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Marketing · head to head

Plausible vs Power BI

Plausible logo

Plausible

Marketing

Simple, privacy-friendly analytics

From
$9/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: Plausible there is no free tier, only a 30 day trial; Power BI free tier cannot publish or share reports; Pro tier required for collaboration
  • They diverge on capability: Plausible covers Page view tracking, 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 Plausible and Power BI actually diverge.

Attributes where Plausible and Power BI differ
AttributePlausiblePower BI
Starting price$9/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Desktop, Mobile
CategoryMarketingBusiness Intelligence
Founded20181975

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

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 Plausible

  • Page view tracking
  • Goal tracking
  • Real-time analytics
  • Outbound link click tracking
  • Privacy-focused
  • No cookies
  • Cloud deployment
  • 20+ languages language support

Only in Power BI

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

Both cover

  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Plausible

  • Privacy-focused web analytics without cookies or personal datanot Power BI
  • A Google Analytics replacement that needs no consent bannernot Power BI
  • Self-hosted analytics on your own infrastructurenot Power BI
  • EU-hosted measurement for data residency requirementsnot Power BI

Power BI

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

Where each one falls short

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

Plausible

  • There is no free tier, only a 30 day trial
  • Paid plans are metered on monthly pageviews, so a traffic spike moves you up a plan
  • Self-hosting is possible but means running and updating the service yourself
  • Deliberately simple, so there are no user-level profiles or funnel-by-individual reports the way a cookie-based analytics tool provides

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

Plausible

$9/month
  • Starter$9/month
    • Up to 10k monthly pageviews
    • 1 site
    • 3 years data retention
  • Growth$14/month
    • Up to 3 sites
    • Up to 3 team members
  • Business$19/month
    • Up to 10 sites
    • Up to 10 team members
    • 5 years data retention
  • Enterprise$null/custom
    • 10+ sites
    • Custom pricing

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 Plausible if

  • You need page view tracking.
  • You also want goal tracking.
Plausible 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 Plausible or Power BI better?
Neither clearly leads. Plausible starts at $9/month and Power BI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Plausible or Power BI?
Power BI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $9/month for Plausible and Free for Power BI.
Does Plausible or Power BI run on more platforms?
Plausible 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. Plausible starts at $9/month.
What is Plausible best used for?
Plausible is most often used for privacy-focused web analytics without cookies or personal data, a google analytics replacement that needs no consent banner, self-hosted analytics on your own infrastructure, eu-hosted measurement for data residency requirements. Of those, privacy-focused web analytics without cookies or personal data and a google analytics replacement that needs no consent banner are not what Power BI is typically brought in for.
What can Plausible do that Power BI cannot?
Plausible covers Page view tracking, Goal tracking, Real-time analytics, Outbound link click tracking. Power BI covers AI-powered Insights, Natural Language Queries, Real-time Dashboards, Paginated Reports. Both handle Web support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Plausible: How much does Plausible Analytics cost?

Plausible offers plans starting at $9/month for the Starter tier, $14/month for Growth, and $19/month for Business. Enterprise pricing is custom. All plans include a 30-day free trial without requiring a credit card.

Source
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
Plausible: Is there a free version of Plausible?

Plausible does not offer a free plan; however, all paid plans include a 30-day free trial with full access to features.

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
Plausible: What is the difference between Plausible's pricing tiers?

The Starter plan covers up to 10k monthly pageviews for 1 site. Growth adds up to 3 sites and 3 team members. Business expands to 10 sites, 10 team members, and includes advanced features like API access and 5 years data retention.

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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