software streamlines data access and analysis. In 2022, Sisense had over 800 employees.
Like Power BI, Sisense also offers BI and analytics tools. The Sisense Fusion analytics suite combines AI and machine learning to enhance data analysis.
In Sep 2022, Sisense added new embedded analytics capabilities to its platform, making it a budget-friendly alternative to Power BI. [6]
4. Qlik Technologies, Inc.
Year founded: 1993
Headquarter: King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Qlik is a business analytics software company. It offers QlikView for data visualization and Qlik Sense, a business intelligence (BI) and visual analytics platform. In 2022, Qlik served over 38,000 customers in more than 100 countries.
Qlik Sense and Power BI provide business intelligence and data analytics. Organizations can leverage QlikView to develop interactive analytics applications and dashboards.
In Oct 2022, Gartner recognized Qlik as a Customers’ Choice in Peer Insights for analytics and BI platforms category. Qlik is a formidable competitor for Microsoft Power BI. [7]
5. Domo, Inc.
Year founded: 2010
Headquarter: American Fork, Utah
Domo is a cloud software company that specializes in BI and data visualization tools. It offers a low-code data app platform to help accelerate digital transformation. In 2022, Domo had over 800 employees.
The main competitive advantage of Domois its robust cloud-based business management suite. Like Power BI, Domo offers BI and analytics tools and supports data app developers. In 2022, Gartner recognized Domo as a Customers’ Choice in Peer Insights for Analytics and BI Platforms. Domo is one of the best alternatives to Power BI. [8]
6. Posit
Year founded: 2009
Headquarter: Boston, Massachusetts
Formerly known as RStudio, Posit is a data science software company. It offers robust data analytics and applications via Posit Connect, Posit Workbench, and Posit Packet Manager. In 2022, Posit had 43 software engineers and over 50 part-time employees.
Posit supports data scientists and developers across all stages, from design to cloud hosting. The platform initially specialized in R data science software products but later expanded its offering to Python and Visual Studio Code.
In Jul 2022, the company rebranded from RStudio to Posit to reflect its expansion beyond R. Posit is one of the top Power BI alternatives for professional analytics developers. [9]
7. SAP Analytics Cloud
Year founded: 2015
Headquarter: Walldorf, Germany
SAP Analytics Cloud is a data analytics platform offered by SAP, a leading global software company. It combines analytics with integration to SAP applications and seamless access to heterogeneous data sources.
In 2022, SAP employed over 110,000 people and was named a Leader in Digital Commerce and Data Integration by Gartner. [10]
SAP Analytics Cloud helps all business leaders make informed decisions based on data, trusted insights, and integrated plans. In 2022, SAP released several updates for SAP Analytics Cloud to enhance data visualization and sharing.
The company improved the discoverability of workspace content by allowing authorized users to request access to related resources through the catalog. SAP is one of the best alternatives to Power BI for medium-sized and large companies. [11]
8. Salesforce CRM Analytics
Year founded: 1999
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Salesforce CRM Analytics is a leading-edge platform that leverages machine learning and cloud computing. It offers robust sales data, analytics, and insights. In 2022, Salesforce had 73,542 employees.
Salesforce CRM Analytics was previously known as Tableau CRM. In Apr 2022, Salesforce renamed the product to reflect its functions with new features and dashboards.
The company expanded the platform with vertical-specific integrations, Slack tools, revenue intelligence, search analytics tool, and machine learning sales predictions. Salesforce CRM Analytics is the best Power BI alternative for sales teams. [12]
9. MicroStrategy
Year founded: 1989
Headquarter: Tysons, Virginia
MicroStrategy is a BI and cloud service company. It offers a robust enterprise BI app that combines analytics with hyper and embedded intelligence. In 2022, MicroStrategy had around 2,100 employees.
MicroStrategy helps organizations make data-driven decisions and optimize processes. Like Power BI, MicroStrategy provides APIs to help businesses integrate third-party tools. Users can access MicroStrategy’s BI and analytics via the web, Windows, Mac, and mobile devices, making it one of the best Power BI alternatives. [13]
10. Zoho Analytics
Year founded: 1996
Headquarter: Chennai, India
Zoho Analytics is an integrated BI suite that offers several data preparation and modeling options. Users can transform, clean, blend, and analyze data from third-party platforms, spreadsheets, files, databases, and cloud services. In 2022, Zoho employed 12,000 people and served over 60 million customers.
Zoho Analytics and Power BI simplify data analysis and visualization. In Feb 2023, Zoho released several updates for Zoho Analytics, enabling users to visualize reports with large data sets using enhanced charts with an overview and scroll bar effects.
The new interactive options allow data analysts to focus on a particular range on the chart for more in-depth analysis. Zoho Analytics is one of the best alternatives to Power BI for SMBs. [14]
11. Dundas Data Visualization, Inc.
Year founded: 1987
Headquarter: Toronto, Canada
Dundas is a software company specializing in BI, analytics, and data visualization solutions. It offers Dundas BI, a one-stop shop for self-service analytics with integration into multiple data sources. In Aug 2022, insightsoftware acquired Dundas for an undisclosed amount to expand its embedded analytics offering. [15]
Dundas provides customizable and scalable BI, dashboard, and reporting software through its embeddable BI platform. This unified approach consolidates users’ business data in a single place for easy access and quick decision-making.
