Microsoft Power BI vs Redash

Microsoft Power BI is a freemium BI platform with a free but Windows-only Desktop authoring app, DAX-driven data modeling, AI-assisted Copilot features, and…

Best for Microsoft Power BI: Organizations already using Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint, and Azure that want deep DAX-driven data modeling, enterprise governance (row-level security, certified datasets, deployment pipelines), and AI-assisted Copilot reporting, and can pay $10-$20/user/month for sharing and collaboration.
Best for Redash: Teams that write SQL and want a completely free, self-hosted way to query multiple SQL, NoSQL, and API-based data sources and share dashboards without per-seat licensing, and who can accept that the project has been in maintenance mode since 2020.

At a Glance

 Microsoft Power BIRedash
Primary categoryBusiness IntelligenceBusiness Intelligence
RatingNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelSubscriptionFree and open source for self-hosted deployments; the original hosted Redash Cloud service was discontinued by Databricks in 2021.
Starting priceFree (Power BI Desktop); $14/user/month for ProFree (self-hosted, open source)
Free planYesNot documented
Free trialNot documentedNot documented
PlatformsWeb, WindowsNot documented
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresYesNot documented
Public APINot documentedYes

Key Differences

Cost Structure

Microsoft Power BI: Power BI Desktop is free for individual report authoring, but sharing and collaboration require paid Pro ($10/user/month) or Premium Per User ($20/user/month) licensing, with Premium Capacity starting from $4,995/month for organization-wide compute.

Redash: Redash's entire stack, including the SQL editor, dashboards, sharing, and alerting, is free and open source with no per-user licensing cost.

Power BI's free tier only covers solo authoring, while real collaborative use has ongoing per-seat costs; Redash has none.

Platform & OS

Microsoft Power BI: Power BI Desktop is a Windows-only application; Mac users need to access reports via a browser or run Desktop through a Windows virtual machine.

Redash: Redash is a self-hosted web application not tied to a specific desktop operating system.

Organizations with mixed-OS environments, especially Mac-heavy teams, face friction with a Windows-only authoring tool.

AI Features

Microsoft Power BI: Power BI includes Natural Language Q&A, AI Visuals (forecasting, clustering, key influencers), and Copilot-assisted report creation and narrative summaries.

Redash: Redash's own documented con states it lacks the AI and semantic-layer features found in newer open source BI tools.

AI-assisted report creation and natural-language querying can significantly speed up analysis for non-technical users.

Governance & Enterprise Scale

Microsoft Power BI: Power BI offers row-level security, certified/endorsed datasets, deployment pipelines, and Premium Capacity licensing for large, IT-managed analytics programs.

Redash: Redash has no documented row-level security or dataset certification workflow, and has been in maintenance mode since its 2020 Databricks acquisition with infrequent releases.

Large organizations need formal governance controls over who sees what data and confidence that the platform is actively maintained.

Report Types & Mobile Access

Microsoft Power BI: Power BI supports pixel-perfect paginated reports for invoices and statements, plus native mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows.

Redash: Redash does not document paginated/print-format reports or native mobile apps, focusing instead on web-based dashboards.

Operational reporting (invoices, statements) and on-the-go mobile access are specific needs not all BI tools cover.

Feature-by-Feature

Reporting & Visualization

FeatureMicrosoft Power BIRedash
Interactive drag-and-drop reportsAvailableAvailable
Paginated/print-format reportsAvailableUnavailable
Natural language Q&AAvailableUnavailable
Scheduled data refreshAvailableAvailable
Native mobile appsAvailableUnavailable

Pricing & Platform

FeatureMicrosoft Power BIRedash
Free tierLimitedAvailable
Entry collaborative-tier priceAvailableAvailable
Mac-native authoringUnavailableAvailable
Hosted/cloud version currently availableAvailableUnavailable

AI & Enterprise Governance

FeatureMicrosoft Power BIRedash
AI-assisted report creation (Copilot)AvailableUnavailable
Row-level securityAvailableNot documented
Certified/endorsed datasetsAvailableNot documented
Deep Microsoft 365/Teams/SharePoint integrationAvailableUnavailable

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

Microsoft Power BI

Power BI Desktop — Free N/A
Power BI Pro — $14/user/month Annual
Power BI Premium Per User — $24/user/month Annual

Redash

Self-Hosted Open Source — Free (infrastructure hosting costs typically $5 to $10/month) N/A
Third-Party Managed Hosting — From approximately $49/month Monthly

