Power BI vs. Tableau: what’s your best choice?
4 January 2022
Since Microsoft launched Power BI as a competitor to Tableau, both tools have become genuine top-tier challengers. When clients or prospects come to us and ask which tool is the best, we have a clear answer: it all depends on your data strategy and the digital tools you’re already using. But based on their field experience, our BI consultants have, of course, their own points of view and favorites. So, we asked 3 of them, Frederik Druyts, Jef Vercammen and Vincent Mees, for their candid opinion. Honestly, they didn’t need much encouragement. Asking that question was all it took to trigger a lively open discussion.
 | Frederik: "Working with Power BI feels like coming home to me. After all, I got into Business Intelligence using Power BI as a reporting and dashboarding tool. And much like my real home, it's full of things I love. But, at the same time, there is also plenty of stuff in Power BI that is slightly and somewhat annoyingly broken. But, I learned to live with that over the years." |
 | Jef: "When I started working at Datashift back in 2015, Tableau was the tool I used on my first client projects. I love the completeness of this end-to-end data & analytics platform. In addition, Tableau gives a lot of freedom: there's no need to make any compromises, no matter your data strategy. For me, it feels like a camper that you can upgrade and drive around wherever you want." |
 | Vincent: "And I like both Power BI and Tableau! I got started with Power BI with a hands-on "Dashboard in a Day" workshop organized by Microsoft. After that, I took further DA-100 training and set up a Proof of Concept and a data analytics demo. Overall, Power BI is stronger in data preparation and processing, while Tableau offers more robust visualization capabilities." |
| Jef: "I agree with that, but I'd like to stress that Tableau has addressed its limitations in data preparation with the introduction of Tableau Prep at the end of 2018. Tableau Prep gives users the ability to transform their data through a highly interactive and attractive visual interface." |
| Frederik: "So true: Tableau offers a very intuitive user experience. We just completed a co-creation track to start a new client with Tableau. Once we had set up the data sources, it was impressive to see how quickly BI users could come up with usable visualizations. During one session, where a director specified analysis requirements at lunchtime, a first-time BI user delivered a clean self-made dashboard before the end of the day!" |
| Vincent: "Sounds like a great day to me. Compared to Tableau, Power BI is less "attractive" for the end-user, but it does offer an excellent development environment. As soon as I got started with Power BI to set up an end-to-end data analytics live demo for data prep and visualizations, I was impressed with its many built-in functions and features. And to this day, I continue to be impressed – especially with tools like Power Query and DAX queries that make it a lot easier to structure data complexity." |
| Jef: "DAX and the Power Query M formula language are powerful indeed when it comes to data preparation. They remain, however, distinctly different and quite technical languages with a syntax that you need to master thoroughly. Another point of critique is that Power BI has a few functionalities that are currently available only through external tools. It would be more elegant to access those tools within the main application." |
| Frederik: "Agreed. But to be fair, this approach also has its benefits. While it enables Microsoft to keep its development focused and well-directed, users who need more functionalities can easily use open-source tools (and even contribute to those tools themselves!). To return to the User Experience topic, I agree that Power BI is not nearly as elegant as Tableau. The selection of specific visualizations is somewhat arbitrary, and its marketplace for external developers looks a bit messy." |
| Jef: "The visualization options that come with Tableau also go a lot wider than Power BI. With Tableau, you'll not only find the answers that you need for reporting purposes. You can also dive deeper to explore your data, gain insights on previously unknown questions and problems, and create powerful visuals for storytelling purposes." | |
| Vincent: "Even though I can concur with that, I did find Tableau fairly overwhelming at first. But once I got over the initial hurdles, I could achieve a lot with minimal effort. At least until I had to dive into more complex structures, because then it suddenly became a lot less clear." |
| Jef: "Tableau admittedly has a steep learning curve for more advanced use scenarios that relate to data exploration and storytelling. But then again, that’s precisely where Tableau is at its strongest. Don’t all great results require some extra effort to arrive at?" |
| Frederik: "They do! And that’s why I continue learning both Power BI and Tableau the best way you can learn any tool: by using them in environments where results are expected against a deadline. This hands-on learning style encourages a healthy amount of creative problem-solving while never losing sight of best practices. That being said, Power BI remains my favorite BI tool. While it is simple to pick up, the underlying engine’s deep capabilities provide an impressive power that is rather nicely exposed once you learn how to handle it." |
| Jef: "What I love about Tableau is that it provides a complete self-service BI and data analytics solution on a single platform. No matter how complex it gets, Tableau will consistently deliver a clear view of the data and insights that make data relevant for business. In addition, drag-and-drop functionalities, an intuitive syntax, and powerful VizQL technology to translate SQL queries into visual representations make Tableau instantly useable for a large business audience." |
| Vincent: "Let’s agree to disagree! We all have our soft spots for one of these tools. But let's also keep in mind our job is about working together with our clients and helping them deploy their data to impact their business in the long run! Depending on their data strategy and the digital tools they’re already using, either Power BI or Tableau will help us achieve just that." |
 | Frederik & Jef: "Couldn’t agree more!" |
Power BI vs. Tableau – A summary
As Frederik, Jef and Vincent agreed to disagree, we asked them to rate Power BI and Tableau. Their summary rating provides additional guidance if you're trying to determine which BI tool provides the best fit for your business needs. Better yet to get in touch with us to find out which BI solution is your best choice.
Tableau | | | |
Data Preparation | ⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Analytics | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Ease of Use for Business | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Visualizations | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Power BI | | | |
Data Preparation | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Analytics | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Ease of Use for Business | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Visualizations | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |