Power BI vs Excel: The Key Differences

Updated 09 May 2023
Published 05 May 2023
Nancy Bhargava 2047 Views

Modern businesses can’t function without spreadsheets and data analysis tools, as these tools help them to manage and process their data effectively.

Microsoft Excel is unarguably the most popular tool, which has been in the market for more than 30 years. Whereas, Power BI, which is a new entrant in this domain, has etched its name and user acceptance in less than 10 years.

While Excel offers a wide range of functions and Power BI Self-Service Analytics capabilities, Power BI is known for providing modern features and capabilities to transform the data into enchanting visualizations and dashboards.

In this blog, we’ll go over the key resemblances and variances between Excel and Power BI as well as give some advice on how to select between these tools for your business-specific needs.

What is Power BI?

It is a leading BI (Business Intelligence) tool developed by Microsoft. The primary objective of Power BI is to analyze the data, uncover insights, and monitor the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

It aids an organization and leaders to make informed decisions and make overall improvements in performance.

Power BI can be used by any user inside an organization, based on role-specific needs. It can be used by an individual, data analyst, hire Power BI developers, managers, or higher management.

What is Power BI

Power BI comprises three main applications:

  • Power BI Desktop– It’s a free desktop app used for designing and building reports.
  • Power BI Service– It is an online publishing service, which allows users to view and share dashboards and reports.
  • Power BI mobile application– It enables users to view dashboards and reports on the go.

Some of the key features of Power BI that have contributed to making it one of the top BI applications, according to Gartner, are:

  • Artificial Intelligence– Power BI has many advanced AI features such as clustering, time-series analysis, and Natural Language Processing as a part of their Q&A feature.
  • Complicated calculations with DAX– Power BI expands many of the well-known DAX formulas that are commonly found in Excel with support for far more advanced calculations.
  • Wide range of connections and data sourcesPower BI has direct integrations with a wide variety of third-party applications, and you can even build custom connections.

What is Excel?

It is the most popular spreadsheet software developed and released by Microsoft in 1985. Since then, it has been an inherent component of Microsoft’s Office product suite and the Office 365 package.

Excel is undoubtedly the vastly used tool for operations management, human resource management, and performance analysis and reporting.

It is an all-purpose spreadsheet tool that is used to analyze and organize data, with the help of functions, formulas, and even macros. Excel offers the below exciting features, which makes it a defacto tool for big data analysis tasks:

  • Formulas and Functions– Excel comes with a wide range of predefined formulas and functions, that make it easy to perform custom and complex calculations.
  • Data transformation– The Power Query tool enables users to fetch data from different sources, perform numerous types of data transformations, and then import the data directly into the Excel workbook.
  • Data visualization– Excel allows users to present the data in a visually enchanting way in a matter of a few clicks. It makes it very easy and quick to analyze the data and then present them in dashboards and reports.
  • In-built TemplatesExcel offers several in-built templates, which could be used to speed up your data analysis. Users can simply use the templates and make necessary customizations for their business-specific needs.

Hire Power BI Developer

Power BI vs Excel: Main Differences

Excel and Power BI have many similarities, as far as their function and utility are concerned. Both can be used to fetch data in different formats and transform them into visual information.

Both are updated and improved regularly, which allows users to avail latest features and functionalities in the new version.

Power BI vs Excel Main Differences

So, what are the primary differences? Let’s explore some fundamental differences between both tools.

  • Data Size

This is one of the most important differences between both tools. MS Excel faces lots of challenges while working on large data sets, and we can see a massive degradation in its performance if the data size is large. Whereas, the Power BI can easily handle millions of rows together without affecting its performance.

  • Cloud-Based Features

In Excel, users need to share the dashboard with large datasets via email or any other online sharing service. On the other hand, Power BI allows users to publish reports to others using Microsoft’s cloud-based services.

  • Visualizations

Excel comes with very limited abilities as far as visualizations are concerned. One can make some cosmetic changes using charts, fonts, colors, and pivots. Whereas, Power BI is packed with a plethora of visualization options to design interactive dashboards and reports.

  • Custom Visualizations

Excel doesn’t offer any customizations for visualization. Whereas, Power BI enables users to import additional visualizations from the marketplace to enhance the overall look and feel of reports and dashboards.

  • Model Data

Excel is completely focused on building complex data models with a large range of abilities. On the other hand, Power BI is predominantly concerned with the usage of data and complex data modeling tools.

  • Reporting Tools Availability

Excel offers basic to mid-level reporting ability, with the availability of no additional reporting tools. Power BI is equipped with unprecedented reporting capabilities, which enables users to build captivating and interactive reports. It can be used by both technical and non-technical users with ease.

Read more: How Business Intelligence Can Transform Your Business?