Software providers can use Dundas’ end-to-end BI platform to customize dashboards, reports, and visualizations, making Dundas BI a worthy alternative to Power BI.
12. Cyfe, Inc.
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Los Angeles, California
Cyfe is a cloud-based self-service BI application software company. It provides a dashboard app for analyzing, transforming, and reporting data sets from different sources. According to G2, Cyfe has a 4.4-star rating, while Power BI also has 4.4 out of 5 on G2. [16]
Cyfe offers an all-in-one online business dashboard app that helps users monitor and analyze all their data via custom widgets. These widgets organize and visualize data in a single place.
Over 300,000 businesses use Cyfe to connect data from their advertising, email, monitoring, sales, finance, SEO, social media, and web analytics accounts, making it one of the best Power BI alternatives for small businesses.
13. GoodData
Year founded: 2007
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
GoodData is a software company that specializes in providing data and analytics infrastructure. Its product portfolio includes self-service and embeddable analytics, machine learning, composable data, and IoT solutions. Since its founding, GoodData has helped over 140,000 businesses achieve and scale their analytics applications.
Both GoodData and Power BI provide analytics, but GoodData targets small businesses. In Nov 2022, GoodData Cloud launched on Amazon Web Services. This next-gen real-time analytics platform has an API-first design and integrates with the modern data stack.
Users can rely on GoodData Cloud to execute data source querying in real-time, access self-service analytics, and create visualizations and dashboards. GoodData is one of the fastest-growing Power BI competitors. [17]
14. Klipfolio Inc.
Year founded: 2001
Headquarter: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Klipfolio Inc. is a Canadian software company specializing in dashboard and BI solutions. It offers a lightweight business intelligence platform. According to TrustRadius, Klipfolio has an 8.3 score out of 10. [18]
Klipfolio started in the consumer market and later switched to the dashboard and BI space. SMBs and teams in large companies use Klipfolio to monitor the performance of business-critical data continuously.
Like Power BI, Klipfolio connects users’ data, visualizes insights via dashboards, and supports data sharing, making it one of the top alternatives to Power BI for small businesses.
15. Alteryx
Year founded: 1997
Headquarter: Irvine, California
Alteryx is a computer software company that offers analytics and data science solutions. It automates data engineering, analytics, machine learning, and reporting. In 2022, Alteryx served 8,340 customers.
Alteryx started as a unified spatial and non-spatial data environment for building analytical processes and applications; however, the company expanded its product portfolio to include BI and analytics.
Organizations can use the Alteryx Analytics Automation Platform to democratize data analytics. In Nov 2022, the company launched a SaaS version of Designer for Alteryx Analytics Cloud. Alteryx is a fast-growing Power BI alternative. [19]
References & more information
- Scardina, J. (2022, Jul 1). What is Microsoft Power BI? Tech Target
- BIS Editor (2022, Apr 1). Latest Power BI Updates. BI Smart
- Tableau (2022, May 17). The next generation of Tableau Cloud brings advanced analytics and automated insights to business users. Tableau.com
- Grantham-Philips, W. (2023, Jan 20). Google to lay off 12,000 employees, the latest tech giant to cut thousands of jobs. USA Today
- Mitchell, C. (2022, Oct 19). A New Era for Business Intelligence: Looker connects data across Google Cloud. CX Today
- Avidon, E. (2022, Sep 22). Sisense adds a trio of new embedded analytics capabilities. Tech Target
- Qlik Technologies, Inc. (2022, Oct 17). Qlik Recognized as a Customers’ Choice in 2022 Gartner Peer Insights’ Voice of the Customer. Globe Newswire
- Domo, Inc. (2022, Dec 8). Domo Announces Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Financial Results. Business Wire
- Machlis, S. (2022, Jul 27). RStudio changes its name to Posit and expands its focus to include Python and VS Code. Info World
- SAP SE (2022, Oct 25). SAP Announces Q3 2022 Results. PRNewswire
- Hoy, M. (2022, Oct 3). What’s New in SAP Analytics Cloud Release 2022? SAP.com
- Kramer, S. (2022, Apr 25). Salesforce Renames Tableau CRM Salesforce CRM Analytics. Converge Tech
- Zola, A. (2022, May 1). What is MicroStrategy? Tech Target
- Zoho (2023, Feb 21). What’s New In Zoho Analytics? Zoho.com
- insightsoftware, Inc. (2022, Aug 11). insightsoftware Expands Embedded Analytics Offering with Acquisition of Dundas. Business Wire
- G2 (2022, Jun 29). Cyfe Reviews and Product Details. G2.com
- GoodData (2022, Nov 2). GoodData Announces GoodData Cloud. Globe Newswire
- TR Reviews (2022, Oct 26). Pros and Cons of Klipfolio. TrustRadius
- Avidon, E. (2022, Nov 16). Alteryx launches the SaaS version of Designer in Analytics Cloud. Tech Target
- Featured Image by Ed Hardie
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