Qlik Sense or Power BI – Ultimate Comparison Guide of 2025

In our series of comparing robust business intelligence tools of 2024, we last discussed Power BI vs Google Data Studio, and before that, we discussed Power BI vs Tableau.

Advancing to the next fold of our discussion, it’s time to compare another set of powerful BI contenders – Qlik Sense vs Power BI.

Does it make your decision even more difficult?

Worry not!

If you’re on the fence about deciding between Power BI vs Quik Sense, this straight-talk business intelligence platform review is here to help you make an informed decision.

Ready to discover, decide, and take action?

Let’s go!

Starting our debate around Qlik Sense vs Power BI — Let’s first get to know our two contenders.

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Let’s Start With – What is Power BI?

Microsoft Power BI – an acronym for Power Business Intelligence, is a collection of connectors, apps, and software services that work unitedly to turn disparate data sources into coherent and immersive insights.

Whether your data is – on-premises, in the cloud, on a spreadsheet, or streaming in real time, Power BI’s powerful features and self-explanatory interface empower you to derive hidden insights and make informed business decisions, effortlessly.

Next, in the comparison between Qlik vs Power BI, it’s time to scoop the capabilities of the second contender – Qlik Sense.

What is Qlik Sense?

Qlik Sense is a modern and web-based data analysis platform, representing the 3rd-generation BI technology which means it is the most user-friendly iteration of analytics available, today.

With Qlik Sense, you are empowered with the capability to seamlessly explore, discover, and build compelling stories to present the data across different verticals.

Moreover, its responsive design ensures that your visualizations appear beautiful on every device.

Have you made up your judgment?

Don’t rush your decision just yet.

Both BI platforms are robust in their own right and there is a lot you should consider before investing in one.

Next, in decoding your dilemma between Qlik Sense vs Power BI, we will zoom into the important aspects that will take you closer to your decision.

Let’s get going to understand what Power BI and Qlik Sense are used for?

What is Power BI Used for?

Power BI is used by businesses large, small, and medium to –

• Gather real-time insights
• Make sense of complicated data
• Extend business intelligence value with AI and ML
• Identify trend patterns
• Set up automation
• Perform online analytical processing
• Conduct Ad hoc analysis and reporting
• Utilize complete reporting and data visualization toolset
• Engage with the Q&A question box
• Accelerate decision making

What is Qlik Sense Used For?

Qlik Sense is primarily used by medium and large sized-businesses to –

• Empower their teams with self-service analytics and visualizations
• Create interactive dashboards
• Utilize search and conversational analytics
• Set up alerts and automation
• Generate reports
• Customize and embed analytics
• Perform real-time analytics
• Integrate with Big data sources
• Utilize a rapid development environment
• Access standard APIs
• Collaborate on reports and dashboards

Long story short: Both Power BI and Qlik Sense equip robust business intelligence capabilities and empower businesses to understand, visualize, and share data through different approaches.

Realize that in the tug-of-war between Qlik Sense vs Power BI, the latter aims for businesses of all sizes, with mixed budgets, and requires no strong proficiency, while the prior BI platform caters to medium and large enterprises with bigger data storage needs and calls for proficient data professionals.

When we compared the leading business intelligence tools Qlik vs Tableau vs Power BI, here is what we found.

BI Platform	Tableau	Power BI	Qlik Sense
No. of companies using the product	120,182	97,538	14,233
Market share	16.78%	13.62%	1.99%

Source: Enlyft

Moving on, it’s time to dive deeper, into the face-off of Microsoft Power BI vs Qlik Sense, nail down their features, and help you find “the one” for your BI needs.

Qlik Sense vs Power BI Features Comparison

Before we get into the details, here’s a quick feature comparison of the Microsoft business intelligence tool and Qlik Sense for your understanding.

Qlik Sense and Power BI – Key Points of Disparity

Although both BI tools share primary differences between their underlying ecosystems and technologies, they share a common goal of empowering businesses to visualize data and discover what’s important.

Qlik Sense vs Power BI – Here are the Differences

1. Power BI vs Qlik Sense – Vendor and Ecosystem

Microsoft Power BI offers effortless integration with other Microsoft product offerings such as Azure, and MS Power Platform along with non-Microsoft product ranges such as Google Sheets, SalesForce, etc.

Created by Qlik, Qlik Sense is a standalone business intelligence product.

Although Qlik doesn’t share the same level of integration with Microsoft’s product range, it offers standard integration connectivity to a variety of data sources including spreadsheets, data warehouses, cloud-based platforms, and many more.

If your business is heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem Power BI is your best choice.

2. Qlik Sense vs Power BI – Storage Capacity

Power BI provides cloud storage from 10 GB to 100 TB depending on your subscription plan.

Whereas Qlik Sense provides 500 GB of cloud storage.

Whatever data storage capabilities your business intelligence initiative demands, MS PowerBI may be the best bet as you can choose from different subscription plans flexibly.

3. Power BI versus Qlik Sense – Visualization and User-Interface

Microsoft Power BI is applauded for its intuitive features and user interface, serving both technical and non-technical users, alike.

