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Microsoft Power BI vs Zendesk vs Zoho Analytics 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:
 

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
6.7
Zendesk enhances organizational efficiency and productivity, reducing costs despite licensing fees, with varied but significant financial benefits.
Sentiment score
4.7
Zoho Analytics saves time and costs by streamlining data analysis, enhancing decision-making, and eliminating database management needs for $50/month.
In a world surrounded by data, tools that allow navigation of large data volumes ensure decisions are data-driven.
Power BI is easy to deploy within an hour, providing robust security against data leaks.
After incorporating Zoho Analytics, now all our decisions come from its reviews.
 

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
6.3
Zendesk excels in responsiveness and issue resolution, though reliance on documentation may delay human support replies.
Sentiment score
5.6
Zoho Analytics' customer service is responsive and helpful, though some users face delays and issues with specialized support.
The significant drawback I notice is that Microsoft's size makes it hard to get specific change requests addressed unless they involve a bug.
We have a partnership with Microsoft, involving multiple weekly calls with dedicated personnel to ensure our satisfaction.
The support is good because there is also a community available.
The technical support provided by Zendesk has been very satisfactory.
Their support team from Zendesk is excellent, similar to what you have in Freshdesk.
The support team doesn't have full awareness of the system capabilities.
Zoho support provides assistance through live chat to guide us.
If you need help with any issue you face, you can directly call them.
 

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
7.4
Zendesk scales well for various team sizes; praised for customization, integration, though challenges include data backup and departmental customization.
Sentiment score
6.2
Zoho Analytics efficiently manages large data volumes, serving diverse users and organizations, though license upgrades may be necessary.
You expect only a small percentage of users concurrently, but beyond a thousand concurrent users, it becomes difficult to manage.
With increasing AI capabilities, architectural developments within Microsoft, and tools like Fabric, I expect Power BI to scale accordingly.
As more data is processed, performance issues may arise.
Zendesk can scale from very small companies to very large ones.
The scalability of Zendesk is still in the same range as Freshdesk.
Zoho Analytics can easily adapt to our needs when they grow, and you don't need much knowledge to adapt it; even basic Excel knowledge is sufficient.
You can utilize URL features to redirect users to their records in Zoho CRM or Zoho Desk with just a click.
 

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
7.7
Zendesk is stable and reliable, despite occasional outages, making it ideal for small businesses and startups globally.
Sentiment score
7.2
Zoho Analytics is praised for stability, quick bug fixes, and excellent performance, with minimal downtime and few crashes.
In terms of stability, there's no data loss or leakage, and precautions are well-managed by Microsoft.
We typically do not have problems with end-user tools like Excel and Power BI.
It is very stable for small data, but with big data, there are performance challenges.
The stability has been quite reliable.
The stability and reliability of Zoho Analytics have been good over time.
Zoho Analytics is very stable.
Regarding stability, it's actually working correctly.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Power BI is criticized for high costs, complexity, handling large data, and lacking intuitive interfaces and AI integration.
Zendesk users face challenges with interface clumsiness, slow performance, customization, integration, and pricing, affecting overall usability and efficiency.
Zoho Analytics faces challenges with interface, limited tools, support, performance, pricing, and lacks advanced graphics and intuitive navigation.
This makes Power BI difficult to manage as loading times can reach one or two minutes, which is problematic today.
Access was more logical in how it distinguished between data and its formatting.
Microsoft updates Power BI monthly based on user community feedback.
There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier.
The collaborative features of Zoho Analytics have faced one issue: they have tried to reduce the sync time with most Zoho applications, but even with CRM, the sync still takes one hour.
Having to pay for 25 users when only 11 are needed creates an issue with the pricing structure.
In my opinion, the API feature from Zoho Analytics needs significant improvement, as it's quite hard to connect with Google Sheets or other websites.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Power BI offers flexible pricing, from free to premium, making it a cost-effective business intelligence tool for enterprises.
Zendesk pricing varies, perceived as high, but offers value and flexibility; negotiation advised for larger teams to optimize costs.
Zoho Analytics offers flexible, competitive pricing with monthly fees, appreciated for cost-effectiveness, especially with Zoho One multiple tool use.
I found the setup cost to be expensive
Power BI isn't very cheap, however, it is economical compared to other solutions available.
The pricing for Microsoft Power BI is low, which is a good selling point.
It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Power BI excels with seamless data integration, customizable dashboards, and user-friendly features, empowering self-service insights across industries.
Zendesk offers user-friendly integration, robust features, and valuable tools, enhancing efficiency and streamlining customer support processes effectively.
Zoho Analytics provides robust features like intuitive reports, AI insights, and seamless integration for efficient data visualization and analysis.
In today's data-driven environment, these tools are of substantial value, particularly for large enterprises with numerous processes that require extensive data analysis.
Within the organization, Microsoft Power BI is used to create dashboards and gain insights into data, enhancing data-driven decision-making.
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.
It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.
The benefits I have seen from using Zendesk include faster response times.
These multiple dashboards are available to view in a single place, which is very beneficial.
In the pivot table and scheduler table, if we want data in one report, we can use an SQL query and get data from different modules.
The benefits I've seen from using Zoho Analytics include saving time; this is the most important benefit for me.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 24.3%, down from 26.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho Analytics is 1.1%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Reporting Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Power BI24.3%
Zendesk0.5%
Zoho Analytics1.1%
Other74.1%
Reporting
 

Featured Reviews

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.
JohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
Automating customer support with advanced AI capabilities and seamless communication
Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls. It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This intelligent tool can manage complex queries before users even realize they are interacting with a non-human. Additionally, we have integrated Zendesk with Datto and Klaviyo, enhancing our workflows.
Nadeem Asghar - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience with advanced analytics and visualization features boosts decision making
I think the team would know how to predict what needs to be improved. Every business has its own predictions, so providing specific fields based on which to calculate predictions would be helpful. The analytics plans are very complex because they depend on the users, while other Zoho plans operate on a per-user basis. The analytics plan has different features for one user, 10 users, and 25 users. Having to pay for 25 users when only 11 are needed creates an issue with the pricing structure.
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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
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Performing Arts
6%
Computer Software Company
11%
Insurance Company
9%
Non Profit
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business134
Midsize Enterprise57
Large Enterprise165
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
 

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 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 Zendesk Support?
I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?
Zendesk's pricing is reasonable. It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for mo...
What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?
I'm going to piggyback on what I said regarding Freshdesk concerning what could be better in Zendesk: incorporate mor...
What do you like most about Zoho Analytics?
Zoho Analytics's most valuable feature is the ability to provide excellent analytics through a single platform.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoho Analytics?
I rate the tool's pricing seven out of ten. The licensing costs are yearly.
What needs improvement with Zoho Analytics?
I think the team would know how to predict what needs to be improved. Every business has its own predictions, so prov...
 

Also Known As

SSRS, SSAS, MSBI, MS Reporting Services, Microsoft BI Tools, Microsoft Big Data, Power BI Pro, MS BI
Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
Zoho Reports
 

Overview

 

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
Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
Suzuki, American Pacific Mortgage, KPMG, Air Canada, University of Michigan, BricozOr, WorldWide Express, The University of Melbourne, Novartis, SAIC
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle and others in Reporting. Updated: August 2025.
867,676 professionals have used our research since 2012.