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Board vs Microsoft Power BI vs Mode Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Board is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 20.4%, down from 21.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Mode Enterprise is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Wiboon Thabsuwan - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use and requires less time to learn or understand its features
I think the product is good in terms of ease of use. The interface looks really nice and very easy to use. Every command appears in the icon. It looks like you don't have to understand everything about the command. You do not necessarily have to know more, or I would say that there is less time for our study about the products. Functionality-wise, it is quite easy to use and requires less time to understand or learn about the product. I am a software vendor, so I do not use the tool myself. I use it for my clients. My clients mostly use it for budgeting and timing purposes. I would say that's really less maintenance at all because they can do everything by themselves. It is good in terms of ease of use.
Shoury Priyanshu - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates seamless data aggregation with some outdated visual elements hindering user appeal
Real-time data integration is an area for improvement. Although I've worked on several solutions involving real-time integration, it's not very user-friendly and often lags, especially with over a million data rows. This makes Power BI difficult to manage as loading times can reach one or two minutes, which is problematic today. There are challenges with scalability, requiring multiple pages in dashboards to manage these issues. Visualization could be improved as it appears outdated. Users, especially newcomers, find it unappealing and not user-friendly.
Yoeri Samwel - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps to run Python-based scripts but needs enhancement in user experience
The most important feature of the solution is the ability to run Python-based scripts.  Mode Analytics needs to improve the overall user experience.  I have been working with the solution for two years.  I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten.  I rate the tool's scalability a seven…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The ease of being able to get the data into BOARD is what makes it nice for people with a semi-IT background."
"The ability to create a data model and have it in testing within a week is fantastic."
"The aesthetics of it are really nice. That is what attracted us to BOARD: the ease and functionality of it."
"The benefits are getting the data in one spot, the ability to report dynamically, and version control."
"It has a good set of visual elements that you can use and can explain quite well."
"Where it used to take me three days at the beginning of the year to create the new financial statement, now it is a matter of minutes because all the data is in the system."
"We can build reports super fast.​"
"A lot of flexibility from the data modeling standpoint. It can add specific line items into our budget, for example, or if we want to make changes to the data model itself, we have that flexibility."
"The product's most valuable features are DAX functions for formulas and calculations."
"It is stable enough. It has a lot of powerful functions. It can also be customized with the DAX language. It is also intuitive enough and incremental. You can start with something simple, and then step-by-step, you can increase the reports and dashboards according to your needs."
"It provides easy integration with Office tools."
"It is very well integrated with other Microsoft products, including PowerApps and Excel, as well as Access, so it fits well into our workflow."
"When we are introducing Microsoft BI to our clients, if they're familiar with Excel, the transition phase will be much easier for them. They can easily switch from Microsoft Excel to Microsoft BI. The core foundation or the base technology is the same in both tools. There are a few limitations in Microsoft Excel, and this is where Microsoft BI comes in."
"It works well with SSAS, which we use to generate all different kinds of trending and analytics reports. Sometimes we use Power Query and DAX to build some aggregations on the Power BI side as well."
"PowerBI – Self-service BI."
"Ability to extract data from a variety of sources and systems."
"The most important feature of the solution is the ability to run Python-based scripts."
"The solution is simple for people from a viewing perspective, not a coding perspective."
"The tool helps to catch results and review them."
"The most valuable feature I would say is the flexibility in editing."
 

