G2

Om R.

Continuous Improvement Intern

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

9/20/2026

"Power BI Makes Data Exploration and KPI Dashboards Easy"

5/5

What do you like best about Microsoft Power BI?

I use it for data analysis and visualization. While I could do some of this in Excel too, what I like most about Power BI is the freedom it gives me to explore my data. It allows me to dig much deeper into the analysis in a more efficient and straightforward way than traditional spreadsheet software. On top of that, it helps me build dashboards for senior management so they can keep track of all the required KPIs. Additionally, the software can be integrated with many data sources. For example, I connected MySQL to Power BI and created a dashboard to track real-time KPIs. Regarding performance, I still believe Tableau is a bit more advanced when it comes to analysis and the freedom to work with data. But if your tasks don't require that deep an analysis, Power BI works really well, especially since it is a more economical option compared to Tableau. There are numerous tutorials available on the internet for Power BI, and it is very user-friendly and easy to learn. Since it is part of Microsoft, the customer support is great. Although AI is already integrated into Power BI, I would say it is still in the development phase, and there are many things, like agentic AI, that could be integrated in the future. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Power BI?

What I dislike most is the live dashboard update feature. The dashboard doesn’t refresh as soon as new data enters the database; instead, it only updates on a predefined interval. Also, the built-in forecasting option in the visuals makes it easy to analyze trends. That said, I’m not very happy with it because it doesn’t give me much flexibility to customize the forecast the way Tableau does. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Microsoft Power BI solving and how is that benefiting you?

When I need to analyze large datasets, I always turn to Power BI. For instance, my manager once asked me to analyze our company’s conversion cost for the previous year. The dataset was massive and messy, and in a traditional spreadsheet it would have taken me about 2 to 3 weeks to clean, organize, and complete the analysis. With Power BI, I was able to finish it in just 1 week. What I like most is that it lets me transform and modify the data directly within the tool. With only a few clicks—and without having to spend much time thinking through formulas—I could add a new column for my analysis based on simple criteria. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.