Comparison: Power BI vs Excel

Parameter Power BI Excel
Availability It is the latest product and currently, a smaller number of users are availing it. MS Excel is an integral part of MS Office, and it is available to most people.
Learning It is slightly difficult to learn Power BI. It needs considerable knowledge of Power Pivot DAX formulas, Power Query, and a few other techniques to use it. Who does not know Excel? Excel is the universal language spoken in almost all offices worldwide. Because Excel has been around for a long time, most users find it easy to learn.
Cost to Acquire The Power BI Desktop can be downloaded free for personal use. However, one must pay $10 per month to share the reports with others. Since Excel comes with MS Office, we don’t need to spend an additional amount to procure it.
Working Flexibility Power BI lacks flexibility. It is slightly difficult for the people who have recently migrated from Excel to Power BI. Users can simply not do everything, everywhere. It is very flexible to use and it let users create reports, pivot tables, and charts using simple steps and formulas.
Visuals It offers a wide range of visualizations to the users. Users can use built-in charts and import additional visuals from the marketplace. Excel offers a very limited range of built-in charts when we compare it with Power BI.
Chart Customization Power BI does not offer the ability to customize a chart to the full extent. If a user is working with one set of charts, he can’t work on others simultaneously. Excel is slightly different on this part. It let users create different sets of charts with the help of built-in charts.
Dashboard Interactivity Power BI offers different types of slicers, visual level filters, cross filters, drill-through filters, and report level filters. Excel offers basic slicers to make the dashboards interactive.
Size of the Data Power BI uses the Power Pivot engine model to handle large amounts of data with ease. It has no restrictions to any specific versions of MS Excel or Office 365. Excel faces challenges while handling large amounts of data. It usually throws a “Not Responding” error when a large amount of data is processed.
Accessibility Power BI cannot be accessed by users until and unless they purchase the licensed software. MS Excel can be used by anyone from everywhere. It is an easy-to-use software that could be accessed from systems of low configuration.
Formula Language Power BI utilizes DAX language for its functions and formulas. Excel utilizes the MDX language for its functions and formulas.
Data Security With Power BI, users can control the data view by setting rules. You need to share the data with the external stakeholders if you want to share the dashboard with them. This hampers data security to a great extent.
Data Source It uses Power Query to fetch data from everywhere. Excel also uses the Power Query to fetch the data from all data sources.

Advantages of Using Power BI over Excel  

While Excel is a powerful tool for data analysis, Power BI offers several advantages over Excel in terms of data visualization, data modeling, and collaboration. Here are some advantages of using Power BI over Excel:

Advantages of using Power BI Over Excel

1. Retrieval & Storage of a Vast Amount of Data

Power BI is equipped with exceptional compression capabilities for Microsoft Excel, text, and.csv files. It enables users to view, analyze, process, and visualize massive quantities of datasets, which cannot be handled by Excel.

You may face a lot of challenges if you work on .csv files of a few hundred megabytes in Excel. Power BI mitigates all such challenges and lets you work on huge files, combines sales data from neighboring regions, and processes them with ease.

2. Discover Data Trends Easily & quickly

Power BI lets users discover and analyze data trends with the help of its time intelligence features. You can easily view data by numerous attributes and dimensions, including date-time dimensions.

Talk To Our Power BI Consultant

3. Intuitive UX Features

Power BI scores big when it comes to visually appealing and clean user interface or UX skills. It offers Drag-and-drop, copy-pasting, and easy resizing functionality, which makes it very easy for even a novice to work with this tool.

It let you create a branding theme, in the form of a .json file, which could be imported by users to create uniform content.

4. Remarkable Cloud-based Features

You can simply publish your dashboards and reports on the cloud, so that cast number of people can view them without even downloading the massive data file.

You also don’t need to put your data files in the SharePoint portal or Shared Drive and inform people about recent updates.

Power BI has revolutionized this process with the use of Microsoft-hosted cloud service. It lets authors publish their content with a single click and then automatically refreshes the data at regular intervals.

5. Row Level Security

It used to be very difficult to add Row Level Security (RLS) in Excel, but now it can be done easily with Power BI. RLS ensures users can access only relevant data based on their geography or access levels.

Power BI enables users or administrators to add these access filters easily while mitigating any risk as they don’t have to send data files via email.

Read more: Understanding Microsoft Power BI: A Comprehensive Guide

Limitations of Excel Compared to Power BI

Excel is indeed an effective tool, but it has its own set of limitations when compared with Power BI:

There Are Several Components in Power BI

1. Data Sources

Excel allows users to import data from a wide range of data sources using its data connection features. But it lacks modern data connection abilities like Power BI, which allows the import of data from external sources including JSON, MySQL, SAP HANA, Microsoft Azure databases, third-party databases, and online services like Real-Time Google Analytics, and Salesforce.

2. Data Discovery

If you are working with Excel, then you must have enough understanding of your data and how to discover critical insights.

Whereas, Power BI enables users to explore the data without having any knowledge beforehand. You can easily discover trends and correlations with the help of Power BI.

3. Data Models

Excel is primarily focused on building simple and structured data models with a limited set of features, usually to perform statistical analysis.

