Power BI Desktop vs. Power BI Online (Pros & Cons)

When choosing between Power BI Desktop and Power BI Online (Service version), you need to know about the advantages and disadvantages of both.

Both software are an important part of the Power BI environment offering unique features for data analysis and reporting but each has its own strengths 💪

The desktop version is usually used for in-depth analysis of reports whereas the online version is more centred towards file sharing, cloud-based activity and active team collaboration.

Power BI Desktop excels in advanced data transformation, report creation and modelling capabilities whereas Service excels in dashboard and workspace creation, and data refreshing.

In this tutorial, we will see the difference between the Power BI Desktop and Power BI Online and see which suits you best according to your requirements.

What is Power BI desktop?

Power BI Desktop or Designer is the Windows version of Power BI. It’s free to use and offers advanced data analysis and report creation capabilities 🤠

The Desktop application doesn’t require internet to work, you can use it offline. It includes the Query Editor which lets you connect many sources of data and add them to a data model.

Power BI Desktop home screen offering options to add data from Excel, manually

It offers a set of data modelling tools that let you manipulate data, and shape and transform it. You can view your file in report view, modelling view and table view to analyze it from different angles.

Power BI Desktop is typically used by data analysts and finance professionals for managing, analyzing, and sorting data and developing solutions.

Some of its prominent features include:

  • RLS creation
  • Data modelling, transformation and shaping
  • DAX and Python
  • Calculated columns

Pros

  • Cost: The Desktop application is free to use making it highly accessible to individuals and small teams – you don’t even need to create an account or sign in. Simply download the application and begin using it.
  • Learning Curve: Power BI Desktop is similar to other MS Office applications like Word, Excel, etc. Anyone with a decent knowledge of Excel’s working will be able to figure out the Desktop app.
Microsoft Power BI reports interface similar to Excel Word and Microsoft Power Point
  • Full-fledged Report Development: You can create complex and detailed reports using the Desktop app. It offers a complete set of tools for data visualization and modelling.
  • Interactive Data Visualizations: You can create charts, graphs, maps and other appealing visualizations in Power BI Desktop for free and you can customize them as you like.
  • Offline Work: Power BI Desktop lets you create and modify reports offline – you only need to go online when publishing it or sharing it to Service ✔
  • Data Sources: You can connect to multiple data sources on the Desktop application, whether it’s data from Excel, a JSON or XML file, SQL servers, cloud or Azure sources – you can pull data in real-time.
Connect to different sources from trending templates report page via Excel Query
  • Advanced-Data Modelling: The Desktop application allows to creation of complex data models using Power Query and DAX (Data Analysis Expressions).
  • Customization Options: You can create highly customized reports in Power BI Desktop using R scripting and Python. Similar to Excel, the Desktop app offers a variety of visualization options to add to your report.

Cons

  • User Interface: The interface of the Desktop can get rather confusing because of the Filter, data and Visualization pane on the screen.
  • Limited Collaboration: You cannot share reports created in Power BI Desktop directly. To share them with your team, you need to publish them to Service ❌
Share reports as a super user from your local computer pbix free application
  • Limited Access on Other Devices: As evident from the name, Power BI Desktop doesn’t support mobile or tablet versions.
  • Data Handling Capacity: The Desktop app lags when you insert huge data. Moreover, it has a certain data holding capacity, which when exceeded, you have to upgrade to the paid version.
  • No Dashboard Option: Power BI Desktop doesn’t offer built-in dashboards. You can create one but having a built-in dashboard makes things easier and faster.

What is Power BI service?

Power BI service also known as the Power BI portal is the online version of the Power BI environment. It is a cloud-based service ☁

However, the data visualization and modelling capabilities of the Service are limited. It is mostly used for collaboration and simple editing in reports.

Power BI Service is powerful in its own way when it comes to analysis. It lets you refresh large sets of data, and set time for processing of data.

