Databricks vs Power BI
Complete comparison guide to help you choose the right analytics tool for your needs.
The Winner
Power BI
Wins for overall value, user satisfaction, and Microsoft 365 teams needing BI tools.
Quick Comparison
| Criteria |  Databricks |  Power BI |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | Free tier | Free tier Best |
| User Rating | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Review Count | 927 | 8,519 Best |
| Free Trial | No | No |
| Annual Discount | N/A | N/A |
| Best For | Enterprise ML/AI workloads at scale | Microsoft 365 teams needing BI tools |
Feature Breakdown
Feature Comparison
Databricks Power BI Databricks
- Free Community Edition
- Unified Lakehouse Architecture
- Multi-Cloud Unity Catalog
- Proven Enterprise ROI
- Complex DBU Pricing
- Steep Learning Curve
- Higher Entry Costs
Power BI
- Unbeatable Microsoft 365 Integration
- Price Point Destroys Competition
- 366% ROI Over 3 Years (Forrester)
- Copilot AI for Natural Language Analytics
- Copilot Requires Enterprise Pricing
- Learning Curve for DAX
- Large Dataset Performance Issues
Databricks Overview
Databricks unifies data engineering, data science, and ML on lakehouse architecture. Delivers 417-482% ROI with 49% time savings for data teams. Free Community Edition available; Premium tier uses DBU-based pricing. Best for ML/AI workloads at scale. Rated 4.45/5 across 927 reviews.
Best For:
- Enterprise ML/AI workloads at scale
- Data teams needing unified platform for data engineering, data science, and analytics
- Companies processing large-scale big data with Apache Spark
- Teams requiring real-time analytics and streaming data processing
- Multi-cloud deployments requiring portability across AWS, Azure, and GCP
- Enterprises seeking lakehouse architecture combining data lake and warehouse benefits
- Organizations with collaborative data science teams needing shared notebooks
Power BI Overview
Power BI is the no-brainer choice for Microsoft 365 organizations needing affordable, AI-enhanced analytics. Free tier for personal use, $14/month Pro for team collaboration, $24/month Premium Per User for advanced features. Copilot requires Fabric F64+ capacity (enterprise pricing). If you're not in the Microsoft ecosystem, look at Looker (Google Cloud) or Tableau (Salesforce). But for M365 shops, nothing beats this combination of price and integration.
Best For:
- Microsoft 365 teams needing BI tools
- Budget-conscious teams needing enterprise BI capabilities
- Business users seeking intuitive, self-service analytics
- Companies requiring strong data modeling capabilities
- Teams needing AI-powered insights with Copilot integration
- Small to large enterprises with diverse data sources
Our Verdict
Power BI is our top pick for most users, thanks to its overall value proposition. However, Databricks remains a solid choice if you need Enterprise ML/AI workloads at scale.
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