A picture speaks a thousand words. In the world of business intelligence (BI), a chart, graph or infographic brings data to life and manages to convey insightful information more effectively. With the huge amount of data that businesses have access to daily, it becomes important to have the right kind of visualization tools that make this data easy to consume and understand.
Today, there are several data visualization tools available in the market. You can choose the perfect one for your business based on factors such as budget, type of data sources and inputs, and interactivity required, among others. Microsoft’s Power BI and Google Data Studio are two of the more popular data visualization solutions. Here is a brief comparison of the two.
POWER BI
What is it?
Microsoft’s suite of data visualization and business intelligence tools, Power BI can easily analyse, transform and visualize data into engaging visual reports.
Who is it for?
If you need to perform a lot of data crunching at work using Excel, then Power BI is probably the perfect tool for you since it seamlessly integrates with most other tools in Microsoft’s business suite.
What’s ‘wow’ about it?
User-friendly interface and excellent data visualization capabilities
Integration with other Microsoft tools such as Excel, SQL Server
Free version available with limited storage and capabilities. Paid Pro plan offers more storage, faster refresh cycles, and collaboration capabilities.
Creates a single data model from hundreds of different types of data sources
Allows you to perform complex operations easily
What’s ‘meh’ about it?
Third-party visuals cannot be exported to PowerPoint
Could be challenging if you are not an extensive user of Excel and other Microsoft tools
GOOGLE DATA STUDIO
What is it?
It is a free data visualization tool that can create a wide variety of custom visual reports.
Since Google Data Studio is free, it’s a great option for small entrepreneurs and startups.
What’s ‘wow’ about it?
Again, it’s absolutely free!
Easy to use out-of-the-box and create simple charts
If you already have a Google account, the setup becomes quicker and simpler
It’s intuitive and has UI elements similar to other Google services like AdWords, Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager
It is easily integrated with other Google tools
You can upload data from many other data sources as well
Offers more than 100 data connectors
What’s ‘meh’ about it?
Sometimes, connections with third-party data sources can be tricky, and the data does not show up accurately, which can lead to wrong insights
Not much provision for cleaning up the rough data that needs to be visualized, since it works best with data that’s already processed
So… who wins finally?
While both Power BI and Google Data Studio have many distinctive features, they offer similar output overall. If budget is a limitation and data clean-up is not an issue, you can choose to go with Google Data Studio. On the other hand, if complex data conversion from multiple sources other than the Google suite of offerings is what you are after, then Power BI is what you need.
