What Power BI is
Power BI is made by Microsoft. It sits in our Business intelligence category, alongside the other options listed at the end of this page.
Best suited to: Businesses using Microsoft tools that want serious reporting.
What it does
- Interactive dashboards
- Hundreds of data connectors
- Data modeling
- Sharing via Microsoft 365
Which business sizes it fits
How Power BI lines up with the four business sizes we use across Wordle.
Solo
Less typical
Freelancers and one-person businesses
Main Street
Good fit
2–20 employees
Growth
Good fit
20–200 employees
Global
Good fit
Teams across borders
What to check before you buy
Questions to answer, ideally during a free trial or a demo, before you commit:
- Licensing for viewers and creators.
- Skills needed to model data.
- Data source access.
- Governance.
- US tax and compliance. Software doesn't replace professional advice on payroll, sales tax or industry rules.
- Getting your data out. Ask how you would export your data if you ever switch.
Pricing
Power BI pricing depends on the plan, number of users and add-ons, and vendors change it often. We don't list prices on overview pages; check the current plans on the official Power BI website. Our full review will break down the real cost.
Other options in Business intelligence
Next step
Shortlist it, then test it on real work.
Read our five-step guide to choosing business software, then run Power BI through one real week of your work before you decide.