Excel and Power BI are two very popular tools.

They both offer a wide range of analytical and visualization tools to help you create dashboards and reports.

Microsoft Excel is great for analyzing data and making it more understandable for day-to-day operations.

Laptop and tablet displaying graphs and information graphs

It’s designed to help organizations make decisions more efficiently through real-time insights into data.

We’ll take a closer look at some of their differences in the sections below.

To get started, you’ll need to sign up or download the applications.

Person looking at charts and visuals

Download:Microsoft Excel forAndroid|iOS|Web

Download:Power BI forAndroid|iOS|Web

1.

Both Excel and Power BI use Power Query to extract and fetch data.

Power BI has an easy-to-use interface for data integration and analysis.

Data connections in Power BI

The software helps you transform any kind of data into valuable business intelligence in a fraction of the time.

To import data into Power BI, click onGet data > Get data from another source.

Excel does not have this ability.

Reporting dashboards in Power BI

Instead, it mostly provides only static charts.

Winner:Power BI

2. you could share those insights with your team and collaborate with them in making decisions.

But they also have some differences, especially when it comes to dashboard customization and automation controls.

Using Power Automate functions in Power BI

To open up customization options in Excel, simply punch theHometab.

Right-click and chooseCustomize the Ribbon.

Power BI helps you customize your dashboard by providing easy-to-find controls to the right of your screen.

Data preparation and modeling

From there, you could change things like chart types or font sizes or add interactive elements.

These macros can be used for various purposes, including automating complex tasks.

Excel certainly has a slight edge when it comes to the plethora of customization options available to work with.

Collaborating teams in offices

Winner:Microsoft Excel

4.

Power BI is based on a functional language called DAX, which stands for Data Analysis Expressions.

It can be used with any punch in of data source, including structured and unstructured formats.

Persons using smartphones, paper graphs, and laptop devices

Power BI can help you create datasets.

There’s also a Premium version available starting at $20/user/month.

To share your files, open your workspace, and press the file you wish to share.

Once it opens, tapShareand jot down in the email address of your team member(s).

you might collaborate in real time using the chat feature in Microsoft Teams as well.

It’s the most popular spreadsheet app, after all.

If you’re looking for a paid alternative, Power BI is a great option.

It has a free version insideMicrosoft Fabricwhich gives you access to a lot of features.

Excel is available on desktop and mobile devices.

For Power BI, there are both free (as part of Fabric) and paid options available.

Excel vs. Power BI: Which One Do You Need?

The flexibility, ease of use, and ability to create complex visualizations all set it apart from Excel.