Microsoft Power BI vs Tableau Enterprise vs ThoughtSpot comparison

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Microsoft Power BI

Tableau Enterprise

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Power BI, Tableau Enterprise, and ThoughtSpot based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP and others in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools.

To learn more, read our detailed BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Report (Updated: August 2025).

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

August 2025

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Helped 865,164 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

7.0

Microsoft Power BI offers high ROI due to cost-effectiveness, ease of use, improved analytics, and rapid cost recovery.

Sentiment score

7.0

Tableau Enterprise delivers rapid returns through efficiency, cost reduction, quick insights, and enhanced decision-making within six to twelve months.

Sentiment score

6.6

Users find ThoughtSpot beneficial for efficiency and decision-making despite challenges in financial tracking and initial investment costs.

In a world surrounded by data, tools that allow navigation of large data volumes ensure decisions are data-driven.

Corporate HR Financial Controller at STMicroelectronics Holding

Power BI is easy to deploy within an hour, providing robust security against data leaks.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Power BI report

Senior Manager, Strategy & Consulting at Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd

This saves a significant amount of time, particularly for reports that would have needed around fifty people.

SaravananBalakrishnan

Project Manager, Site at LTI - Larsen & Toubro Infotech

The ROI of using Tableau extends to its seamless integration across various platforms, as it's from Salesforce and thus not limited to any specific cloud provider.

For more quotes and insights, download the Tableau Enterprise report

Senior Data Consultant at a government with 11-50 employees

Tableau is saving me time, money, and resources, which I would rate as ten.

Satyavrat Nirala

Founder at Mindclick Consulting

Using ThoughtSpot has resulted in significant time savings and improved business sales by allowing us to identify sellers and buyers across regions, facilitating targeted marketing.

For more quotes and insights, download the ThoughtSpot report

Business Intelligence & Reporting Manager at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Based on our implementation in one project, we are trying to raise more funding to expand its use.

Sreetej Reddy

Senior Business Intelligence Architect at Mphasis

ThoughtSpot saves a significant amount of time compared to other tools and is very user-friendly.

Subhan Bhanu

Data Analyst at Wipro Limited

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.6

Microsoft Power BI's support receives mixed reviews; users often rely on community resources for quicker, more effective solutions.

Sentiment score

6.1

Tableau Enterprise support is praised for professionalism and multilingual assistance but needs improvement in response times and technical expertise.

Sentiment score

6.1

ThoughtSpot support is responsive with mixed feedback; praised for quick responses but criticized for insufficient resources and lengthy processes.

The significant drawback I notice is that Microsoft's size makes it hard to get specific change requests addressed unless they involve a bug.

Corporate HR Financial Controller at STMicroelectronics Holding

We have a partnership with Microsoft, involving multiple weekly calls with dedicated personnel to ensure our satisfaction.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Power BI report

Executive Director, Decision Support at Community Health Network

The support is good because there is also a community available.

MohammedHamad

Business Development Director at a tech consulting company with 201-500 employees

They provide quick email and phone responses and have Thai-speaking personnel.

For more quotes and insights, download the Tableau Enterprise report

Senior Data Consultant at a government with 11-50 employees

There should be consistent standards for all users.

reviewer2543046

Associate Technical Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The technical support for Tableau is quite good.

SaravananBalakrishnan

Project Manager, Site at LTI - Larsen & Toubro Infotech

I stopped opening tickets due to insufficient and untimely responses.

Software Engineer (Data specialist) at Salesforce

ThoughtSpot provides a dedicated customer success person and the ability to submit tickets online, with a response time of no more than a day.

Business Intelligence & Reporting Manager at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

The knowledge base for ThoughtSpot is less robust compared to others.

For more quotes and insights, download the ThoughtSpot report

Sr Data Analytics Consultant at Capgemini

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

6.9

Microsoft Power BI offers scalability and integration, though optimizing large deployments may require expertise, especially with complex or large data.

Sentiment score

6.7

Tableau Enterprise's scalability varies, effective with design and configuration, but big data performance concerns and costs remain.

Sentiment score

6.0

ThoughtSpot excels in scalability for large datasets, despite user management challenges, with strong Snowflake integration enhancing automatic scaling.

You expect only a small percentage of users concurrently, but beyond a thousand concurrent users, it becomes difficult to manage.

Senior Manager, Strategy & Consulting at Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd

With increasing AI capabilities, architectural developments within Microsoft, and tools like Fabric, I expect Power BI to scale accordingly.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Power BI report

Executive Director, Decision Support at Community Health Network

As more data is processed, performance issues may arise.

