Starting price$14/user/moPro, paid yearly; Premium Per User $24
Free trial / planFree plan (Power BI Desktop and a free account for personal use; sharing needs Pro); free trial of paid features
Vettlo score92/100
G2 user rating4.5/51,662 reviews
Microsoft Power BI Review (2026): Pricing, Pros and Cons
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Short answer
Microsoft Power BI ranks #1 of 7 in our business intelligence tools ranking (92/100). Best overall and best value for most companies. Paid plans start at $14/user/mo (Pro, paid yearly; Premium Per User $24).
What is Microsoft Power BI?
Microsoft Power BI is a BI platform with a free Windows app, Power BI Desktop, for modeling data and building reports, and a cloud service for publishing and sharing them. The free account is for personal analysis; Pro ($14 per user a month, paid yearly) adds publishing and sharing, with a 1 GB model memory limit and 8 refreshes a day; Premium Per User ($24) raises that to 100 GB and 48 refreshes a day and adds advanced AI, dataflows and XMLA read/write. Fabric capacity plans let viewers use reports without a per-user license from F64 up.
Who it's best for
Companies on Microsoft 365 that want analysts to build governed reports and everyone else to view them, at a low per-user price.
Why we rank it
It has the deepest data modeling here for the lowest per-user price, and Pro is already included in Microsoft 365 E5.
Pros and cons
Strengths
- Pro at $14 a user a month, included in Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5
- Free Power BI Desktop for modeling and building reports
- Premium Per User raises model size from 1 GB to 100 GB for $24
Watch-outs
- Every viewer needs Pro to see shared content, unless you buy F64 or larger Fabric capacity
- Power BI Desktop runs on Windows only
- Capacity and Embedded pricing is variable and quoted separately
Skip it if: Your team works on Macs and wants to build reports without a Windows machine.
Microsoft Power BI pricing
Paid plans start at $14/user/mo (Pro, paid yearly; Premium Per User $24). Free plan or trial: Free plan (Power BI Desktop and a free account for personal use; sharing needs Pro); free trial of paid features.
From Microsoft Power BI's pricing page, checked on the date at the top of this review. See how it compares on price in our business intelligence tools pricing overview.
How we scored Microsoft Power BI
Business intelligence score: 92/100
Data connectivity & modeling (20%)5/5
Visualization & dashboards (20%)4.5/5
Self-serve analysis & AI (15%)4.5/5
Sharing, embedding & governance (15%)4.5/5
Ease of use (15%)4/5
Price & value (15%)5/5
Each criterion is rated 0 to 5 and weighted for the category. See our methodology.
How Microsoft Power BI compares
| # | Tool | Best for | Starting price | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Power BI | Best overall and best value for most companies | $14/user/mo | 92/100 |
| 2 | Tableau | Visual analysis and dedicated analyst teams | $15/user/mo | 83/100 |
| 3 | Qlik Cloud Analytics | Large audiences priced by data, not seats | $300/mo | 82/100 |
| 4 | Metabase | Best open-source option for SQL-friendly teams | $100/mo | 81/100 |
| 5 | Zoho Analytics | Small businesses that report on their business apps | $24/mo | 80/100 |
| 6 | Data Studio | Best free tool for Google Analytics, Ads and Sheets reporting | $9/user/mo | 78/100 |
Alternatives and comparisons
Microsoft Power BI FAQ
How much does Microsoft Power BI cost?
Paid plans start at $14/user/mo (Pro, paid yearly; Premium Per User $24). Free plan or trial: Free plan (Power BI Desktop and a free account for personal use; sharing needs Pro); free trial of paid features.
Is Microsoft Power BI worth it?
Microsoft Power BI scores 92/100 in our business intelligence tools ranking, where it is best overall and best value for most companies. It's a weaker fit if: your team works on Macs and wants to build reports without a Windows machine.
Does Microsoft Power BI have a free plan or trial?
Free plan (Power BI Desktop and a free account for personal use; sharing needs Pro); free trial of paid features.
What are the best Microsoft Power BI alternatives?
In our business intelligence tools ranking, the closest alternatives are Tableau, Qlik Cloud Analytics and Metabase.