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Business Intelligence · head to head

DashThis vs Power BI

DashThis logo

DashThis

Business Intelligence

Fixed-price marketing dashboards for agencies billed by dashboard, not by seat

From
$44/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Power BI logo

Power BI

Business Intelligence

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: DashThis dashboards are the billing unit, so an agency that gives each client a summary and a channel detail view consumes its allowance at twice the expected rate and upgrades jump by roughly a hundred dollars a step.; Power BI free tier cannot publish or share reports; Pro tier required for collaboration
  • They diverge on capability: DashThis covers Unlimited users, Power BI covers AI-powered Insights.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where DashThis and Power BI differ
AttributeDashThisPower BI
Starting price$44/monthFree
Pricing modelPer month by dashboard countUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Desktop, Mobile
FoundedUnknown1975

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

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 DashThis

  • Unlimited users
  • Preset templates
  • Multi-source widgets
  • Calculated widgets
  • White labelling
  • Scheduled delivery
  • Data source library
  • Comment annotations

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.

DashThis

  • A twenty-person agency that wants every account manager and every client to have a login without per-seat billingnot Power BI
  • A PPC team producing the same monthly report for forty accounts and wanting it emailed automaticallynot Power BI
  • An in-house marketing lead who needs one cross-channel view for the board without involving a data teamnot Power BI
  • An SEO consultancy white labelling client reports under its own domain and sending addressnot Power BI

Power BI

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

Where each one falls short

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

DashThis

  • Dashboards are the billing unit, so an agency that gives each client a summary and a channel detail view consumes its allowance at twice the expected rate and upgrades jump by roughly a hundred dollars a step.
  • There is no data warehouse, SQL layer or real data modelling, so anything requiring joins beyond simple multi-source widgets has to be done in another tool first.
  • Historical data depends on what each connected API will return, so switching to DashThis does not retroactively give you years of comparable history.
  • There is no free tier at all, and the fourteen day trial is short for an agency wanting to rebuild forty client reports before committing.
  • Visualisation options are limited to a fixed widget set, so clients who want a specific chart type or layout often cannot get it.

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

DashThis

$44/month
  • Individual$44/month
    • 3 dashboards
    • 15 data sources
    • Unlimited users
  • Professional$139/month
    • 10 dashboards
    • 40 data sources
    • Unlimited users
  • Business$279/month
    • 25 dashboards
    • 100 data sources
    • Unlimited users
  • Standard$429/month
    • 50 dashboards
    • 200 data sources
    • Unlimited users

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 DashThis if

  • You need unlimited users.
  • You also want preset templates.
DashThis 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 DashThis or Power BI better?
Neither clearly leads. DashThis starts at $44/month and Power BI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DashThis or Power BI?
Power BI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $44/month for DashThis and Free for Power BI.
Does DashThis or Power BI run on more platforms?
DashThis 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. DashThis starts at $44/month.
What is DashThis best used for?
DashThis is most often used for a twenty-person agency that wants every account manager and every client to have a login without per-seat billing, a ppc team producing the same monthly report for forty accounts and wanting it emailed automatically, an in-house marketing lead who needs one cross-channel view for the board without involving a data team, an seo consultancy white labelling client reports under its own domain and sending address. Of those, a twenty-person agency that wants every account manager and every client to have a login without per-seat billing and a ppc team producing the same monthly report for forty accounts and wanting it emailed automatically are not what Power BI is typically brought in for.
What can DashThis do that Power BI cannot?
DashThis covers Unlimited users, Preset templates, Multi-source widgets, Calculated widgets. Power BI covers AI-powered Insights, Natural Language Queries, Real-time Dashboards, Paginated Reports.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

DashThis: Does DashThis charge per user?

No. Every plan includes unlimited users and client viewers; you pay for dashboards and data sources.

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
DashThis: Is there a free plan?

No. Pricing starts at 44 US dollars a month for three dashboards, after a short trial.

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
DashThis: Can I blend data from several ad accounts?

Yes, through multi-source widgets and calculated widgets, but there is no general purpose join or SQL layer.

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
DashThis: Does it white label fully?

Yes, including logo, colours, sending email address and a custom domain on the higher plans.

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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