Power BI
Power BI turns your business data into interactive visual reports you can share across your team and the tools you already use.
Overview
Power BI is Microsoft's business intelligence tool that connects to your data sources, builds interactive dashboards, and shares reports across your organization. You can start for free with Power BI Desktop, a downloadable app that requires no credit card. When you need to share reports with your team, Power BI Pro costs $14 per user per month, billed annually. The free tier lets you build reports for personal use, while Pro unlocks publishing and collaboration. Power BI works inside Microsoft 365 apps your team already uses, including Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Copilot features let you create reports and get data summaries using plain language. Microsoft has placed first in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms for Ability to Execute, which signals broad reliability and vendor stability for buyers who want a long-term solution.
Features
- Free Power BI Desktop app for building interactive reports
- Power BI Pro plan at $14 per user per month for publishing and sharing
- Copilot lets you create reports and summaries using plain language
- Works inside Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and SharePoint
- Mobile app available for Windows, iOS, and Android at no extra cost
Best for
Power BI fits small businesses that already use Microsoft 365 and want to stop making decisions from scattered spreadsheets. It works especially well for owners who need their team to share a single view of sales, operations, or financial data without hiring a data analyst.
Why this SMB score
Power BI offers strong value for Microsoft 365 users with a low starting price, but the per-user licensing requirement for sharing and the layered tier structure add cost and complexity that budget-conscious small businesses need to plan for carefully.