Power BI vs Tableau - Similarities 

They’re extremely popular

Power BI and Tableau are the first- and second-most popular business intelligence tools on the market. With an average 4.4-star rating from over 2500 reviews, Power BI slightly outranks Tableau, which has 4.3 stars out of 5 from over 2100 ratings.

They produce a variety of different visualizations

–Both Tableau and Power BI can help you showcase your data in a variety of different ways. You have options for visualizations, including bar and line charts, treemaps, and geographical maps. On both platforms, you can interact with these visualizations, such as by hovering over them to get more information and applying filters, and you can also combine them to create interactive dashboards.

They can connect to a variety of data sources

It’s one thing visualizing the data you have, but it’s important to have an array of inputs. After all, businesses tend to gather data from multiple channels. When comparing Tableau and Power BI, we see that both can connect to a wide range of sources. These include MS Excel, CSV, and JSON, and the paid version of both platforms gives you access to 50+ additional data connectors such as Google Bigquery, Amazon Redsift, and Salesforce.

Visualizations are updated if the underlying data changes.

They’re both code-free and user-friendly

Part of the appeal of using business intelligence tools is that everything you need is at your fingertips. This makes both Tableau and Power BI ideal tools to learn if you are new to data analytics. If you are a business analyst, they are two of the main data visualization tools you will need to work with data. You can learn to become a data analyst with Power BI or Tableau.

Of course, there are other tools you can work with, as the graph below demonstrates. SQL, R, and Python are also valuable tools, and adding one or more to your skill set is extremely valuable.

Power BI vs Tableau - Differences

Power BI only works on Microsoft Windows

This can make the choice of the two platforms a whole lot easier. If you will mostly be using a Mac for your work, Tableau would be the better choice, as you can’t use Power BI on a Mac. 

Certifications

Tableau offers a wider range of options designed for specific professions. You can find out more about these on the Tableau website, but essentially, there are associate, specialist, and analyst levels.

At DataCamp, you can also become a data analyst with Tableau, taking a series of courses that can prepare you for Tableau certification. The official Tableau certification costs from $100 to $250, depending on the level.

Power BI has one certification that covers all the main functionalities of the platform. There is the PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst exam, which cost $165.

Another key difference between certifications is that, while Power BI offers its exam in multiple languages, Tableau currently only offers its Certified Professional Exam in English. The Tableau Associate exam is available in multiple languages. 

Programming languages

When it comes to using each with different programming languages, there are further differences: 

• Power BI: You can use Data Analysis Expression and M language in Power BI for data manipulation and data modeling. You can also use Microsoft revolution analytics to connect the R programming language. 
• Tableau: You’ll find more choice and flexibility with Tableau. As well as easier integration with R, you can implement the Tableau Software Development Kit with Python, Java, C, and C++.

Tableau vs Power BI - Price 

Power BI

• Power BI Desktop - Free: This gives you individual access to Power BI on your own desktop. It’s suitable for home users but not so much for businesses. 
• Power BI Pro - $13.70 per user/month: Although this is included for free with Microsoft 365 E5, for those without, this fee gives you a single license to their self-service analytics, allowing you to visualize data with live dashboards and reports, and share insights across your organization.
• Power BI Premium - $27.50 per user/month: For those at enterprise level, this fee gives you their big data analytics tools and simplified data management.  $6,858.10 per capacity/month: For entire organizations, this option gives you the same access but on a broader scale. 

Tableau

• Tableau Public - Free: This one is for at-home users and can be used to create visualizations connected to Excel, CSV, and JSON files. All visualizations will be publicly viewable.
• Tableau Creator - $70 per month/user: This option is for individuals and team members, and it provides access to Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep Builder, and one Creator license for Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud. This gives you the visualization and analytics tools you need. 
• Tableau Explorer - $40 per month/user: This option allows you to explore data with self-serve analytics. It comes with one Tableau Cloud explorer license. 
• Tableau Viewer - $15 per month/user: With this option, you can only view existing Tableau dashboards and visualizations. It comes with one Tableau Cloud view license. 



Power Bi vs Tableau - User Interface 

There is very little to separate these two when it comes to the UI and UX, only personal preference. Both are designed to be intuitive and easy to use, giving users the chance to explore their data in a way that feels familiar. You’ll be able to pick up either with similar levels of ease. 

Tableau vs Power BI - Performance 

Power BI and Tableau are both built to handle large amounts of data. Both tools have various storage and connection types. Some are built to handle large amounts of data, while others are built to ensure real-time dashboard updates.

However, Tableau tends to perform better than Power BI when it comes to significantly large data sets. Power BI is faster when data sets are more limited. Again, it depends on what you’re going to be using the tools for as to which is most suitable for you.