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MicroStrategy vs Qlik Sense comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

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
7.7
MicroStrategy enhances reporting and visualization, boosts efficiency, reduces costs, yet quantifying ROI remains challenging for some users.
Sentiment score
6.2
Companies achieve quick and substantial ROI with Qlik Sense, citing cost savings, increased revenue, and enhanced decision-making efficiency.
In my organization, we moved from OBI to Qlik Sense due to limitations with OBI, resulting in very high ROI.
Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
MicroStrategy offers generally responsive customer service, though pricing, technical support expertise, and response times, especially after hours, need improvement.
Sentiment score
5.4
Users appreciate Qlik Sense stability, community resources, and consulting services, despite mixed reviews on technical support response times.
I would rate the technical support from MicroStrategy as nine out of 10.
Lead Software Engineer at Momentus
While tech support is comprehensive, the stability of Qlik Sense means I generally do not need it.
Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Technical support requires improvement.
Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
In Turkey, the consultant firms are very professional, and they support you.
Business Intelligence Architect at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
MicroStrategy offers effective scalability, though challenges with large data volumes or architecture can require robust infrastructure and support.
Sentiment score
7.7
Qlik Sense efficiently scales with ease of adding RIM nodes, though licensing is costly, favored by large enterprises.
MicroStrategy's scalability is good, as it has the possibility to read a lot of data and works fine with all the information that we have.
Analyst - IM at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
It performs well in terms of performance and load compared to others.
Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Qlik Sense helps analyze data and can handle larger amounts of data compared to other BI tools.
Solution Architect at Predoole Analytics
It is easily scalable with Microsoft, with other services Azure and other tools they provide.
student at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
MicroStrategy is stable and reliable, with most issues resolved through updates or proper setup, garnering positive feedback.
Sentiment score
7.6
Qlik Sense is highly stable with reliable performance, minor setup issues, but excellent support and consistent updates.
I would rate the stability of MicroStrategy as nine out of 10.
Lead Software Engineer at Momentus
The stability is very good.
Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

MicroStrategy needs enhancements in usability, integration, and support, while addressing costly licensing and slow feature releases.
Qlik Sense needs enhanced statistical functions, data integration, ETL, customization, visualization, governance, efficiency, and user-friendly interfaces.
Organizations that are well-established and have more money can afford MicroStrategy, but startups and mid-level organizations who do not have this much budget have to opt for other cheaper tools.
Lead Software Engineer at Momentus
MicroStrategy could learn from Power BI's user-friendly interface.
Technical Analyst at Allianz
I would appreciate improvements in MicroStrategy related to integration or sharing features with Power BI.
Analyst - IM at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Power BI has better visualizations and interactions with updates in 2023 that provide ease of use.
Business Intelligence Architect at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Providing an API feature to access data from the dashboard or QEDs could be beneficial.
Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
There should be more comprehensive documentation and explanatory videos available to help clients understand and calculate capacity-based pricing, making it easier to predict costs before implementing Qlik Sense Cloud.
Solution Architect at Predoole Analytics
 

Setup Cost

MicroStrategy offers powerful features for large enterprises but is costly, with flexible licensing and competitive long-term ownership costs.
Qlik Sense offers competitive pricing with flexible, scalable licensing, offsetting initial costs for enterprises considering its fast implementation.
It is just about how expensive it is to implement.
student at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Compared to Power BI, it is definitely costly.
Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Among the BI tools and data analytics tools, Qlik is the most expensive.
Business Intelligence Architect at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

MicroStrategy provides scalable BI solutions with advanced visualization, mobile integration, robust security, and extensive SDK/API for customization.
Qlik Sense excels in user-friendly data visualization, rapid integration, and insightful analytics with advanced features like GeoAnalytics and AI.
It's important because with MicroStrategy we can manage all our cubes and show data to our clients.
Analyst - IM at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The MicroStrategy interface is not as good as Power BI, especially concerning the user-friendly aspects.
Technical Analyst at Allianz
The most effective features of MicroStrategy for data analysis in my experience are the security, the metadata management, and the administration, along with the options of different workarounds available to accommodate different types of requirements.
Lead Software Engineer at Momentus
From an end-user perspective, it's convenient and performance-oriented, providing something meaningful from all the organization's data.
Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
The true power is in the ability to connect with any database, get the data, and work with the data.
Director at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is a single product that I can use as an ETL database, BI, and more.
Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

MicroStrategy
Ranking in Embedded BI
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
162
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (12th)
Qlik Sense
Ranking in Embedded BI
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
Data Visualization (4th), AI Data Analysis (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Embedded BI category, the mindshare of MicroStrategy is 8.8%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qlik Sense is 10.4%, up from 10.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Embedded BI Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Qlik Sense10.4%
MicroStrategy8.8%
Other80.8%
Embedded BI
 

Featured Reviews

AS
Lead Software Engineer at Momentus
Provides strong data visualization and security while easing deployment across multiple sectors
The most effective features of MicroStrategy for data analysis in my experience are the security, the metadata management, and the administration, along with the options of different workarounds available to accommodate different types of requirements. MicroStrategy's data visualization capabilities are great, and I would rate them nine out of 10.
reviewer2592669 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
In-memory data storage boosts performance
The advantages compared to other BI tools show architectural differences. The main feature is that it keeps all the data in memory. It doesn't retrieve the data from data sources when I need it on the dashboard; instead, it quickly provides the desired data, making it very fast compared to other BI tools. The ROI is very high using Qlik Sense. It offers many benefits of BI. It is flexible from a developer's point of view, allowing me to accomplish many tasks compared to other BI tools. From an end-user perspective, it's convenient and performance-oriented, providing something meaningful from all the organization's data.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Embedded BI solutions are best for your needs.
879,889 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user6330 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
May 2, 2013
MicroStrategy vs. Tableau
After a recent presentation, several attendees asked me about the applications of Visual Insights and Tableau. Many companies are investing in both tools and are trying to figure out the right tool for specific applications Tableau has found its sweet-spot as an agile discovery tool that analysts…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Retailer
8%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise100
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise87
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about MicroStrategy?
The stability of the product is good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MicroStrategy?
My company has many licenses for MicroStrategy because we can build reports in this tool. I don't know what the cost is for these licenses.
What needs improvement with MicroStrategy?
I don't have any issues with MicroStrategy and would not suggest how it can be improved. I would not change anything because it's a great tool to build reports. I would appreciate improvements in M...
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 Sense, Power BI, OBIEE, Tableau, etc. I have recently started using Cognos Enter...
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...
What do you like most about Qlik Sense?
The most valuable features of Qlik Sense are its speed and seamless development of web technologies.
 

Also Known As

No data available
QlikSense, Qlik Analytics Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Allstate Insurance, Barneys New York, Boston Children's Hospital, Buenos Aires Department of the Treasury, Campbell Soup Company, DHL, eBay, eHarmony, Facebook, Four Seasons Hotels Inc., Godiva, Hard Rock International, LinkedIn, Netflix, Pfizer, SECO (Swiss Government Unemployment Agency), Starbucks, Texas A&M University, Thomson Reuters Markets, US House of Representatives, and the US Postal Service.
Abbvie, Airbus, Barclays, BT Openreach, BMW, Daimler AG, HSBC, IKEA, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Mail Group, Sanofi, Siemens, Wendy'', Vodafone, Volvo
Find out what your peers are saying about MicroStrategy vs. Qlik Sense and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,889 professionals have used our research since 2012.