Business Intelligence · alternatives
Alternatives to Power BI
23 business intelligence tools sit alongside Power BI in this directory. Below is what separates each from Power BI on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 23
- With a free tier
- 8
- Cheaper to start
- 2
- Power BI starts at
- Free, then $14/user/month
Why people look past Power BI
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Power BI has a free tier, and starts at $14/user/month against a category median of $39.5/month. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Fast analytics with the friendly UX
- Starts $76 a month dearer, at $90/month.
- 4 tiers to Power BI's 3.
Self-service data analytics and visualization
- Starts $286 a month dearer, at $300/month.
- 5 tiers to Power BI's 3.
Scalable, serverless BI by AWS
- No free tier, where Power BI has one.
- Starts $11 a month cheaper, at $3/month.
- 4 tiers to Power BI's 3.
AI notebooks combining SQL, Python and no-code for small data teams
- Starts $25 a month dearer, at $39/month.
- 4 tiers to Power BI's 3.
IBCS-based charting add-ins that replace native visuals in Power BI, Excel and PowerPoint
- Starts $36 a month dearer, at $50/month.
- 5 tiers to Power BI's 3.
Cookieless web analytics that also reports the carbon footprint of your website
Priced and rated the same as Power BI on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Every Power BI alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power BI (this page) | Free, then $14/user/month | - | 3 | |
| MetabaseOpen-source business intelligence tool offering self-hosted dashboards and interactive analytics without requiring Microsoft licenses. | Free, then $90/month | Freemium | 4 | vs Power BI |
| Qlik SenseEnterprise BI platform with visual analytics and associative engine for data exploration, similar market positioning to Power BI. | Free, then $300/month | - | 5 | vs Power BI |
| Amazon QuickSightAWS-native BI service with similar cloud-based architecture and pay-as-you-go pricing model. | $3/month | Per-user | 4 | vs Power BI |
| Fabi | Free, then $39/month | Per user per month | 4 | vs Power BI |
| Zebra BI | Free, then $50/month | Per year by licensed user count | 5 | vs Power BI |
| Cabin | Free, then $14/month | Per month by pageview volume | 3 | vs Power BI |
| Hex | Free, then $36/month | Seat-based subscription with credit system | 4 | vs Power BI |
| Deepnote | Free, then $39/month | Subscription with free tier | 3 | vs Power BI |
| Cube | Free, then $40/developer/month | Per-developer seats with volume pricing | 4 | vs Power BI |
| Luzmo | €995/month | Per month by monthly active user count | 3 | vs Power BI |
| DashThis | $44/month | Per month by dashboard count | 4 | vs Power BI |
| Jedox | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Power BI |
| Pigment | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Power BI |
| Board International | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Power BI |
| Phocas | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Power BI |
| Snowplow | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Power BI |
| Anaplan | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Power BI |
| Rill Data | $20/month | Per user per month plus metered compute | 3 | vs Power BI |
| Quid | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Power BI |
| Reportz | $9.9/month | Per month by dashboard count | 3 | vs Power BI |
| NetBase Quid | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Power BI |
| Zenlytic | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Power BI |
| Evidence | $2500/month | Flat team pricing with no per-user fees | 2 | vs Power BI |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Power BI badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (8)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
Cheaper than Power BI (2)
Entry price under Power BI's $14/user/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Amazon QuickSight , $3/month
- Reportz , $9.9/month
What you would be giving up
Power BI is most often brought in for self-service analytics, data exploration, ad-hoc reporting, collaborative analysis, embedded analytics. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Power BI is broadly right and the question is cost, the Power BI pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Business Intelligence category lists everything the directory holds, and best business intelligence tools ranks them.
Power BI runs on web, desktop, mobile. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Power BI alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Power BI?
- 23 other business intelligence tools are listed in this directory, led by Metabase, Qlik Sense, Amazon QuickSight, Fabi. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Power BI?
- 8 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Metabase, Qlik Sense, Fabi, Zebra BI, Cabin.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Power BI?
- Yes. 2 of the alternatives below start under Power BI's $14/user/month: Amazon QuickSight at $3/month, Reportz at $9.9/month.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Power BI?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Power BI has a free tier, and starts at $14/user/month against a category median of $39.5/month. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Power BI?
- Power BI is most often brought in for self-service analytics, data exploration, ad-hoc reporting, collaborative analysis, embedded analytics. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Power BI?
- None of the business intelligence tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Power BI alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Business Intelligence, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Power BI against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Power BI covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every business intelligence tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Business Intelligence category, 23 tools beside Power BI. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.