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Software · head to head

Celonis vs Power BI

Celonis logo

Celonis

Software

German process mining platform that analyzes, designs and operates AI-driven business processes

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Power BI logo

Power BI

Software

Business analytics by Microsoft

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Power BI has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Celonis no pricing is published anywhere on the site; the only path to a quote is a Contact Us sales form requiring company details, with no self-serve signup or published starting price; Power BI free tier cannot publish or share reports; Pro tier required for collaboration

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Celonis and Power BI actually diverge.

Attributes where Celonis and Power BI differ
AttributeCelonisPower BI
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Desktop, Mobile
FoundedUnknown1975

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Celonis

Nothing recorded that Power BI does not also cover.

Only in Power BI

  • AI-powered Insights
  • Natural Language Queries
  • Real-time Dashboards
  • Paginated Reports
  • Mobile Apps
  • Excel
  • Azure
  • Dynamics 365

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Celonis

No use cases recorded yet. See the Celonis review.

Power BI

  • Self-service analyticsnot Celonis
  • Data explorationnot Celonis
  • Ad-hoc reportingnot Celonis
  • Collaborative analysisnot Celonis
  • Embedded analyticsnot Celonis

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Celonis

  • No pricing is published anywhere on the site; the only path to a quote is a Contact Us sales form requiring company details, with no self-serve signup or published starting price
  • The vendor's own contact page directs prospects to wait for a Celonis representative to get in touch rather than offering instant access

Power BI

  • Free tier cannot publish or share reports; Pro tier required for collaboration
  • Free tier cannot schedule automatic data refreshes
  • Offline capabilities limited to local Power BI Desktop; cloud service always requires internet
  • Data refresh capped at 8 times per day on Pro tier without Premium Per User

Pricing, plan by plan

Celonis

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Celonis review.

Power BI

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Local report creation in Power BI Desktop
    • Cannot publish or share
    • No scheduled refreshes
  • Power BI Pro$14/user/month
    • Publish and share reports
    • Up to 8 scheduled refreshes/day
    • Collaborate with other Pro users
  • Premium Per User$24/user/month
    • All Pro features
    • Up to 48 scheduled refreshes/day
    • Copilot integration

Which should you pick?

Choose Celonis if

Nothing in the data separates Celonis from Power BI on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Celonis review

Choose Power BI if

  • You need ai-powered insights.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
  • You also want natural language queries.
Power BI review

Questions people ask

Is Celonis or Power BI better?
Neither clearly leads. Celonis starts at On request and Power BI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Celonis or Power BI?
Power BI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Celonis and Free for Power BI.
Does Celonis or Power BI run on more platforms?
Celonis runs on Web. Power BI runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
Can I use Power BI for free?
Yes. Power BI has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Celonis starts at On request.
What can Celonis do that Power BI cannot?
Power BI covers AI-powered Insights, Natural Language Queries, Real-time Dashboards, Paginated Reports.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Power BI: Can I use Power BI Desktop offline?

Power BI Desktop runs locally and can edit reports offline, but publishing to the service and refreshing cloud data sources requires internet connection. Offline reports show cached data from the last refresh.

Source
Power BI: What are the data refresh limits for each tier?

Power BI Premium Per User allows up to 48 scheduled refreshes per day, while Pro tier is limited to 8 scheduled refreshes per day. Free tier cannot schedule automatic refreshes.

Source
Power BI: Can I use Power BI Free with shared data sources?

Free tier users can create local reports in Power BI Desktop but cannot publish to the Power BI Service for collaboration. Publishing requires Power BI Pro ($14/user/month).

Source
Power BI: Is SSO available and on which plan?

SSO is available on Power BI Premium Per User ($24/user/month) and Fabric capacity plans through Azure AD integration.

Source
Power BI: What does Copilot require in Power BI?

Copilot for natural language queries and automatic report generation requires Power BI Premium Per User or Fabric capacity pricing, not available on Pro or Free tiers.

Source
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