Raymond De Rooij

Product Owner at ABN AMRO Bank N.V.

Tableau is easy to use across various dimensions, whether on-premises or on the cloud.

For more quotes and insights, download the Tableau Enterprise report

Senior Data Consultant at a government with 11-50 employees

The solution is fully scalable and performs well even with large datasets, provided there is proper supporting hardware.

Jaya Prakasha Sarma

Practice Head BI at Nous Infosystems

Tableau is easy to scale.

Rivka Alexander

Content Specialist at PeerSpot

Tableau, Power BI, or Looker have separate tools for preparation, customization, and storytelling.

Sr Data Analytics Consultant at Capgemini

The platform does not have technical problems with scaling data or connections.

For more quotes and insights, download the ThoughtSpot report

Software Engineer (Data specialist) at Salesforce

As our data has grown, I have validated huge datasets and complex models without significant issues.

Subhan Bhanu

Data Analyst at Wipro Limited

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.4

Microsoft Power BI is stable and reliable, though large datasets may impact performance; frequent updates enhance its reputation.

Sentiment score

7.4

Tableau Enterprise is generally stable and reliable, with occasional issues mainly related to large datasets or server configurations.

Sentiment score

6.0

ThoughtSpot is reliable with high stability, though some users report performance challenges and increased costs from integration limitations.

In terms of stability, there's no data loss or leakage, and precautions are well-managed by Microsoft.

Senior Manager, Strategy & Consulting at Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd

We typically do not have problems with end-user tools like Excel and Power BI.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Power BI report

Executive Director, Decision Support at Community Health Network

It is very stable for small data, but with big data, there are performance challenges.

MohammedHamad

Business Development Director at a tech consulting company with 201-500 employees

The application hangs after continuous use due to the buildup of cache.

Rivka Alexander

Content Specialist at PeerSpot

I rate the stability a five or six because Tableau updates very often with new versions or patches.

For more quotes and insights, download the Tableau Enterprise report

Senior Data Consultant at a government with 11-50 employees

I use it primarily for large datasets, and it performs faster than regular data visualization tools such as Power BI, which has limits on dataset size.

Sr Data Analytics Consultant at Capgemini

The upgrades are smooth with no downtime, which is super important.

Software Engineer (Data specialist) at Salesforce

The responsiveness of accessing live data is exceptional and faster than most other BI tools.

For more quotes and insights, download the ThoughtSpot report

Business Intelligence & Reporting Manager at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Power BI is criticized for high costs, complexity, handling large data, and lacking intuitive interfaces and AI integration.

Tableau Enterprise users seek better data integration, improved performance, cost-effective pricing, and enhanced analytics and collaboration features.

ThoughtSpot needs better visualization, dashboard customization, data integration, and performance features to compete effectively with Power BI.

This makes Power BI difficult to manage as loading times can reach one or two minutes, which is problematic today.

Senior Manager, Strategy & Consulting at Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd

Access was more logical in how it distinguished between data and its formatting.

Corporate HR Financial Controller at STMicroelectronics Holding

Microsoft updates Power BI monthly based on user community feedback.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Power BI report

Executive Director, Decision Support at Community Health Network

We cannot send the entire Excel file reports via email within Tableau.

SaravananBalakrishnan

Project Manager, Site at LTI - Larsen & Toubro Infotech

The product owner should enhance its benefits or clarify its role.

For more quotes and insights, download the Tableau Enterprise report

Senior Data Consultant at a government with 11-50 employees

It sometimes requires extensive investigation to determine why the data does not appear correctly.

reviewer1293936

Group Finance Head Of Investment Bank Product Control at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Currently, it is not as customizable as the options available on Power BI or Tableau.

Sr Data Analytics Consultant at Capgemini

Handling governance when there are many models and dashboards is complex.

Software Engineer (Data specialist) at Salesforce

Enhancing integration capabilities with other tools like DBT would also be beneficial as it would make our lives easier.

For more quotes and insights, download the ThoughtSpot report

Business Intelligence & Reporting Manager at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Setup Cost

Microsoft Power BI offers flexible pricing, from free to premium, making it a cost-effective business intelligence tool for enterprises.

Tableau's pricing is high yet competitive, with increased costs for added features, posing challenges for small organizations.

ThoughtSpot offers competitive pricing, often cheaper than Tableau and more than Power BI, with flexible, negotiable billing options.

