Microsoft Power BI

Power BI is Microsoft’s business intelligence product. You build data models and reports in the free Power BI Desktop app for Windows, then publish them to the Power BI service in the browser, where colleagues view dashboards, set alerts and open reports in the mobile apps. It sits inside Microsoft Fabric and connects to Excel, SQL databases, cloud warehouses and many other sources.

It suits organisations already using Microsoft 365 and Azure, and analysts who want a low-cost way to move from spreadsheets to shared, refreshable reports. Mac users need the browser-based service or a Windows machine, as the desktop authoring app runs only on Windows.

Power BI Desktop and a free account are available at no cost, but sharing reports requires a paid licence. Power BI Pro costs $14 per user per month and Premium Per User $24 per user per month, both paid yearly. Fabric capacity and Power BI Embedded are priced by usage.