Microsoft Power BI vs QBO comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Microsoft and Unscrambl, Inc are both solutions in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3, while Unscrambl, Inc is ranked #46. Microsoft holds a 7.1% mindshare in BIT, compared to Unscrambl, Inc’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Unscrambl, Inc users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Power BI

Read 332 Microsoft Power BI reviews

39,361 Views
25,978 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

QBO

Read 6 QBO reviews

1,272 Views
1,272 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Microsoft Power BI

QBO

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Microsoft Power BI and QBO are key competitors in the business software space, focusing on different functional areas. Power BI appears to have the upper hand in data visualization and integration, whereas QBO is more advantageous for financial management.

Features: Power BI excels in integration capabilities, customization, and data visualization tools, allowing users to conduct seamless data analysis and reporting. QBO is noted for its order processing, efficient sales capabilities, and user-friendliness in handling financial tasks, offering robust integration with various accounting processes.

Room for Improvement: Power BI could improve its performance with large datasets, enhance user-friendliness for non-technical users, and better integrate with AI and enterprise applications. QBO users desire improved inventory management, more customization in its interface, and enhanced integration features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Power BI provides versatile deployment options including hybrid solutions, but customer service experiences vary, with reports of occasional delays. QBO offers straightforward cloud-based deployment and is criticized for customer support costs. Both excel in cloud deployment, although Power BI offers more deployment flexibility.

Pricing and ROI: Power BI is seen as cost-effective for many businesses, although scalability can become costly for larger enterprises. It offers strong ROI due to increased efficiencies. QBO's pricing is perceived as higher with features like payroll, yet its value in financial management is well-regarded. Both demonstrate valuable returns on investment, with Power BI shining in cost-effectiveness and QBO in comprehensive financial functionalities.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO

September 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 914,109 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Power BI

Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

332

Ranking in other categories

Reporting (1st)

QBO

Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

46th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 7.1%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of QBO is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Power BI	7.1%
QBO	0.5%
Other	92.4%

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Featured Reviews

Hemanthreddy Vakiti

Junior Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Interactive dashboards have transformed restaurant data into faster daily business decisions

Microsoft Power BI has many features and there is not a lot to improve. However, the licensing can be confusing. When deciding between Pro and Premium, I find it difficult to distinguish what features are offered by Pro and what features are offered by Premium, including the particular differences to choose between both licensing models. Additionally, some features such as DAX, which I mentioned previously, involve DAX calculations and complex data modeling, which are somewhat advanced and not easily understandable. Prior knowledge is required or you need to go through the documentation. If the documentation is made comprehensive so that anyone with no knowledge on DAX can easily use it by going through the documentation, it would be really helpful. Additionally, if the integration with non-Microsoft tools is improved and performance is optimized, then Microsoft Power BI can become a top-ranked visualization tool. The user experience with Microsoft Power BI is quite good. The intuitive user interface makes it easy for both technical and non-technical users to create reports. However, only the advanced features are somewhat complex, and if the documentation is improved, it can be easily accessible.

Read full review

Mimi Evans

Owner/Operator at Fearless Bookkeeping Services LLC

Offer great partnership models and relatively simple to use

My only issue with QuickBooks Online is their inventory capabilities. My understanding is that they're rolling out improvements in 2023, but anytime a person asks me about using QuickBooks Online and inventory, then I always recommend the desktop version because otherwise the functionality isn't great. They're trying to become the all-in source that we use for everything. However, the product lakcs a client portal, a feature that would make a huge difference. I'm an accountant and if I can't use it well, I can't train my customers to use it well. There are so many professional service companies that would love to be able to offer a client portal of some sort but they're so industry-specific or they're outrageously expensive because they're meant for enterprise level. I don't like the UI or the functionality of their cash flow planner. I would rather pay for another software than use theirs.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a good platform for data analysis, organization, and all of the other interim performances that are necessary."

"What Power BI is, is a whole collection of templates of small amounts of data that can be used to do something for a real world project, that can be easily set up and become the business intelligence environment or a data warehouse for a large amount of data, for a real world customer. That's what is remarkable."

"We have found the solution to be stable."

"My favorite feature is the power query editor, where it can do the data transformations."

"The most valuable feature is the infinite possibilities when it comes to visualizations."

"The best features of Microsoft Power BI include its integration with other Microsoft products and its ability to connect applications within the Microsoft ecosystem."

"It's a powerful platform."

"With Power BI, you're able to store your data within spreadsheets and SharePoints, and then have Power BI pull the data out and report on it. So we actually saved a ton of money not needing to load the data into databases, which is a big prerequisite for many other reporting tools."

More Microsoft Power BI pros

"It's intuitive, electronic, and, as in the old days, eliminates the need for pen and paper. It is the only option. It's the best software."

"The most valuable feature of QBO is that it can be reconnected at any time and anywhere. It is not like other software where you have to back up and restore the data."

"The scheduling feature for salaries and taxes is one of the best features of QBO. It's also very user-friendly."

"QBO has a very good reconciliation tool."

"The most valuable features of QBO are its order processing and sales capabilities, as well as its invoice and batch processing capabilities. It allows for multiple batch processing and integration with other platforms, such as SAP V1, Oracle, and Dynamics BC. This makes the solution versatile and effective for customers, and they are satisfied with its integration with different platforms. The integration of this solution is not fixed, it can be based on the user's requirements."

"The most valuable feature is the collaboration around allowing many people to ask questions and see the dashboards together."

Cons

"We identified a couple of issues in the reports. Some reports took too long to load, particularly at the end of our data refresh."

"At times it is not stable, and we need to use other connectors to link with the data."