I found the setup cost to be expensive

Sebastien TOUSSAINT

Responsable du département Projets et Applications at CHD Vendée

Power BI isn't very cheap, however, it is economical compared to other solutions available.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Power BI report

Senior Manager, Strategy & Consulting at Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd

The pricing for Microsoft Power BI is low, which is a good selling point.

MohammedHamad

Business Development Director at a tech consulting company with 201-500 employees

Power BI as a much cheaper alternative.

Jaya Prakasha Sarma

Practice Head BI at Nous Infosystems

A license for 150 users costs around $17,000 USD per year.

Rivka Alexander

Content Specialist at PeerSpot

Looker is known to be quite expensive.

reviewer2543046

Associate Technical Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Tableau Enterprise report

HubSpot is expensive.

Software Engineer (Data specialist) at Salesforce

ThoughtSpot's pricing is reasonable and in line with other BI tools.

For more quotes and insights, download the ThoughtSpot report

Business Intelligence & Reporting Manager at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Valuable Features

Microsoft Power BI excels with seamless data integration, customizable dashboards, and user-friendly features, empowering self-service insights across industries.

Tableau Enterprise excels in data integration, visualization, and analytics, offering customization, real-time processing, and advanced capabilities for decision-making.

ThoughtSpot offers intuitive search, fast analytics, AI insights, and user-friendly interfaces for efficient, self-service data exploration.

In today's data-driven environment, these tools are of substantial value, particularly for large enterprises with numerous processes that require extensive data analysis.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Power BI report

Corporate HR Financial Controller at STMicroelectronics Holding

Within the organization, Microsoft Power BI is used to create dashboards and gain insights into data, enhancing data-driven decision-making.

Raymond De Rooij

Product Owner at ABN AMRO Bank N.V.

To reduce the need for highly skilled personnel, we can engage someone who is just familiar and has a basic understanding of Microsoft Power BI, while AI can handle the major tasks through either agent AI or requirement analysis.

Shrikrishna Kashid

Senior Technical Service Engineer Expert at Fujitsu

A significant feature for me is the real-time connection to data sources because it effectively manages large data sets.

For more quotes and insights, download the Tableau Enterprise report

Senior Data Consultant at a government with 11-50 employees

Tableau serves as a stable dashboarding tool for higher management, aiding in quick decision-making.

reviewer2695221

solution architect at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Building hyper extracts and visualization capabilities make Tableau a robust tool for data analysis.

Jaya Prakasha Sarma

Practice Head BI at Nous Infosystems

Its compatibility with most databases, including the latest from FlexMovely and Redshift, allows users to create joins and worksheets easily.

For more quotes and insights, download the ThoughtSpot report

Sr Data Analytics Consultant at Capgemini

This alerting feature is very beneficial for our company at the moment, and we use it extensively.

reviewer2686410

Works

When I upload a data dump, AI analytics suggest possible data visualizations and insights, which I can pin to dashboards or live boards for modification.

Subhan Bhanu

Data Analyst at Wipro Limited

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 20.4%, down from 21.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tableau Enterprise is 15.4%, down from 19.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ThoughtSpot is 1.6%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Featured Reviews

Facilitates seamless data aggregation with some outdated visual elements hindering user appeal

Senior Manager, Strategy & Consulting at Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd

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.

Ease of developing dashboards and receiving strong technical support have enabled efficient data visualization

Uzair Faruqi

Head Of Analytics at Mjunction Services

Introducing custom features, such as NLP-based reports, is not very good in Tableau. My MD has been asking us for a way to write in natural language to request reports that the system should generate, but that isn't very effective with Tableau. As a developer, I can develop an on-demand report in Python quite easily, but exposing a REST API on the Tableau platform is not a very easy task. AI enablement is an area for improvement for Tableau, and that is something they might have to work upon. I have heard that ThoughtSpot is quite better in this regard, but the cost of ThoughtSpot is much higher. ThoughtSpot has lots of natural language-based report generation features that Tableau lacks.

Creates user-friendly analysis environments for large datasets

Sr Data Analytics Consultant at Capgemini

The tool is user-friendly for the end users. It is primarily a search-based tool. Users do not need a technical background to work directly on the dataset. Its compatibility with most databases, including the latest from FlexMovely and Redshift, allows users to create joins and worksheets easily. ThoughtSpot is fast, even with one to ten terabytes of data.