Similarly, Qlik Sense is an easy-to-use and clean BI tool that allows users with varied technical abilities to easily interact with the tool.

Yet, Power BI stands unbeatable in this category for delivering superior user experience.

4. MS Power BI vs Qlik Sense – Supported Devices

Power BI supports Windows, Android, and iOS devices.

If you must maintain your data on-premises, you need to get the special version of the Desktop app called Power BI Desktop for Power BI Report Server.

Qlik Sense also shares seamless compatibility with the latest iOS versions, Windows, Android, and web-based platforms. For your on-premises reporting needs, you need to install Qlik Sense Enterprise on Prem

Decoding your dilemma of Microsoft Power BI vs Qlik Sense, device compatibility plays a significant role and both BI tools offer extensive support for various devices.

5. Qlik Sense vs Power BI – Reporting

Both Power BI and QlikSense offer robust reporting capabilities.

Creating and distributing reports in MS Power BI is both easy and rewarding for all users from diverse technical backgrounds thanks to Power BI’s drag-and-drop interface and self-explanatory features.

Qlik, on the other hand, empowers users to create detailed reports by incorporating charts and graphs.

The winner of this category is subjective and depends on your business’s specific reporting and distributing preferences.

6. Qlik vs Power BI – Mobile App

For iOS and Android, Power BI and Qlik Sense both provide mobile apps with responsive design and offline access.

Users may view reports and dashboards on their mobile devices with ease ensuring cutting-edge data protection and support for real-time collaboration.

Power BI Mobile App is best used to monitor and access your Power BI data on the go.

Whether the data is on-premises or in the cloud, you may view and interact with all Power BI reports and dashboards, share them with your team and discover insights within minutes.

Qlik Sense also walks in with a Qlik Sense Mobile SaaS app for iOS and Android mobile devices that allows users who have been allocated User access, or a Professional or Analyzer access license to connect while restricting anonymous access.

Both the BI platforms Power BI and Qlik Sense pose equal competition when it comes to providing mobile accessibility and protecting data while supporting real-time collaboration. Thus, the winner of this bracket depends on your business preference and additional features.

7. Qlik vs Power BI – Pricing

Lastly, in the discussion around Qlik Sense vs Power BI, we have the biggest deciding factor – Pricing.

The prize winner of this category is Power BI due to its flexible pricing options and straightforward pricing model.

Whereas QlikSense comes with a complicated token pricing model, making Power BI a cost-effective and user-friendly choice for many businesses.

Phew! That was quite a comparison between Qlik Sense vs Power BI.

This in-depth Power BI vs Qlik Sense comparison will move you close to your decision.

Moving on, it’s time to explore the pluses and minuses of the BI tools in question.

Power BI vs Qlik Sense – Pros and Cons

Whether your gut feeling says Power BI or Qlik Sense, exploring the good and bad of each tool will provide you with a clearer perspective, allowing you to make an informed decision without solely relying on your intuition.

Let’s get going.

Pros and Cons of Qlik Sense

Pros of Qlik Sense	Cons of Qlik Sense
Highly scalable platform	Complicated token pricing model
Easy collaboration on data projects	Steep learning curve for non-data professionals
Robust security features to protect sensitive data	Costlier than some other BI and data visualization tools
Best suited for medium and large-sized enterprises	Limited integration options with other business tools and systems

Pros and cons of Power BI

Pros of Power BI	Cons of Power BI
Free version	Costly to scale
Very easy-to-use	Lack of in-memory data processing
Backed-by Microsoft	Unjustifiable cost for Power BI Premium
Flexible licensing model	Limited capabilities with the Free Version
Rich and personalized reports and dashboards	Higher dependency on Microsoft product offerings
Seamless integration with Microsoft ecosystem
Customizable visualization and security features

This was all about the Qlik Sense vs Power BI differences that you should be aware of before arriving at your decision.

Now it’s time to clear the air around the dilemma…

Power BI vs Qlik Sense – How to Pick One?

After carefully assessing these factors, you’ll have a thoughtful answer to the question – “Which BI tool fits best for my organization’s BI needs?”

Impressed with the capabilities of Microsoft’s Power BI, have you decided to opt for it?

Cheers!

We are happy to have helped you arrive at your best judgment.

Do you want to make the most of Power BI effortlessly?

It’s ideal to partner with a Power BI consulting and implementation services provider and leverage their expertise.

Before you get cold feet, let’s understand what PowerBI consulting is and how you benefit from it.

Let’s go! Shall we?

Power BI Consulting Services – What Should You Expect?

If you’re serious about maximizing your Power BI investment, transforming your data into rich visuals, and establishing a data-driven culture across your organization, Power BI consulting is your ticket to success.

It grants you access to Power BI experts who stand by your side throughout the Power BI lifecycle, ensuring that the solution aligns closely with your organization’s business intelligence needs.

Whether you’re a seasoned user or new to Power BI, Power BI consulting services are sure to benefit you in some way or the other.

We sense your curiosity to learn more about Power BI professional services and uncover how they prove instrumental in your BI journey.

Up next – Let’s explore the best times to invest in Power BI services.

Power BI Consulting Services – When do You Need Them the Most?