Whereas, Power BI’s data models are primarily focused on data ingestion and developing complicated data models with ease, with the help of a plethora of features.

4. Dashboards

Excel offers very limited features to build interactive dashboards. Also, it is quite tedious to refresh the dashboards. On the other hand, Power BI enables users to build customized dashboards and incorporate maps, diagrams, and charts. The dashboards get refreshed automatically in real-time.

Power Bi Dashboards

5. Visualizations

If you want to make Power BI Data data visualizations in Excel, you need to manipulate the data first, then only you can create graphs and charts manually. Whereas, Power BI allows users to create visualizations using programming languages such as Python.

6. User Interface

If you want to utilize Excel’s complete potential, then it is a must to know visual basic scripting and macro. Whereas, Power BI offers an easy-to-use interface, which doesn’t need prior programming knowledge to build complex visualization and sophisticated reports.

Read more: Top Power BI Consulting Companies in 2023

Power BI vs Excel: Which One is Better for Your Organization?

The increasing use of technology has transformed the way modern businesses can operate. The data is a commodity, which if used properly, can change the fortunes of any business. Most businesses are still using Excel, and most of the time they think that “Why should we need Power BI, as we can do everything in Excel”.

Power BI vs Excel

However, the truth is, Excel may be their companion for decades, and it is efficient enough to meet their day-to-day requirements, but when it comes to modern visualizations, reporting, and dashboards, it lacks the much-needed punch.

Power BI can simply move your entire data model from an Excel report to its dashboard with a single click. When it comes to making interactive reports, dashboards, spreadsheets, or data files, Microsoft Power BI is undoubtedly way better than Excel.


Conclusion

Although both are capable and efficient products from Microsoft, modern businesses need easy and quick insights from their data to make better decisions. Excel is a well-known tool, which has been in the market for decades, and it is not going to vanish anytime soon.

However, it lacks when it comes to dashboard making and other Business Intelligence functions, which have been already taken over by BI tools such as Power BI.

The future of Power BI is very promising and robust. Organizations across the board have started investing in data visualization and Business Intelligence tools to transform their data analysis abilities.

Amid such a situation, it is highly recommended to opt for Power BI and give the much-needed push to your business to remain ahead of the competition.

So, if you want to fetch data from multiple data sources, if you need to handle large amounts of data, and if you want your users to access reports, dashboards, and analysis on the go, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Power BI consultants.

Arka Softwares is a renowned Power BI development company. Our seasoned experts can work with you to build an efficient and effective solution, which not only meets your business requirements but also transform it into a modern workhorse.

Power BI vs Excel – FAQs

        • How Power BI is better than Excel?

          Power BI processes the data way faster than Excel. It enables users to build interactive, customizable, and visually appealing dashboards. It is more powerful than Excel and it let users work with massive datasets, complex reports, and tables with ease. It is also very user-friendly and easy to learn if we compare it with Excel.

        • How to connect Power BI and Excel?

          You can use Excel to connect to Power BI datasets with the following steps:
          1. Click on the Insert tab in Excel and choose PivotTable > From Power BI.
          2. Click on the Data tab and choose Get Data > Power Platform > From Power BI.

        • What do you understand by Excel Data Model?

          It is a Data Model offered in Microsoft Excel, which enables users to combine data from multiple tables and create a relational data source within the Excel workbook. Excel Data Models are also used to provide tabular data utilized in PivotTables and PivotCharts.

      • What is Power BI Desktop?

        Power BI Desktop is an application that could be installed on the end-user computer. It works cohesively with Microsoft’s Power BI service. Report analysts, administrators, data scientists, developers, and designers interact with Power BI Desktop to generate reports and dashboards so that Power BI service business users can use them.

      • What are the three Fundamental Views available in Power BI?

        Power BI Desktop offers three views for the users.
        1. Report
        2. Data
        3. Model

Nancy Bhargava

Nancy works as an IT consulting professional with Arka Softwares. She has an in-depth knowledge of trending tech and consumer affairs. She loves to put her observations and insights of the industry to reveal interesting stories prompting the latest domain practice and trends.

Let’s build something
great together!

2 + 3 =

Client Testimonials

Mayuri Desai

Mayuri Desai

Jeeto11

The app quickly earned over 1,000 downloads within two months of launch, and users have responded positively. ARKA Softwares boasted experienced resources who were happy to share their knowledge with the internal team.

Abdullah Nawaf

Abdullah Nawaf

Archithrones

While the development is ongoing, the client is pleased with the work thus far, which has met expectations. ARKA Softwares puts the needs of the client first, remaining open to feedback on their work. Their team is adaptable, responsive, and hard-working.

Pedro Paulo Marchesi Mello

Pedro Paulo Marchesi Mello

Service Provider

I started my project with Arka Softwares because it is a reputed company. And when I started working with them for my project, I found out that they have everything essential for my work. The app is still under development and but quite confident and it will turn out to be the best.

whatsapp