Metabase vs Microsoft Power BI comparison

Metabase and Microsoft are both solutions in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category. Metabase is ranked #26 with an average rating of 7.7, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.8. Metabase holds a 1.1% mindshare in BIT, compared to Microsoft’s 21.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Metabase users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Metabase

Read 4 Metabase reviews

476 Views
354 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Power BI

Read 321 Microsoft Power BI reviews

18,413 Views
14,752 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Metabase

Microsoft Power BI

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Microsoft Power BI and Metabase compete in the business intelligence space. Power BI has an advantage in integration capabilities and analytics, while Metabase offers simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

Features: Microsoft Power BI offers seamless integration with Microsoft products, advanced AI-powered analytics, and comprehensive data visualization tools. Metabase is user-friendly with an easy query builder and supports multiple databases with minimal configuration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Power BI requires complex deployment but has extensive support. Metabase is easier to deploy for smaller teams with community-driven support.

Pricing and ROI: Power BI requires a subscription, increasing with advanced plans; it offers high ROI for advanced needs. Metabase has minimal setup costs due to its open-source model, appealing to budget-conscious teams.

To learn more, read our detailed Metabase vs. Microsoft Power BI Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Metabase vs. Microsoft Power BI

June 2025

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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

Metabase

Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

26th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Power BI

Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

321

Ranking in other categories

Reporting (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Metabase is 1.1%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 21.1%, down from 22.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Featured Reviews

Ibrahim Izz El-Deen

Data Engineer at USYTech

Modern analytics tool enhances user interactions with neat visualizations for improved decision-making

One area for improvement could be in offering more advanced features even in the open-source edition or making the paid versions more cost-effective. Data scalability, especially if the data grows, requires manual infrastructure management, which could be improved. Increased customization and visualization options in the open-source edition would be beneficial. Additionally, it might be helpful if more complex queries and stored procedures were supported.

Read full review

Shoury Priyanshu

Senior Manager, Strategy & Consulting at Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd

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.

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

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its interface, which is used to query data into Metabase. I think it is very useful and handy for a novice."

"Metabase's key advantage is its modern approach to business intelligence."

"It is easy for a new user to learn the tool."

"I rate the solution’s stability a nine out of ten."

"We can see that it's really improved the way end users can do their own graphs and pick their own fields of information and present that in a nice way."

"We like the drag and drop interactability visualization. We really like that. It's user-friendly."

"The tool is very flexible so it allows creativity."

"It is really flexible. The charts and reports are really nice. You have the flexibility of self-service."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Power BI is the user experience."

"Power BI's integration with other tools is very good."

"Microsoft BI's initial setup is very straightforward."

"The way data is presented is very valuable. The amount of information that we can get at a glance is also valuable. You can then drill-down and see data from many different angles in the same chart by selecting certain things. Based on the selection, everything changes automatically. If we have four parameters in a particular item, when you select a parameter, the remaining charts on that page automatically change for that particular parameter."

More Microsoft Power BI pros

Cons

"One area for improvement could be in offering more advanced features even in the open-source edition or making the paid versions more cost-effective."

"The solution could provide more customization."

"The tool must be made more user-friendly."

"I think there is a need to add a few more advanced visuals in the tool. There are a standard set of visuals in the tool which are available."

"From a scalability and performance perspective and based on my understanding and feedback from end users, there's room for improvement in data processing, scaling up, and leveraging the cloud. That could be an enhancement area for me to look into."

"Things can slow down if you create too many pages."

"Power BI shows reports on actual data, not metadata."

"It should be more user-friendly and simple."

"I face performance issues with Microsoft Power BI, which are unsolvable. There is a lack of features between the on-premises and cloud version, which poses a challenge for me."

"If you need data in real-time, it's not an ideal solution."

"If you are having millions of rows of data or you have a large database, Microsoft BI's performance depends upon how powerful your hardware is. When I am handling large amounts of data I do not use Microsoft BI or Tableau because of this, I use D3."

"I think that the product would benefit by increasing the range of visuals and graphics readily available, as opposed to using a third party included as part of the product."

More Microsoft Power BI cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Using the open-source edition of Metabase on AWS EC2 cost us around $29 per month for the EC2 instance, which was affordable."

"I would not say it is a cheap tool, but it's viable."

"The product is open-sourced."

"This solution came free, it was offered by Microsoft with our E3 license."

"Pricing, that's where Microsoft beats Tableau. It is priced much cheaper."

"Make it low in cost. It is a no-brainer!"

"We view it as an expensive product."

"We pay on a monthly basis which is approximately $10 per user on the Microsoft Power BI Pro license. At the moment we are still down at 400 users, but once we reach 500 users, we will move to the premium edition. The premium is $5,000 for unlimited users. Currently, with the 40 users, the cost is roughly $500."

"It is based on the usage. If you're using it, you pay for it, and if you're not using it, you stop paying for it."

"The only other cost, besides the licensing fee, would be to cover support."

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

More Microsoft Power BI pricing and cost advice

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

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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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

23%

Comms Service Provider

16%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Educational Organization

33%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Metabase?

Using the open-source edition of Metabase on AWS EC2 cost us around $29 per month for the EC2 instance, which was affordable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Metabase?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Metabase?

I used Metabase for business intelligence and analytics in my organization. We connected Metabase to AWS Athena, allowing us to query and visualize data stored in S3 buckets.

See all answers

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

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Compared 13% of the time

Preset vs Metabase

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

Databricks vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 8% of the time

Domo vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 7% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 7% of the time

KNIME vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

June 2025

Download Metabase product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI

May 2025

Download Microsoft Power BI product report

Also Known As

No data available

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

Overview

Metabase is a business intelligence tool designed for analyzing data with ease. It's known for its straightforward setup, making data visualization and exploration accessible to teams without coding expertise.

Metabase simplifies the process of deriving insights from data. It allows users to pose questions and instantly view results in the form of tables or charts. Its open-source nature offers flexibility for customization, paired with a clean and intuitive dashboard providing an efficient way to manage and share data insights. Users appreciate its ability to connect with multiple databases, enabling seamless data integration and analysis across platforms.

What are the valuable features?

Ad-hoc Querying: Enables non-technical users to create complex queries visually.
Dashboard Sharing: Facilitates easy sharing of insights through customizable dashboards.
Data Visualization: Supports various chart types for better data interpretation.
Open Source: Offers the flexibility to tailor features to specific business requirements.
Database Connectivity: Connects with numerous data sources to unify data analysis.

What are the benefits and ROI?

Cost Efficiency: Lowers costs by eliminating the need for costly proprietary solutions.
Increased Productivity: Saves time with easy setup and quick data interpretation.
Improved Decision-Making: Access to actionable insights enhances strategic decisions.
Flexibility: Customizable to meet evolving business data analysis needs.

Metabase implementation varies across industries such as tech, e-commerce, and healthcare, allowing firms to leverage analytics for performance optimization. Companies in tech appreciate seamless integration with SQL databases, while e-commerce benefits from sales trend analysis. Healthcare utilizes Metabase for patient data evaluation, aiding in informed healthcare service decisions.

Metabase

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

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

Buyer's Guide

Metabase vs. Microsoft Power BI

June 2025

Free Report: Metabase vs. Microsoft Power BI

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