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Software · head to head

Power BI vs Yellowfin

Power BI logo

Power BI

Software

Business analytics by Microsoft

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Yellowfin logo

Yellowfin

Software

Action-based business intelligence

From
$50/month
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; Yellowfin the pricing page publishes no rate, no minimum and no per-user price; every model ends in a Get Pricing form
  • They diverge on capability: Power BI covers AI-powered Insights, Yellowfin covers Automated Analysis.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Power BI and Yellowfin differ
AttributePower BIYellowfin
Starting priceFree$50/month
Pricing modelUnknownsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Desktop, MobileWeb, Mobile, Embedded
Founded19752003

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 Power BI

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

Only in Yellowfin

  • Automated Analysis
  • Data Stories
  • Collaboration
  • Signals
  • Embedded Analytics
  • Oracle
  • MySQL
  • PostgreSQL

Both cover

  • SQL Server
  • Salesforce
  • Google Analytics
  • 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 Yellowfin
  • Data explorationnot Yellowfin
  • Ad-hoc reportingnot Yellowfin
  • Collaborative analysisnot Yellowfin
  • Embedded analyticsnot Yellowfin

Yellowfin

  • Embedding white-labelled dashboards and analytics into a software productnot Power BI
  • Enterprise reporting with automated business monitoring and alertingnot Power BI
  • Data storytelling and guided natural language querying for business usersnot 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

Yellowfin

  • The pricing page publishes no rate, no minimum and no per-user price; every model ends in a Get Pricing form
  • One of the three embedded models is a revenue share, so Yellowfin takes a cut of the revenue your analytics module earns
  • Another model prices by server core, so scaling deployment hardware raises the licence cost independently of users
  • Getting a quote requires submitting a form with a marketing consent checkbox and a user-count band rather than seeing a rate card

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

Yellowfin

$50/month
  • Team$50/month
    • Dashboards
    • Stories
    • Collaboration
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Advanced Features
    • Embedding
    • Custom SLA

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 natural language queries.
Power BI review

Choose Yellowfin if

  • You need automated analysis.
  • You work on Web, Mobile, Embedded.
  • You also want data stories.
Yellowfin review

Questions people ask

Is Power BI or Yellowfin better?
Neither clearly leads. Power BI starts at Free and Yellowfin at $50/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Power BI or Yellowfin?
Power BI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Power BI and $50/month for Yellowfin.
Does Power BI or Yellowfin run on more platforms?
Power BI runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile. Yellowfin runs on Web, Mobile, Embedded.
Can I use Power BI for free?
Yes. Power BI has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Yellowfin starts at $50/month.
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 Yellowfin is typically brought in for.
What can Power BI do that Yellowfin cannot?
Power BI covers AI-powered Insights, Natural Language Queries, Real-time Dashboards, Paginated Reports. Yellowfin covers Automated Analysis, Data Stories, Collaboration, Signals. Both handle SQL Server, Salesforce, Google Analytics, Web 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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