Sisense or Power BI: Which BI Tool is Right For Your Project?
Published: 2022-10-31 10:46:58

Business intelligence tools like Sisense and Power BI are essential to help you make better decisions, whether you’re a small startup or a large enterprise. But which tool offers the best bang for your buck? Sisense & Power BI have plenty of similarities, but each one comes with specific features that make it stand out from the other. 

This post compares and contrasts them side by side, so you can figure out which BI solution is best for your needs.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rl81uh3k70tdi4q893j9.png)

[Source](https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/people-analyzing-growth-charts_12643932.htm#query=power%20Bi&position=0&from_view=search&track=sph)

## How To Choose Between The Two Tools?


There are a lot of BI tools in the market, and it isn't easy to choose one that will work for you. You should consider three things when choosing a BI tool: 

- Budget 

- Ease of use

- Functionality

Sisense & Power BI both have similar pricing models with self-service options available.  


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/g90qj207tbedu5vfpbsj.png)

## Advantages Of Power BI

Power BI has several key benefits to offer. One of the most important aspects of this tool is its compatibility with several data sources and formats, which means that users have increased flexibility in how they collect their data. Some other advantages include:

1. A variety of visualization options for different projects. Power BI is easy to set up and use, making it an ideal option for those who are new to business intelligence.

2. It enables businesses to incorporate cloud applications like Salesforce and Zendesk for CRM and helpdesk support.

3. Power BI also lets you pull data from over 170+ sources, including SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Amazon Redshift, Google Analytics, Facebook Ads Manager, and so much more.

4. It integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office 365 products such as Excel and Word, making it easy to create stunning reports without any programming knowledge.

5. Power BI also provides seamless integration with many third-party software programs, such as Tableau Software, Qlik Sense, SAP Business Objects Reporting software, Cognos Analytics Platforms, among others.

6. WIth the help of Power BI, businesses can make informed decisions by understanding their customers better and empowering employees by providing them with the latest information they need at all times.

7. Power BI uses machine learning algorithms to predict future trends based on current data, meaning companies have an easier time making informed decisions when looking at long-term goals.


## Advantages of Sisense

When comparing the benefits of Sisense Vs. Power BI, Sisense, is a powerful and versatile self-service analytics platform that enables data scientists to build & deploy predictive analytics models. It offers many advantages, such as:

1. It is easy to use, allowing managers and executives to access data to make informed decisions quickly. 

2. It integrates with a wide range of third-party tools.

3. It makes it easy to keep track of company’s trending KPIs which is especially useful for large enterprises with different departments.

4. Sisense supports R & Python, so you can easily use powerful statistical and machine learning algorithms. 

5. It supports SQL for analyzing traditional data. You can also import data from any database into Sisense and make a model based on it.

6. [Power BI development company](https://www.valuecoders.com/microsoft-power-bi-development-services-company?utm_source=Dev.to&utm_medium=Anu_B11&utm_id=powerbiservices) can provide you with unmatched business intelligence solutions at an affordable price.

7. Hire Power BI developers for Sisense development services in Bangalore

## Limitations of Power BI

Though Microsoft Power BI is relatively easy to use and inexpensive, is has several limitations that may hinder your project goals:

1. Limitations with column widths in tables, reports, and dashboards. 

2. It's not possible to upload datasets larger than 10 GB.
 
3. Data refreshes take time, up to 2 hours, for some datasets.
 
4. One can't save their work inside of Power BI Desktop without first downloading it as a .pbi file; this means work could be lost if there's a computer crash or loss of internet connection.

5. Another drawback of PowerBI worth noting is its inability to edit chart labels from within the tool.

6. The interface is somewhat difficult to learn; many users with limited technical skills have found it frustrating.

## Limitations Of Sisense

When considering Sisense Vs Power BI, it's important to recognize that Sisense offers significantly fewer features than the Power BI suite. However, Sisense comes with certain limitations, such as:

**Limited data visualization option:** Unlike Power BI, which provides several different options such as heatmaps and scatterplots, Sisense only offers line graphs and column graphs. 

**Basic dashboard capability:** Compared to the interactive dashboards offered by Power BI, Sisense dashboards are more static and less interactive.

**Limited collaboration capabilities:** With no offline editing capabilities and no ability to collaborate on dashboards, Sisense has less flexibility for teams working remotely or collaborating on projects across multiple time zones.

**Tight security restrictions:** The standard edition of Sisense does not have any controls for user access levels or permissions. These tight security restrictions make managing individual users difficult. They can create confusion among your team members when they don't know what type of access they have to your company data. 

**Limited database storage capacity:** The amount of storage available with the Standard Edition from Sisense is 2 GB, much lower than what you get from a Power BI subscription (25 GB).

**No geocoding capabilities:** If you want to use maps in your analysis, this feature is unavailable with Sisense.

**Lack of machine learning integration:** While Sisense offers an Artificial Intelligence toolkit within its software, these tools are not designed to be used alongside the product's other functions.

## Tips To Choose a Better Business Intelligence Solution

When comparing Sisense Vs Power BI, it cannot be easy to select any business intelligence solutions. The following tips can help you choose better solutions for your business:    

**1. Consider your company's needs** - Do you need a custom solution, or do you want to use pre-made software? If your company requires something that no existing software offers, it might be worth investing in [hiring power bi developers](https://www.valuecoders.com/hire-developers/hire-power-bi-developer-consultants?utm_source=Dev.to&utm_medium=Anu_B11&utm_id=powerbideveloper) for your team. 

**2. Determine your timeline -** How soon does the project need to be completed? Depending on this timeline, it may make more sense to [hire power BI development services](https://www.valuecoders.com/microsoft-power-bi-development-services-company?utm_source=Dev.to&utm_medium=Anu_B11&utm_id=powerbiservices) and get a quicker response than waiting months to get results from free, open-source software.

**3. Understand what’s out there -** To choose the best tool for your company, take some time to explore all the options available. When comparing BI tools like Sisense vs. Power BI, don't forget to look at other key factors such as price and customer reviews.  

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/pczp8i59he3d9p2gpdh3.png)

**4. Think about Users -** Consider who will use the product while deciding. You will invest in hiring Power BI developers if most of your employees have little or no experience with data visualization.

**5. Prioritize the features -** Not every feature will be necessary for every company. It’s important to prioritize which features are essential before deciding on a BI tool to know how much time and money you're willing to spend on your new system.

**6. Consider the security -** A lot can go wrong with an insecure platform, so consider this before hiring Power BI development services for a project where security is paramount (e.g., financial institutions).

## Power BI vs. Sisense: Similarities

There are two things that Power BI & Sisense have in common. The first is the potential to generate informative business insights. The second is being a BI tool. Sisense, while more complex, can be utilized for a broader spectrum of use cases, such as sentiment analysis and heatmaps. 

Power BI service lets users explore data by importing it into an interactive dashboard and creating reports and visualizations. 

Users may also create their reports with the help of pre-set templates. Sisense has nearly twice as many templates as Power BI, which allows its users greater flexibility when customizing their dashboards.

## Conclusion 

The ultimate decision between Sisense vs Power BI tools depends on the size of your business, budget, and project needs. 

If you have numerous complex data sources and a critical need for interactive and on-the-fly analysis for a wide variety of users who require real-time updates on the go, Sisense may be the best choice. 

While Power Bi can be chosen for smaller businesses with smaller budgets that want to be able to access their dashboards from anywhere.