Power Pivot vs Power BI (Pros & Cons)

Power BI is late to the party when it comes to Power Pivot.

Well before when Power BI was introduced to the shelf of Microsoft’s products, Excel had Power Pivot.

Power Pivot was introduced in Excel 2008 and until Excel 2016, users had to download it separately.

However, if you are subscribed to a later than 2016 version of Excel, you can get your hands on Power BI by including it as an add-in to the Ribbon 🎀

Power Pivot and Power BI are two potent Microsoft tools. They are aimed at helping businesses manage, analyze, and visualize data to support decision-making.

But in today’s world, do you need both of them? Can’t one of them replace the other? Which one suits you the best?

I will answer these questions by walking you through the key differences (or the relationship) between them both. So, by the end of this guide, you’ll be able to decide for yourself better 🚶‍♀️

Let’s go reading.

Table of Contents

Power Pivot in Excel

Power Pivot is an advanced data analysis tool of Excel that has evolved for the better. Earlier (until 2016), Excel users had to download it separately but since then it has been available as an Excel add-in 🙌

This in-built tool of Excel allows users to handle large and multiple datasets very efficiently. It stands out from the normal capabilities of native Excel by allowing users to import vast amounts of data from a wide range of sources.

Once imported, you can create relationships between your data tables and create data models using simple commands. Next, use DAX to create measures and KPIs to see your data through a new lens 😎

As an Excel user, if you’re looking around your Excel book to access the Power Pivot tool, you’ll not find it there readily. But following these quick steps will take you to it.

Step 1) Go to the File tab > Excel Options.

Step 2) Go to Add-ins from the pane on the left.

Step 3) Select COM add-ins from the Manager menu and hit Go.

Step 4) Check Power Pivot for Excel and click on add.

Step 5) Power Pivot will be added as a new tab to your Excel’s Ribbon.

A new tab the name Power Pivot will be added

Pros of Power Pivot

There’s a lot that we love about Power Pivot:

Firstly, Power Pivot is an in-built tool of Excel. So technically speaking, you’re working directly within Excel. This means you can leverage other functionalities of the spreadsheet software too 📑

If you’re an Excel user (well-adapted to how Excel works) and do not want to move to an altogether new software that might be alien to you, Power Pivot in Excel simplifies it for you.

You can import massive data, create relationships between it, and build comprehensive data tables within Power Pivot of Excel. This is not exactly possible with the native Pivot functionality of Excel 💹

Power Pivot of Excel is no less than a giant when it comes to handling data (millions of rows of data) from different sources. You cannot expect traditional Excel to be this capable.

Just like Power BI, it supports DAX allowing powerful analysis and data analysis capabilities.

Cons of Power Pivot

Besides loving Power Pivot, we believe it falls behind Power BI when it comes to the following aspects 👇

Power Pivot is great for data modelling and large-level data handling, but it lacks the rich data visualization options offered by Power BI.

After all, that’s what Power BI is meant for 🙈

As an Excel user (with no familiarity with using Power BI), leveraging DAX in Power Pivot might be a challenge for you.

And once you’ve made your Power Pivot model, sharing it across teams can be another challenge unless you’re connected to collaborative platforms like SharePoint or OneDrive.

Power BI

We will not say Power Pivot in Power BI, because, unlike Excel, Power Pivot is not an add-in in Power BI.

Microsoft Power BI is made up of some main building blocks one of which is Power Pivot. In Power BI, Power Pivot refers to the underlying data modelling engine 🚒

It offers the same power pivoting functionality as Excel but is integrated into the Power BI platform which is more robust and more featureful for analyzing large-scale datasets.

It allows you to connect data from multiple sources and then create relations between, define hierarchies, and use DAX to create advanced measures and KPIs.

Power BI has Power Pivot included as a leg it stands on. Like cells in Excel 😅

Pros of Power BI

Power BI is the business intelligence tool of Microsoft.

It also allows creating complex data models by defining relationships across multiple data tables coming from different data sources.

