A Detailed Comparison Guide on Power BI vs MicroStrategy

As the demands of users are updating frequently in the market, the need for Business Intelligence and Analysis tools is becoming essential for businesses to stay relevant. There are several BI tools like Looker, Tableau, Domo, Spotfire, and others.

In this article, you will learn the difference between Power BI vs MicroStrategy. As both BI tools are widely used in the industry to conduct data analysis on facts, it brings more impact on the outcomes of businesses.

So, if you are looking to learn in detail about Power BI vs MicroStrategy, then you are on the right blog. By the end of this blog, you will learn what Power BI does and what MicroStrategy offers in its tool. Let’s dive into the blog.

Now, check the following section to learn the brief differences between MicroStrategy and Power BI tools. So, you choose the best suitable BI tool for your business.

5 Differences Between Microsoft Power BI vs MicroStrategy

Now that we’ve scanned through the differences, let’s look at the detailed Microsoft Power BI vs MicroStrategy comparison.

Detailed Comparison Between Microsoft Power BI vs MicroStrategy

1. Factor: Data Analysis

   Microsoft Power BI:

   Microsoft Power BI’s user interface makes it easier for you to perform complex data analysis operations and gain actionable insights. The data modelling tools save data preparation time and cost and are designed to extract, analyze and visualize data quickly. Apart from that, you can connect to multiple data sources to extract data. Currently, you can connect to 1000 data sources simultaneously to gather data. Power BI also offers advanced machine learning algorithm templates and AI capabilities. The ML models empower you to find multiple outcomes based on your choice. So, you are able to create Power BI data reports that help you in correct decision-making and enhance the profitability of your business.

   MicroStrategy:

   On the other hand, MicroStrategy software enables you to prepare multiple data sets and bring them together via a single enterprise platform. MicroStrategy leans on the idea of data manipulation through data visualization. As a result, it provides multiple functionalities to do exactly that. You can organize data by pivoting and sorting techniques. You can also explore different data levels by closely looking at multiple data sets. Furthermore, you can include or exclude certain data points from your data visualization to reduce the noise. Lastly, you can use ML and AI to a limited extent.

   Winner: Microsoft Power BI

   Microsoft Power BI software takes the lead here due to ML and AI capabilities. MicroStrategy also offers similar features, but they are not as powerful for your business as Power BI.

2. Factor: Visualization

   Microsoft Power BI:

   Microsoft Power BI Desktop is undoubtedly one of the most powerful data visualization and business analytics tools available in the market. While many of its competitors offer the same functionality, they cannot replicate the user-friendly drag-and-drop tool’s utility. Thousands of avid Power BI users and business professionals have heaped praises for this one particular tool. Apart from that, Power BI also offers the best Power BI visuals to make it easier for you to structurize your data. You can even access more from the Microsoft Store, or import from other third-party tools. These reports also support comments from collaborators and your peers.

   MicroStrategy:

   Just like the Power BI solution, the MicroStrategy data management tool also offers multiple visualization tools and templates. You are free to explore, analyze and visualize data. It also has a drag-and-drop editor for building data dossiers. You can display your data using grids, heatmaps, charts, graphs, time series, and Sankey visualization. Moreover, you can connect to multiple spreadsheets, Hadoop, and Salesforce reports to create live visualizations. All of this leads to better business decisions.

   Winner: Power BI

   Both software products/ business intelligence tools offer almost identical templates and tools for data visualization. However, the quality of Power BI’s drag-and-drop tool is far superior. But, this in no way invalidates the capabilities of MicroStrategy’s numerous visualization templates.

3. Factor: Integration and Collaboration

   Microsoft Power BI:

   Thanks to the Microsoft connection, it is easy to integrate Power BI with high-performance products like Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office 365, Azure Cloud, and SharePoint. Their vast array of integrations enables you to connect with your peers and extensively collaborate on projects. You can easily share your projects, visualizations, and data analysis reports with your co-workers. They can also easily access these as long as they maintain a connection to the internet. If you want to learn more about the collaboration of Power BI, then here is a list of the best Power BI books that you should read.

