The Business Intelligence market has gained all the more importance recently that it never achieved in the past. The reason accounting for the same are many but the major reason being the varying environmental, economic, and business conditions. Although legacy tools are still there, but, the fact that they cannot adapt to the changing situations has led business leaders inclined towards the more sophisticated, next-gen business analytics software.
And when we talk about such intelligent tools, the two major players – Tableau and Microsoft Power BI come to our mind first. The users are divided in support of these two BI applications. But, which one you support or which one you select is completely dependent on your unique business requirements. But, before you rest your choice, it is important to note the features and functionalities of both this software. So, let’s take a look at both and understand which among the two best-fit your requirements.
Comparing the Front-Runners in Business Intelligence Market
- Tableau: Tableau is smart Artificial Intelligence enabled business analytics software that is known for its unique functionalities and super easy to operate drag and drop features. Both these features along with many more make this software users’ favorite.
- Microsoft Power BI: This intelligent product by Microsoft is your perfect budget-fit if you are a small scale business and have been relying on other Microsoft tools for your daily business needs. This too has unique features and data transforming capabilities.
Let’s elaborate our research and compare the two BI tools on the same grounds.
- Visualization
Tableau: Tableau is well known for its beat-in-class visualizations that are not just presentable but are also readable and easy to understand for the users. Apart from the generic smart arts like bar graph, histogram, pie charts, etc. it can also represent heat maps, scatter points, targeted areas, etc. This helps leaders get to real-time situations with speed. Also, it has a rare and special feature of converting data into moving animations. This is probably the most unique feature so far, as it makes the report even more interesting.
Microsoft Power BI: This too has a vast range of visualizations that can be edited as per your unique data. However, there are limited numbers of defined visualizations. But, no matter what the defined templates work very well and you can definitely incorporate the same in your report.
- Connectivity
Tableau: Tableau can connect to multiple data sources like analytical processing (OLAP), big data options (such as NoSQL, Hadoop) as well as cloud options, and more. Also, collecting data and information is easy to add too with just a drag and drop method. This simplifies data analysis and report creation even easier than ever before.
Microsoft Power BI: Power BI can be connected to other sources too, but many useful devices cannot be connected efficiently with it. And although, the connectivity must be in both the devices, tableau provides better customer support. So, if you are going for the Power BI, you might have to additionally invest in the external connector.
- Pricing
Tableau: Tableau is a value for money system as it does all the justice to the money invested. It included a greater number of BI applications that help users in generating meaningful data analysis faster. Tableau creator license starts at $70 per user per month, billed annually.
Microsoft Power BI: When it comes to pricing, Power BI is a more affordable option, especially if you are a small business. However, things like limited visuals, external connectors, etc. limits its functionality too. Power BI pro package starts at $9.99 per user per month.
So, these were the major differences between Tableau and Microsoft Power BI. If you need more information reach out to your trusted Tableau Partner or Power BI partner and ask for the free trial of both the applications.