Within them, you can leverage DAX for complex calculations and analytics to bring the best insights out of your data 🧮

In comparison to Excel, Power BI is better at handling larger datasets more efficiently, especially for enterprise-level data.

Also, if you do not want to directly load data into Power BI in it’s original state, you can use Power Query to clean, transform and shape your data before you model it. Power Query is the ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) tool of Excel 🚀

In short, against all the ifs and buts, the area where Power BI wins against Power Pivot Excel is the visualization. Power Pivot is seamlessly integrated with the advanced data visualization capabilities of Power BI. So, you can turn your complex data models into interactive visuals and then, pin them together on a dashboard.

Or, download them as a report. Moreover, Power BI allows excellent scalability by supporting enterprise-wide reporting through its cloud-based Power BI Desktop infrastructure.

Excel cannot fight down Power BI in terms of easy sharing and collaboration. From Power BI, you can directly post reports and dashboards to Power BI Service for seamless access to your team members 🛡

Cons of Power BI

Not that Power BI is not user-friendly but still if you are not very familiar with business intelligence tools, this combination of DAX and complex data modelling might not be so easy to cope with. This is a potential downside of Power BI that not everyone can play around with it so easily with no prior experience.

Particularly, Excel users who are familiar with a tabular interface might find working within the Power BI environment challenging.

Also, note that Power BI is not meant for authoring data, it is more like a screening tool where you connect data and visualize it better. So, if you’re looking forward to creating data first, Power BI is not the tool for you 📝

Power BI Pro & Premium has a subscription cost, so it is not a preferable option in comparison to the free add-in of Excel unless you have large-scale enterprise reporting to be done.

Power BI is great for collaborative purposes, but this needs a reliable internet connection which is again an additional cost.

Power Pivot vs. Power BI: When to Use Each

After a long debate, we’ve finally crumbed down to the crunchiest piece of this tutorial, which one is the best to use? 🍪

Well, you’d have to ask yourself a few questions to know which software suits you the best.

• Do you have to author data, or the data is ready for modelling and analysis?
• What is the size of the dataset(s)?
• How important are interactive visualizations?
• Are you better at Power BI or Microsoft Excel?
• Do you need to collaborate and share reports with others?

Processing it all down, here’s a digestible tip 🤔

Use Power Pivot in Excel when you’re good at Excel, have moderately large data at hand, and require advanced modelling without the need for rich visualizations or extensive collaboration.

Opt for Power BI when you need to process large-scale data and perform dynamic reporting, real-time collaboration, and interactive visualizations.

This is what a dashboard from Power BI looks like 👀

Power BI offers better scalability and sharing capabilities that make it a superior choice for enterprise-level business intelligence.

From a cost perspective, must note that both Power BI and Microsoft Excel can be accessed for free (with limited features).

Power BI Pro and Premium accounts can be bought for $10 and $20, per month 💲

Whereas, speaking of Excel, you can only access Excel online for free. Microsoft 365 (the desktop app) can be bought for $6.99, per month.

Once you’ve subscribed for Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Office 365), you’ll have access not only to Excel but the family of Microsoft products, and sharing via SharePoint should not be a problem.

Conclusion

So, to wrap it all up, we know there’s no definitive answer to what’s better between Power Pivot and Power BI.

Instead, it comes down to your specific needs. Personally, unless I am on the lookout for extraordinary visuals or for a scalable solution to my problem, I would prefer the more familiar spreadsheet model of Excel 💡

But if I need a more powerful solution for large datasets, say enterprise-level reporting, advanced collaborative features, and rich visualization, Power BI is your answer. It has a steeper learning curve and can bear additional costs but is worth it all.

With all this discussion, I hope the decision becomes easier. And obviously, you can try them both, out to see which sits better with you 👩‍🏫

If you enjoyed this banter between Power BI and Power Pivot in Excel, you’d surely love seeing Power BI in other aspects of comparison too.

• Power BI: Desktop vs. Online – Pros and Cons
• Power BI Pricing: How much does it (actually) cost?
• Power BI vs Excel: When to Use Excel and When Power BI Is Better