The best time to engage with a Power BI consultancy is when you are aware of the BI challenges that need attention but cannot get the answers.

Not all challenges need the attention of professional Power BI service providers.

But when there is growing complexity, unsatisfactory results, constant struggle, or pressure to deliver prompt insights, it’s ideal to seek professional help.

We bring you top scenarios where investing in Power BI service provider makes a great choice.

Let’s look at them one-by-one!

When You Need to Leverage Advanced Analytics

Hands down, no BI tool is as easy as Microsoft Power BI.

It is designed for non-technical and technical users alike to gain micro and macro views through customized dashboards.

But the same users may get lost in the intricacies of its advanced analytics.

While it allows users to go deep into the visualizations, ask questions to the data, integrate with Azure machine learning, and whatnot, exploring these features can be overwhelming.

This is when a professional Power BI service provider comes to your rescue.

What Changes When You Engage with a Power BI consulting company?

It grants you access to pre-vetted Power BI experts who understand the tool inside and out.

They make the best use of advanced analytics to –

• Uncover hidden trends and patterns
• Anticipate changes and predict future demands
• Build dynamic dashboards to track real-time performance
• Automate reporting and data workflows for better efficiency

The consultants go beyond mere implementation and train your team, to ensure everyone can make the most of Power BI’s advanced analytics, irrespective of their skill level.

When You Want to Scale Your Business Intelligence Efforts

Next best time to invest in Power BI is when you are ready to make a jump from basic reporting to scalable solutions.

This may happen when your business is expanding to new territories, you are planning to expand your team, launching a new product range, integrating multiple data sources across departments, etc.

At this stage, you need solid support for your growing data needs.

What Changes with a Power BI Consulting Company?

With the right PBI consultants, you gain valuable support to expand your business intelligence and data visualization efforts.

With their help, you’ll be up and running, scaling your business operations while scaling your business intelligence efforts.

When You Don’t Have Access to Power BI Developers

You are invested in Power BI but making bare minimum of it, because you don’t have access to proficient Power BI developers.

Is that the case with you?

Without skilled professionals you miss the whole point of what Power BI can do for your business.

With Power BI expert/s, you can anticipate market trends, understand consumer behavior, grab opportunities before your competitors do, etc. But without them, you’re stuck at level 1!

What Changes When You Engage with a Power BI consulting Company?

By joining hands with a Power BI consulting company, you get ready access to pre-vetted developers who bring specialized expertise to your team.

The dedicated experts join your team with unwavering commitment to ensure your project deliverables are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely).

The best part? You can handpick your team of experts and conclude the engagement when your needs are met without long-term commitment.

Do you have an internal team of Power BI developers? The Power BI expert/s can work as an extension of your in-house team, multiplying your capabilities, without disrupting your team’s working style and environment.

With their help, you’ll move up from just creating reports and staring at it to truly leveraging Power BI insights for strategic decision-making.

At last, determining the best times to invest in Power BI consulting may differ as each company’s needs and abilities are different.

But one thing is clear – whenever it is important to grow your business, get ahead of your competition, or leverage strategic decision-making, it’s wise to partner with a reliable Power BI consultancy.

With expert professionals on your side, you’re sure to witness a meaningful change in your analytics and decision-making capabilities in just a few months.

This blog is brought to you by Integrative Systems, a reputed Power BI consulting services provider and certified Microsoft Partner based out of Chicago, USA.

Power BI Consultancy of Your Choice – Integrative Systems

If you’re looking for a Power BI partner with proven expertise to upgrade your BI strategy and drive your business toward success – Team Integrative Systems is worth your attention.

Why should you choose us over others?

What makes us stand out in the crowd is – our philosophy doesn’t revolve around repeat business but delivering true value the first time.

Think we’re a match made in heaven?

Drop us a line at [email protected] and someone from our team of experts will get back to you within 2 business days to take it ahead from there.

Microsoft Power BI vs Qlik Sense – FAQs

1. Is Power BI Better Than Qlik?

Ans- Power BI is better than Qlik Sense in multiple ways. Such as – Cost-effectiveness, ease of use, flexible pricing model, variety of customization options, and much more. However, Qlik Sense has its own advantages such as bigger cloud storage and an associative-based data engine.

2. Is Qlik Sense Good or Bad?

Ans- Qlik Sense is a great BI tool known for its flexibility, ease of use, and solid customization capabilities. However, its complex token pricing model and limited integration with Microsoft’s product range put it behind Power BI.

3. What are the Cons of using QlikSense for Business Intelligence initiatives?

Ans- Some of the disadvantages of Qlik include:

• Complicated pricing model
• Steep learning curve
• Limited integration capabilities

4. What is the Best Data Visualization Tool in 2024?

Ans- Microsoft Power BI is the best data visualization tool, meeting all the requirements of an ideal data visualization tool in 2024.

5. Is Qlik Sense Free or Paid?

Ans- Unlike Microsoft Power BI, Qlik Sense doesn’t have a free version available. However, you can explore its features free with a 30-day free trial.

Qlik Sense paid versions include –

1. Qlik Sense Business – Per user/month

2. Qlik Sense Enterprise SaaS – Quote-based pricing