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Comparison Review

it_user79932

Senior Manager - BI Head at NVidia

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…

Seeking lightweight open source BI software

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

University

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 ...

Seeking lightweight open source BI software

It depends on the Data architecture and the complexity of your requirement. Some great tools in the market are Qlik ...

Tableau vs. Business Objects - Which is a better solution for visualization and analysis?

Both tools have their positives and negatives. First, I should mention that I am relatively new to Tableau. I have be...

Which would you choose - Tableau or SAP Analytics Cloud?

Tableau is easy to set up and maintain. In about a day it is possible for the entire platform to be deployed for use....

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ThoughtSpot?

The pricing is on the higher end but reasonable for what ThoughtSpot offers.

What needs improvement with ThoughtSpot?

I do not think there is anything that needs improvement at the moment. It is being improved continuously. They are co...

What is your primary use case for ThoughtSpot?

Clients use ThoughtSpot because of its search facility. It is easy for searching and does not require analysts to pro...

Amazon QuickSight vs Microsoft Power BI

Comparisons

Compared 8% of the time

Databricks vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 7% of the time

Domo vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 7% of the time

KNIME Business Hub vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 5% of the time

Oracle OBIEE vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Power BI Competitors

Domo vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 6% of the time

Databricks vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 5% of the time

SAP Analytics Cloud vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 4% of the time

SAS Visual Analytics vs Tableau Enterprise

Compared 3% of the time

More Tableau Enterprise Competitors

Databricks vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 14% of the time

Napkin AI vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 7% of the time

Looker vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 6% of the time

Julius AI vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 6% of the time

TIBCO Spotfire vs ThoughtSpot

Compared 6% of the time

More ThoughtSpot Competitors

Product Reports

Download Microsoft Power BI product report

Microsoft Power BI

August 2025

Download Tableau Enterprise product report

Tableau Enterprise

July 2025

Download ThoughtSpot product report

July 2025

Also Known As

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

Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server, Tableau Online

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

Tableau Enterprise offers powerful features for creating interactive visualizations, dashboards, and maps, including drag-and-drop functionality and easy integration with multiple data sources, promoting real-time collaboration and self-service analysis.

Tableau Enterprise stands out with its ability to create user-friendly, interactive visualizations, making it pivotal for business intelligence applications. Users benefit from its seamless connectivity and advanced analytical functions, facilitating data blending and storytelling. Despite a complex learning curve and high licensing costs, its features like geospatial analysis and efficient content distribution drive its indispensable value for data-driven insights. Enhancements in predictive analytics and support integration with machine learning tools further its capabilities across industries.

What are the most valuable features?

Interactive Visualizations: Enables users to create engaging reports.
Drag-and-Drop Functionality: Simplifies data analysis processes.
Data Integration: Offers seamless connectivity with multiple sources.
Real-Time Collaboration: Supports synchronous data sharing.
Advanced Analytics: Provides predictive analytics and geospatial analysis.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Informed Decision-Making: Facilitates data-driven insights.
Efficiency in Reporting: Streamlines dashboard and reporting tasks.
Cost-Effectiveness: Despite high licensing, value in robust analytics tools.
Customizable Options: Tailors analytics to specific needs.

Tableau Enterprise is widely used for business intelligence, supporting industries like healthcare, telecommunications, and finance. Organizations utilize it to analyze performance indicators, operational insights, and financial analytics, enhancing decision-making through interactive reports and real-time data integration.

Salesforce

ThoughtSpot is a powerful business intelligence tool that allows easy searching and drilling into data. Its ad hoc exploration and query-based search features are highly valued, and it is easy to set up, stable, and scalable.

The solution is used for reporting purposes, self-service BI, and embedding into other applications for customers to do self-service analytics. It helps businesses with metrics, KPIs, and important insights by sourcing data from various sources into one golden source and visualizing it in an easy way for the business to consume. The pricing model is ideal, charging for data rather than the number of users.

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

Accenture, Adobe, Amazon.com, Bank of America, Charles Schwab Corp, Citigroup, Coca-Cola Company, Cornell University, Dell, Deloitte, Duke University, eBay, Exxon Mobil, Fannie Mae, Ferrari, French Red Cross, Goldman Sachs, Google, Government of Canada, HP, Intel, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Macy's, Merck, The New York Times, PayPal, Pfizer, US Army, US Air Force, Skype, and Walmart.

Primary Capital Mortgage, Sterling Backcheck, RichRelevance, Rambus, Batteries Plus Bulbs