Power BI service loaded from Microsoft Fabric software on chrome online version

Service allows us to distribute data across teams, stakeholders and organizations that help in deriving business insights. It also allows the creation and modification of dashboards.

Some features that Power BI Service offers, include:

  • Gateway connections
  • Dashboards
  • RSL management
  • Collaboration

Pros

  • Easy Access: Power BI Service is a cloud-based service which allows users to access and modify reports from any device with an internet connection.
  • Scheduled Data Refresh: To ensure your data is up to date, the Service offers automatic and scheduled data refreshes 🔃
  • Dashboard Creation: You can create dashboards by pinning visuals from multiple reports easily.
Create a dashboard with on-premises functionality that is oinnd to show visualizations
  • Other Service Integration: The service allows you to smoothly integrate with other online services like Azure, Teams, SharePoint and more. This makes sharing files easier.
  • Workspace: Power BI Service lets you create workspaces which is a personalized space for you and your team to make reports, dashboards and more.
  • Quick Sharing: You can share dashboards and reports with users in real time providing comments and updates. All you need to do is press the share button and Service will do the rest.
Share datasets and tableau with bi tools for data transformation and collaboration
  • Cloud-based Architecture: Service is a cloud-based software that ensures accessibility and scalability of your data across various devices. Data stored on the cloud can be recovered easily.
  • Easy to use Interface: Power BI Service offers a clean and easy-to-use interface. With only a couple of options on the home screen, navigating through the software becomes easy.

Cons

  • Unclear Publishing Process: Publishing reports from Desktop to service can oftentimes be complicated especially when dealing with huge or complex data.
  • License for Sharing: The service comes with a free version, but features like sharing with others, and handling large data require a pro or premium license 💳
Requires power bi premium or power bi pro license - pricing is high of power bi service
  • Limited Data Modelling Power: Data visualization and analysis capabilities are rather limited in Service. It supports light editing, but for advanced data analysis, Desktop is your tool of choice.
  • Limited Customization Capability: Some necessary and useful features found in Desktop are not available in Power BI Service.
  • Internet Dependent: You cannot use the Service without the Internet – you need it to access, view and interact with reports and dashboards.

Why compare

Comparing Power BI Desktop and Service is crucial because even though both are part of the same environment, each serves distinct purposes and is popular for different usage.

Power BI Desktop is mostly used for data analysis, modelling, shaping and report creation. It allows developers and data analysts to perform advanced and complex calculations and create data models 📃

The strength of Power BI Service or Online, on the other hand, lies in accessibility, collaboration, and sharing dashboards and insights with colleagues and team members.

Which is right for you

The answer to which of the two is better for you depends on what you expect from the software and where your major focus lies 🧐

Each software is unique in its own way and it is only through understanding their working that you can leverage their strengths to use them to their full potential.

At the end of the day, which is right for you depends on what you require from the software. If your main focus is advanced report creation, Power BI Desktop is your choice.

But if you want to share your reports with your team and colleagues and give updates and add comments in real-time hub, Power BI Service is your tool to go with.

If you already use Desktop and are switching to Service, the process might seem a little difficult because of the difference in the interface, features and placement of buttons.

However, once you use it, you will realize that Service is easier to use than the Desktop application. The analysis and computational power varies but you can get the work done 😀

Conclusion

All in all, both Power BI Desktop and Service are powerful tools that offer a variety of tools and services but serve different purposes. The key deciding point here is your requirement 🗝

Power BI Desktop is your best bet if your task revolves around data analysis and report creation. Power BI Online, on the other hand, is ideal for real-time accessibility and sharing with your colleagues.

Each has its set of pros and cons and the final decision depends upon your case of use. In some cases, you might be using both the software simultaneously for different purposes.

To learn more about Power BI, give the following articles a read:

Power BI Best Practices: 10 Guidelines to Always Follow

Power BI Dashboard vs. Report: The Pros and Cons

Power BI vs Excel: When to Use Excel and When Power BI Is Better

We hope you enjoy reading this article as much as we did crafting it! 🤗