What is Microsoft Power BI?
Quoting Microsoft itself, “Microsoft Power BI is business analytics service that delivers insights to enable fast, informed decisions”. There are multiple versions of the software which often leads to the debate on the benefits of Power BI pro vs free. Regardless, the software helps you visually explore and analyse your data (both on premises and in the cloud) which enables quicker understanding and identification of patterns. In the same vein, you also transform your data into more presentation friendly visuals and share them with colleagues across any device. The AI software will also help improve collaboration efforts through the ability to share customized dashboards and interactive reports. Lastly, Microsoft Power BI can easily scale across your organization with built-in security and management systems.
How many Power BI versions are there?
Power BI currently has three versions:
- Microsoft Power BI Free / Desktop
- Microsoft Power BI Pro
- Microsoft Power BI Premium
What is Power BI Desktop?
Power BI Desktop is basically the version of Power BI that you install on to your local system / computer to access the basic features of Power BI and act as a companion to the main, cloud based application. It is the ideal version to start with no matter your skill level Power BI Free enables you to connect to 70+ data sources, analyse data, publish to the web, export to excel and much more.
Is power bi free?
Who is Power BI Free for?
How to get Power BI Free License?
Currently, you don’t need a Microsoft Office 365 subscription of any kind to use Power BI Desktop. It is by its very nature free and accessible. All you really need to do is download the available software directly from Microsoft as a MSI package, with Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 operating systems currently supported.
Courtesy of Dynamics Folio