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Business Intelligence · head to head

Power BI vs Amazon QuickSight

Power BI logo

Power BI

Business Intelligence

Business analytics by Microsoft

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Amazon QuickSight logo

Amazon QuickSight

Business Intelligence

Scalable, serverless BI by AWS

From
$3/month per user
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: Power BI free tier cannot publish or share reports; Pro tier required for collaboration; Amazon QuickSight reader and Reader Pro roles charged separately at $3 and $20/month
  • They diverge on capability: Power BI covers AI-powered Insights, Amazon QuickSight covers SPICE In-memory Engine.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Power BI and Amazon QuickSight actually diverge.

Attributes where Power BI and Amazon QuickSight differ
AttributePower BIAmazon QuickSight
Starting priceFree$3/month per user
Pricing modelUnknownsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Desktop, MobileAWS
Founded19752006

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 Power BI

  • AI-powered Insights
  • Real-time Dashboards
  • Paginated Reports
  • Mobile Apps
  • Excel
  • Azure
  • Dynamics 365
  • SQL Server

Only in Amazon QuickSight

  • SPICE In-memory Engine
  • ML Insights
  • Embedded Analytics
  • Pay-per-session
  • Redshift
  • S3
  • Athena
  • Aurora

Both cover

  • Natural Language Queries
  • Salesforce
  • Web support
  • Mobile support

What people use each for

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

Power BI

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

Amazon QuickSight

  • Business intelligence dashboards and analyticsnot Power BI
  • Scalable embedded analytics for applicationsnot Power BI

Where each one falls short

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

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

Amazon QuickSight

  • Reader and Reader Pro roles charged separately at $3 and $20/month
  • Author and Author Pro roles charged at $24 and $40/month
  • $250/month infrastructure fee required if Pro users or Q&A enabled
  • SPICE storage charged at $0.38/GB monthly (10 GB included)
  • Pixel-perfect reports start at $500/month for 500 monthly units
  • Alerts charged at $0.05-$0.50 per 1,000 metrics evaluated

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Amazon QuickSight

$3/month per user

No published plan breakdown. See the Amazon QuickSight review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Power BI if

  • You need ai-powered insights.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
  • You also want real-time dashboards.
Power BI review

Choose Amazon QuickSight if

  • You need spice in-memory engine.
  • You work on AWS.
  • You also want ml insights.
Amazon QuickSight review

Questions people ask

Is Power BI or Amazon QuickSight better?
Neither clearly leads. Power BI starts at Free and Amazon QuickSight at $3/month per user, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Power BI or Amazon QuickSight?
Power BI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Power BI and $3/month per user for Amazon QuickSight.
Does Power BI or Amazon QuickSight run on more platforms?
Power BI runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile. Amazon QuickSight runs on AWS.
Can I use Power BI for free?
Yes. Power BI has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Amazon QuickSight starts at $3/month per user.
What is Power BI best used for?
Power BI is most often used for self-service analytics, data exploration, ad-hoc reporting, collaborative analysis. Of those, self-service analytics and data exploration are not what Amazon QuickSight is typically brought in for.
What can Power BI do that Amazon QuickSight cannot?
Power BI covers AI-powered Insights, Real-time Dashboards, Paginated Reports, Mobile Apps. Amazon QuickSight covers SPICE In-memory Engine, ML Insights, Embedded Analytics, Pay-per-session. Both handle Natural Language Queries, Salesforce, Web support, Mobile support.

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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