Pros & Cons

Microsoft Power BI

Pros

  • Power BI Desktop is free for individual report building
  • Tight integration with Excel and the broader Microsoft 365/Azure ecosystem
  • Used by over 350,000 organizations, indicating a mature ecosystem and community
  • Scales from a single Pro seat to enterprise-wide capacity or Fabric licensing
  • Frequent feature updates, with over 1,500 shipped since its 2015 launch

Cons

  • Pro and Premium Per User prices increased significantly in April 2025 ($10 to $14 and $20 to $24)
  • Sharing and collaborating on reports requires a paid Pro or Premium license even for viewers in some configurations
  • Capacity-based Premium licensing is being phased toward Fabric, adding complexity for long-term planning
  • DAX and data modeling have a real learning curve for non-technical users
  • Large-scale enterprise analytics increasingly pushes customers toward the pricier Fabric platform

Redash

Pros

  • Completely free to self-host with no licensing cost
  • Broad database and data source connector support
  • Simple, SQL-first workflow familiar to analysts
  • Large existing community and long GitHub history
  • Backed historically by well-known companies as users, including Atlassian and Mozilla

Cons

  • The original hosted Redash Cloud service was shut down by Databricks in November 2021
  • Development has slowed to roughly one release per year since the acquisition
  • Self-hosting requires infrastructure setup and ongoing maintenance
  • Feature development has lagged behind actively developed alternatives like Metabase and Superset
  • No official commercial support channel independent of the community

Use Cases

Choose Microsoft Power BI: Organizations already using Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint, and Azure that want deep DAX-driven data modeling, enterprise governance (row-level security, certified datasets, deployment pipelines), and AI-assisted Copilot reporting, and can pay $10-$20/user/month for sharing and collaboration.
Choose Redash: Teams that write SQL and want a completely free, self-hosted way to query multiple SQL, NoSQL, and API-based data sources and share dashboards without per-seat licensing, and who can accept that the project has been in maintenance mode since 2020.
Need both: A data team might self-host Redash for quick, no-cost internal SQL dashboards and ad hoc querying while using Power BI for polished, governed reports distributed to executives and embedded in Teams or SharePoint, serving different audiences with different governance requirements from the same underlying data.

Microsoft Power BI

  • Business reporting and dashboards — Analysts build interactive dashboards that let stakeholders explore sales, marketing, or operations data without needing a dedicated analyst for every question.
  • Enterprise data governance and self-service BI — IT and data platform teams create governed datasets that business users can safely build their own reports on top of.
  • Excel-integrated financial and operational analysis — Finance and operations teams already working in Excel extend their analysis into interactive Power BI reports using the same underlying data.

Redash

  • Self-hosted SQL dashboards for small data teams — Running lightweight, self-hosted dashboards without enterprise BI licensing costs.
  • Lightweight BI for startups avoiding enterprise BI licensing costs — Using a free, open-source tool instead of paying for a full commercial BI platform.
  • Legacy Redash deployments maintained by existing users — Continuing to run and maintain existing self-hosted Redash instances after the Databricks acquisition.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Power BI free?

Power BI Desktop, the report-authoring app, is free to download and use. Sharing reports with others, scheduling refreshes, and collaborating in the Power BI service generally require a paid Pro ($10/user/month) or Premium license.

Is Redash free?

Yes, Redash is entirely free and open source with no licensing cost, though it is self-hosted only since the original Redash Cloud hosted service was discontinued in November 2021.

Does Redash have AI features like Power BI's Copilot?

No, Redash's own documented con states it lacks the AI and semantic-layer features found in newer open source BI tools, while Power BI includes Natural Language Q&A, AI Visuals, and Copilot-assisted report creation.

Does Power BI run on Mac?

Power BI Desktop is a Windows-only application. Mac users typically access reports through the Power BI service in a web browser or run Desktop via a Windows virtual machine, whereas Redash's self-hosted web app isn't tied to a specific desktop OS.

Which tool is better for teams already on Microsoft 365?

Power BI, due to its deep integration with Excel, Teams, SharePoint, and Azure, which lowers friction for organizations already standardized on Microsoft 365. Redash does not document comparable Microsoft ecosystem integrations.

Is there a hosted version of Redash today?

No, the original Redash Cloud hosted service was shut down in November 2021; only self-hosting is currently available. Power BI, by contrast, is offered as a cloud service (the Power BI service) alongside its free desktop app.

Read the full Microsoft Power BI review · Read the full Redash review