Cons

"​My analysts have used the technical support. Sometimes they have felt like they did not receive the answer that they needed, or you have to go and upgrade in order to address a problem. ​"
"It would be nice to see truly transferable processes from model to model, as well as a method of building repetitive processes."
"​We are looking for ways to distinguish zeros versus nulls in BOARD."
"Sometimes, the data disappears from the product."
"I would like an eLearning platform for BOARD."
"It's very powerful, but there is also a big learning curve. ​It should be a little more intuitive."
"​One of the things that I would like to see is the ability to have a rule directly referenced on the cubes.​"
"We would like to see better logging in the procedural world."
"If you look at the new tool, even though they promised that you could do data modeling, that you could do everything from the Power BI side, if your data is really large in volume, sometimes it doesn't work on the Power BI. More feature testing from their side would certainly help users."
"It is easy enough. I don't see any real substantial improvements that are needed. It is great as it is, but its interface could be a bit modern."
"Microsoft needs to provide more drivers to connect other data sources in a native way."
"It could have more of a hold on big data. Manipulating big data on this solution complicates things. This needs to be improved."
"It should be more user-friendly and simple."
"Power BI could be improved by implementing more options for data integration. Nowadays, the cloud takes care of scalability and security. As we all know, data sources are increasing, so we get data from a variety of streams. But if we could get the downstream data into the database and update the reports more easily, Power BI would be better."
"The maps in Power BI could be improved. You deal with many maps over the years, like maps of America and Saudi Arabia. The maps aren't detailed enough, and there aren't enough visualization tools. Whenever I want to use a map, I struggle with choosing the right visualization."
"The formatting template could be improved."
"The solution could run faster."
"The data visualization is cumbersome in Mode Analytics. I want the solution to add a map that has an easy interface. The UI is slow sometimes."
"I think in terms of User Interface, I would say it can be better."
"Mode Analytics needs to improve the overall user experience."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is quite expensive, if it is made cheaper then we can have more clients. I rate it four out of ten."
"​In terms of the pricing, it was reasonable. BOARD is not the lowest in the market, but it was reasonable for us."
"Find a partner who will take responsibility for the implementation, and be available for support."
"It is not the cheapest product on earth, but you get so much. It provides good value for money."
"The tool's price is a bit high compared to other solutions."
"The price of Microsoft BI is expensive. We found the price of Tableau to be less expensive."
"The license is on a yearly basis."
"All of the licenses are on an annual basis, but Microsoft will amortize it to an extent. If it's five years, they'll include the possible interest they might have the following year. Ideally, their licensing scheme is an annual license, but they make it easier for some of our clients to take a five-year license but package everything inside for them to buy the license for five years."
"Regarding cost, the initial investment wasn't too high, but ongoing licensing could add up."
"The current licensing model that Microsoft BI has is expensive. My customers have told me the cost is approximately $20 per user and this can get expensive fast. There should be a one-time purchase option if the customer has a lot of users."
"Pricing, that's where Microsoft beats Tableau. It is priced much cheaper."
"The solution's pricing is medium."
"We pay on a monthly basis which is approximately $10 per user on the Microsoft Power BI Pro license. At the moment we are still down at 400 users, but once we reach 500 users, we will move to the premium edition. The premium is $5,000 for unlimited users. Currently, with the 40 users, the cost is roughly $500."
"The pricing is per user."
"Mode Analytics is cheap compared to other tools."
"My decision-maker found the pricing expensive, but it is okay for me."
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Comparison Review

it_user79932 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 4, 2015
Comparison of SAP BO, Tableau, QlikView, Cognos, Microsoft, OBIEE and Pentaho
1. SAP BO/BI Enterprise scalability Security Ease of use Semantic layer 2. Tableau Visualization Data discovery Turnaround time 3. IBM Cognos Enterprise scalability Security In-memory feature 4. MS BI - Flexibility 5. Pentaho - Open source but still enterprise grade 6. QlikView Data…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
22%
Media Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Is Board better than Anaplan as a Business Intelligence (BI) solution?
We've had several FP&A departments include Anaplan in their analytics discussions, and while BI information IS ge...
What do you like most about Board?
All the reports are prepared automatically.
What needs improvement with Board?
Board's integration could be a bit more robust, but what we have works. If the design isn't right, the flexibility of...
Seeking lightweight open source BI software
There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I wou...
Is Power BI a complete platform or only a visualization tool?
Power BI is an advanced visualization tool oriented to big data with a very complete set of widgets to visualize info...
How does Oracle OBIEE compare with Microsoft BI?
Oracle OBIEE is great in allowing design and creativity per the individual needs of the organization. Dashboards are ...
What do you like most about Mode Analytics?
The solution is simple for people from a viewing perspective, not a coding perspective.
What needs improvement with Mode Analytics?
The solution could run faster. You just sit there, waiting during the load times, especially for the large ones. And ...
What is your primary use case for Mode Analytics?
I was put in charge of creating a lot of the dashboards, so it was very much that there weren't people at the company...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
SSRS, SSAS, MSBI, MS Reporting Services, Microsoft BI Tools, Microsoft Big Data, Power BI Pro, MS BI
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Coca-Cola, Puma, Desigual, Ricoh, KPMG, H&M, Groupe SEB
Accenture Adidas Aetna AIG Airbus Alibaba Allstate Amazon American Express Aon AT&T Audi Bank of America BASF Bayer Berkshire Hathaway Boeing Coca-Cola Comcast Cisco Coca-Cola Dell Disney Emirates Equinix FedEx Ford GE Google H&M Home Depot Honda IBM Intel JPMorgan Chase Kellogg's Kroger L'Oréal McDonald's Merck MetLife Microsoft Nike Oracle P&G PepsiCo Procter & Gamble Prudential Financial SAP Siemens Snapchat Spotify Starbucks Target Toyota T-Mobile Unilever Visa Walmart WeWork World Bank Xerox
Lyft, Zenefits, Twitch, Trello, Clover, Grovo, CrowdFlower, Segment, Everlane, Pocket, Highfive
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP and others in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools. Updated: August 2025.
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