# Microsoft Power BI: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 92 judge labels across 4 categories by 14 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/microsoft-power-bi

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Dashboards and data visualization](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/gtm-data/dashboards-and-data-visualization/index.md) | 65% | 1 | 9% | 76 |
| [Customer intelligence and data science](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/gtm-data/customer-intelligence-and-data-science/index.md) | 2% | 13 | 0% | 11 |
| [Data warehouse and reverse ETL for marketing](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/gtm-data/data-warehouse-reverse-etl/index.md) | 0% | 25 | 0% | 4 |
| [Data management platforms](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/gtm-data/data-management-platforms/index.md) | 0% | 131 | 0% | 1 |

## What the models said for it

- "The strongest general-purpose choices are Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Looker, Qlik, ThoughtSpot, Sigma, Sisense, Domo, Metabase, and Zoho Analytics." (Perplexity Sonar, BI & dashboards)
- "Microsoft Power BI is the most-deployed mid-market BI platform globally... Power BI is the lowest-friction, cost-predictable default." (Muse Glimmer 30B, BI & dashboards)
- "Default / cost-effective for most mid-sized B2B: Microsoft Power BI. Strong Microsoft integration, Excel familiarity, low entry price" (Muse Glimmer 30B, BI & dashboards)
- "For most mid-market B2B companies, Microsoft Power BI offers the best combination of value, features, and ecosystem integration." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, BI & dashboards)

## And against it

- "Extremely popular and cost-effective, but watch for specialist needs (like building complex models), reconciliation errors, and AI that doesn't always meet hype." (Grok 4.20, BI & dashboards)
- "Power BI deeply locks you into Microsoft and can struggle with performance and governance when querying massive, complex datasets" (Claude Haiku 4.5, BI & dashboards)
- "Power BI, for example, has meaningful differences between Free, Pro, and PPU, and sharing/collaboration can require paid licenses" (GPT-5.4 mini, BI & dashboards)
- "Be cautious with self-service tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Sisense) without: Data governance" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, BI & dashboards)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Grok 4.20 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Mistral Small | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Kimi K2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 9 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Microsoft Power BI, from 240 of the 281 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- basedash.com: 65
- softwareadvice.com: 62
- toolradar.com: 49
- g2.com: 48
- zapier.com: 44
- microsoft.com: 41 (its own site)
- cio.com: 33
- thoughtspot.com: 33
- fitsmallbusiness.com: 28
- qlik.com: 28

### Pages cited

- https://zapier.com/blog/business-intelligence-software: 44
- https://softwareadvice.com/bi: 40
- https://cio.com/article/222558/top-business-intelligence-bi-tools.html: 31
- https://toolradar.com/guides/best-business-intelligence-tools: 29
- https://fitsmallbusiness.com/customer-intelligence-platform: 28
- https://ajelix.com/bi/business-intelligence-tools-for-small-business: 22
- https://microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi/pricing: 22
- https://basedash.com/blog/best-dashboard-software-for-small-businesses-compared-2026: 20

## The company

Microsoft; https://www.microsoft.com/; Vancouver, Canada; founded 1975; about 228,000 employees (2024); public, 4338 on Hong Kong Stock Exchange. From Wikidata, fetched 2026-09-14.

## In its own words

What Microsoft Power BI's own pages state, read 2026-09-28. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: AI-powered analysis tools (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/business/knowledge-center/ai-for-decision-making)
- For: finance manager (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/business/knowledge-center/ai-for-decision-making)

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.