   Power BI Mobile allows you to access this data even from your mobile devices, albeit with reduced operational capabilities than web access. But, Power BI’s integration capabilities with other platforms and data sources are somewhat underwhelming compared to its other offerings. Also, the fact that sometimes you need to pay additional costs for 3rd party products isn’t exciting. Microsoft is actively trying to fix it with regular updates and new integrations connectors.

   MicroStrategy:

   MicroStrategy has excellent integration capabilities. The cloud version of the applications is well-equipped to support intense data structuring and production workloads by connecting up to 4 platform instance nodes. You can also access your MicroStrategy dashboard using your web and mobile apps. Consequently, it opens countless avenues for multi-platform collaboration. In summary, MicroStrategy creates a digital workspace for you and your peers to work together and build data dossiers.

   Winner: Microstrategy

   Among the two business intelligence tools, Microsoft’s integration with 3rd party products leaves it behind. Microstrategy’s multi-platform collaboration is a clear winner.

4. Factor: Scalability

   Microsoft Power BI:

   If you are already working on the Microsoft Azure platform, you will not face any issues with scaling up data analytics efforts. The onboarding process of new Power BI users is fairly simple, provided you have the appropriate business package. However, if you are working from a different cloud platform, it will be challenging for you to scale up with Power BI. In such cases, the companies must transfer their online operations to the Azure cloud before proceeding further.

   MicroStrategy:

   MicroStrategy is a better tool to scale your operations at an enterprise level. You can easily upgrade the MicroStrategy analytics tools and swiftly offer them to people in your company’s relevant departments. MicroStrategy also allows for the personalization of its data visuals.

   Winner: MicroStrategy

   Microstrategy business intelligence platform takes the lead here. Power BI’s stubbornness to only work seamlessly with the Azure platform puts it at a disadvantage for enterprises that want to scale up quickly.

5. Factor: User Interface

   Microsoft Power BI:

   Often, Power BI is known as Excel on steroids. This is because it resembles the spreadsheet platform’s interactive features and UI. Therefore, if you are familiar with Excel or any other Microsoft technologies product, you will not feel out of place while using Power BI and the learning curve won’t be huge. But, what about non-Excel users, is it easy to learn Power BI? The UI is intuitive and very easy to use. Having a working knowledge of data analytics expressions (DAX) is a plus.

   MicroStrategy:

   MicroStrategy also has an intuitive UI with an easy-access panel that houses all the different tools. You can access these tools from any platform or device to quickly deploy and consolidate data. One of the better features of MicroStrategy is that it lets you customize and streamline the interface at your convenience.

   Winner: MicroStrategy

   MicroStrategy has a solid UI, and so does Power BI. But, the only differentiating factor is MicroStrategy’s customizability. As a result, MicroStrategy wins in this category.

   So, this was all about these two mentioned tools. Let’s now know when to choose Power BI and MicroStrategy.

When to Choose the MicroStrategy BI tool?

If you’re using any other platform other than the Azure Cloud Platform, you can go with the MicroStrategy BI tool. This is because it is more scalable and has better connectors and integration capabilities.

When to Choose the Power BI tool?

Power BI should be your go-to business intelligence software if your entire online operations are based on the Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform.

Further, if you are looking to learn a comparison of Power BI with other BI tools. We have written dedicated comparison articles. To know more, check the following section.

In the next section, we have answered the most frequently asked question by users on Power BI and MicroStrategy tools. Check the following section to get answers to your questions if any.

Choose a Correct BI Tool for Your Business

The in-depth Microsoft power bi vs MicroStrategy comparison above proves that MicroStrategy and Microsoft Power BI are similar in their offerings. These business intelligence tools even share a common semantic layer.

However, Power BI is more widely used given its familiar UI, Microsoft connectors, and large template library. In fact, Power BI is the current market leader in the business intelligence tools sector and many large enterprises rely on it. But MicroStrategy is slowly catching up and has started making it more accessible to users.