"The solution could use a faster speed on certain interactions and a refresh of the dashboards."

"Microsoft's solution is not good for improving the product for the customers."

"One of the more difficult things to do is to export some of the data from Power BI to Excel."

"The solution struggles with large amounts of data."

"Regarding real-time analytics features in Microsoft Power BI, I don't find them particularly useful. I use process mapping, but from my point of view, there are not enough analytical tools."

"It could have more of a hold on big data. Manipulating big data on this solution complicates things. This needs to be improved."

More Microsoft Power BI cons

"Inventory capabilities are lacking in the cloud version."

"QBO could be improved by adding more flexibility in its invoice and sales order processing capabilities. Customers have requested the ability to integrate with different retail services and the ability to easily integrate with different payment gateways, such as PayPal, by providing API and credentials, with the system automatically processing the integration."

"The dashboards can be improved by making them customizable in a more granular manner."

"The internet version is less user-friendly than the desktop version. The desktop version is their flagship, whereas the online version is considerably different, requiring all new learning and having several glitches."

"The Linux Operating System feature is not available. When we access it from the accounting features, it does not transit to installation."

"Compared to offline accounting software with many shortcuts and allows you to operate the software using the keyboard, QBO doesn't have the keyboard feature."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Remove the cost of a licence to show a dashboard within SharePoint. Why should readers of a dashboard have to pay to view? "

"It would be better if the price was cheaper."

"Setup is easy, and the cost is economical. You do sometimes need to pay additional costs for third party products which "plug-in" to Microsoft BI."

"I am satisfied with its price. Its price is very less as compared to Tableau and QlikView."

"The solution's costs are quite reasonable given the range of features provided."

"It's straightforward licensing."

"Its pricing is reasonable for the desktop stuff, but for enterprise-level, it is a little expensive."

"The price for this solution is reasonable. However, there is an additional cost if you want to publish the dashboard privately."

More Microsoft Power BI pricing and cost advice

"In my opinion, QBO is a bit on the pricey side, but you have no choice. It is still better, in the long run, to go with their pricing or their software than the alternatives."

"I give the pricing a nine out of ten."

"The solution is expensive."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which BI (Business Intelligence) Tools solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

914,109 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Comparison Review

it_user79932

Senior Manager - BI Head with 5,001-10,000 employees

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	137
Midsize Enterprise	59
Large Enterprise	171

No data available

Questions from the Community

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 would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...

See all answers

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 information, control users accessing information, the configuration of governance po...

See all answers

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 fully customizable and very user-friendly. This solution is very stable. Oracle ...

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Comparisons

Amazon QuickSight vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 14% of the time

Tableau Enterprise vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 10% of the time

Domo vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 5% of the time

IBM Cognos vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 2% of the time

QlikView vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Power BI Competitors

Verix Limelight vs QBO

Compared 18% of the time

Knowage vs QBO

Compared 8% of the time

Teradata vs QBO

Compared 7% of the time

Meraki Location Analytics vs QBO

Compared 6% of the time

SAP Business Data Cloud vs QBO

Compared 6% of the time

More QBO Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI

September 2026

Download Microsoft Power BI product report

Buyer's Guide

QBO

September 2026

Download QBO product report

Also Known As

SSRS, SSAS, MSBI, MS Reporting Services, Microsoft BI Tools, Microsoft Big Data, Power BI Pro, MS BI

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Power BI is a powerful tool for data analysis and visualization. This tool stands out for its ability to merge and analyze data from various sources. Widely adopted across different industries and departments, Power BI is instrumental in creating visually appealing dashboards and generating insightful business intelligence reports. Its intuitive interface, robust visualization capabilities, and seamless integration with other Microsoft applications empower users to easily create interactive reports and gain valuable insights.

Microsoft

QBO serves businesses by providing an efficient accounting solution, streamlining financial management and facilitating data-driven decision-making with its user-centric features.

Offering a comprehensive suite of tools, QBO caters to small and medium-sized enterprises looking to simplify complex accounting tasks. The intuitive platform allows users to manage expenses, generate reports, and track invoices with ease, significantly reducing the time spent on financial operations. With its cloud-based infrastructure, QBO ensures data security and enables accessibility from any device, making it a convenient choice for today's digital landscape.

What features does QBO offer?

Automated Expense Tracking: Seamlessly record and manage expenses to maintain accurate financial records.
Reporting: Generate insightful financial reports to aid in strategic planning and performance analysis.
Invoice Management: Customizable invoicing features streamline billing and payment processes.
Cloud Accessibility: Access essential accounting data from anywhere, ensuring flexibility and continuous operations.

What are the benefits users should seek in reviews for QBO?

Time-Saving: Reduces manual accounting tasks, allowing businesses to focus on growth initiatives.
Cost Efficiency: Decreases overhead costs related to traditional accounting services.
Scalability: Adapts to business growth, catering to increasing financial management needs without added complexity.
Security: Protects sensitive financial data with top-tier encryption and security protocols.

QBO is widely implemented across industries like retail, healthcare, and non-profit, adapting its functions to match specific sector requirements. From tracking sales and inventory in retail to ensuring compliance and managing donations in non-profit organizations, QBO's adaptability is a strategic asset for diverse business environments aiming to optimize their accounting processes.

Unscrambl, Inc

Sample Customers

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

SATS, Celcom, EastWest, DBS, Metrobank, XL-Axiata, Etisalat, UnionBank of the Philippines

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO

September 2026

Free Report: Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

914,109 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO report.

See our list of best BI (Business Intelligence) Tools vendors.

We monitor all BI (Business Intelligence) Tools reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.