Business Intelligence · head to head
Evidence vs Power BI
Evidence
Business Intelligence
Business intelligence as code for teams and AI agents
- From
- $2500/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Power BI has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Evidence high starting price at $2,500/month limits small team adoption; Power BI free tier cannot publish or share reports; Pro tier required for collaboration
- They diverge on capability: Evidence covers Analytics Agent, Power BI covers AI-powered Insights.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Evidence and Power BI actually diverge.
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 Evidence
- Analytics Agent
- Code-based infrastructure
- Development environment
- Visualization tools
- Embedded analytics
- Enterprise security
- Multi-channel access
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.
Evidence
- Building version-controlled analytics infrastructurenot Power BI
- Enabling AI agents to answer business questionsnot Power BI
- Delivering analytics through multiple channels (web, Slack, ChatGPT)not Power BI
- Embedding white-labeled analytics in productsnot Power BI
Power BI
- Self-service analyticsnot Evidence
- Data explorationnot Evidence
- Ad-hoc reportingnot Evidence
- Collaborative analysisnot Evidence
- Embedded analyticsnot Evidence
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Evidence
- High starting price at $2,500/month limits small team adoption
- No freemium option for evaluation or learning
- Code-based approach has steeper learning curve than visual tools
- AI credits limited on Team plan; additional credits cost extra
- Requires Git workflow familiarity for effective collaboration
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
Evidence
$2500/month- Team$2500/month
- Unlimited users
- Monthly billing
- Analytics Agent
- Enterprise$null/custom
- All Team features
- SSO/SAML authentication
- SCIM directory sync
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 Evidence if
- You need analytics agent.
- You work on Cloud, Embedded.
- You also want code-based infrastructure.
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.
Questions people ask
- Is Evidence or Power BI better?
- Neither clearly leads. Evidence starts at $2500/month and Power BI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Evidence or Power BI?
- Power BI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $2500/month for Evidence and Free for Power BI.
- Does Evidence or Power BI run on more platforms?
- Evidence runs on Cloud, Embedded. 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. Evidence starts at $2500/month.
- What is Evidence best used for?
- Evidence is most often used for building version-controlled analytics infrastructure, enabling ai agents to answer business questions, delivering analytics through multiple channels (web, slack, chatgpt), embedding white-labeled analytics in products. Of those, building version-controlled analytics infrastructure and enabling ai agents to answer business questions are not what Power BI is typically brought in for.
- What can Evidence do that Power BI cannot?
- Evidence covers Analytics Agent, Code-based infrastructure, Development environment, Visualization tools. Power BI covers AI-powered Insights, Natural Language Queries, Real-time Dashboards, Paginated Reports.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Evidence: Does Evidence have per-user pricing?
No, Evidence offers one flat price for unlimited users at $2,500/month on the Team plan with a 30-day free trial.
SourcePower 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.
SourceEvidence: How many AI credits come with Team plan?
Team plan includes 20,000 AI credits monthly at $0.01 per additional credit. Enterprise offers custom credit packages.
SourcePower 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.
SourceEvidence: What is included in the Enterprise plan?
Enterprise adds SSO/SAML, SCIM directory sync, row-level access rules, embedding capabilities, and custom deployment options at custom pricing.
SourcePower 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).
SourcePower 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.
SourcePower 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.
SourceRelated pages
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