Power BI
What it is: Microsoft's business intelligence platform. Tight integration with Excel, Office 365, Azure.
What It Does Best
Excel user-friendly. If you know pivot tables, you'll understand Power BI. Natural transition from spreadsheets.
Power Query for ETL. Same data transformation engine as Excel. Clean and prep data before visualizing.
DAX formulas. Excel-like calculated columns and measures. Learning curve but powerful once mastered.
Key Features
Power Query: Visual ETL tool for data transformation
DAX language: Excel-like formulas for complex calculations
DirectQuery: Live connections to data sources without import
Dataflows: Reusable ETL pipelines across organization
AI visuals: Auto-generate insights and explanations
Pricing
Power BI Desktop: Free (full authoring, local only)
Power BI Pro: $10/user/month (sharing, collaboration)
Power BI Premium: $20/user/month or $4,995/month capacity
When to Use It
✅ You're already in Microsoft ecosystem
✅ Budget-conscious (much cheaper than Tableau)
✅ Excel power users on your team
✅ Need Azure data source integration
✅ Want AI-powered insights
When NOT to Use It
❌ Non-Microsoft shop (Google, AWS focused)
❌ Need pixel-perfect custom designs (Tableau better)
❌ Very large datasets (performance issues above 1-2M rows without Premium)
❌ Want open-source solution
❌ Complex custom visualizations needed
Common Use Cases
Corporate dashboards: KPIs and metrics for Microsoft-centric organizations
Financial reporting: Excel users transitioning to BI
Sales analytics: Dynamics 365 integration for sales performance
Azure data visualization: Native integration with Azure data services
Self-service BI: Empower business users to create their own reports
Power BI vs Alternatives
vs Tableau: Power BI much cheaper; Tableau better visualization, easier
vs Looker Studio: Power BI more powerful; Looker Studio free, simpler
vs Qlik: Power BI better Microsoft integration; Qlik better associative engine
Unique Strengths
Best value: Most features for lowest price in enterprise BI
Microsoft integration: Native Excel, Teams, SharePoint, Azure connectivity
DAX language: Powerful Excel-like calculation engine
Desktop free: Full authoring capabilities at no cost
Bottom line: Best value for money if you're in Microsoft's world. $10/month vs $75/month for Tableau. Does 80% of what Tableau does at 13% of the cost.