Tableau vs. Power BI: ?? Clash of the Analytics Titans

The big debate in the business intelligence (BI) and analytics world right now is Tableau vs. Power BI, with AI BI being a wildcard influence both inside and outside of these leading platforms.

There are countless BI platforms out there, but Tableau and Power BI are the dominant players — as you can see from Google Search Trends chart pictured here, Power BI has seen steady growth, and search volume has surpassed Tableau — the reason for this change has multiple causes:

• Tableau interest peaked with the SFDC acquisition and then stagnated — it’s likely leadership, marketing, and business changes led to this.
• During the start of the COVID pandemic, we saw a steep decline in Tableau interest, whereas Power BI only experienced a temporary dip. Both orgs rebounded in Feb 2022. However, Power BI search volume has continuously surpassed Tableau since that time.
• Post-pandemic, what was going on? Microsoft’s marketing and sales machine continues to hammer their “Fabric” data infrastructure — Azure, Power BI, etc. If a team was migrated to Azure for their data warehouse, Power BI becomes an upsell. During higher interest rate times, savvy teams are auditing their entire tech stack, and analytics tools like Tableau are no exception. Leading data and IT teams are exploring build vs buy for self-serve analytics and long-term growth. For many enterprises already on a Microsoft stack both for 365 and Fabric, it’s natural to evaluate Power BI —
• The Salesforce roadmap with Tableau remains lose and uncertain — people are speculating Tableau will be rolled into SFDC and at some point, but there is no clear and public plan — enterprises investing millions in their data stack and 5–10 year tech stack road map do not like uncertainty.

In a recent Reddit poll, 51.4% of respondents said they would use Power BI most in 2025. The important caveat is the limited Redditors dataset, still perhaps a leading indicator of growing adoption in the coming half-decade.

BUT, these are uncertain times — we’re bombarded with daily AI advancements, shifting policy, and no clear roadmap on interest rates. In his 2024 annual letter (shared February 22nd, 2025), Warren Buffet implored the US Government to protect the stability of the USD. We have yet to see if his plea will be acknowledged, let alone heeded.

Paper money can see its value evaporate if fiscal folly prevails. In some countries, this reckless practice has become habitual, and, in our country’s short history, the U.S. has come close to the edge. Fixed-coupon bonds provide no protection against runaway currency.

Warren Buffet, in his 2024 Annual Shareholder Letter.

With all this said, only you and your IT, data, and procurement teams can effectively evaluate the best analytics and business intelligence platforms for your organization's business needs.

If you are at an enterprise, you’ll likely choose Tableau, Power BI, or build something in-house — layered on top of this, you’ll add enterprise AI solutions like Rollstack for AI-powered report generation.

You may choose open-source tools like Metabase if you're smaller and scrappy. Or if you’re on a Google Cloud data stack, you may opt for Looker. You may rely on sheets and SQL databases if you’re old school and lean.

Mature organizations seek tools with staying power. Tableau and Power BI both remain and will continue to remain leading BI platforms, short of an AI singularity that replaces the need for current data infrastructure.

What business intelligence platform you choose for your organization will depend on factors tied to your business’s data stack and AI strategy.

About the author

Nathan Corliss has been using business intelligence and analytics platforms for the last decade and a half. He is the Growth and Marketing lead at Rollstack, a business intelligence report generation platform that uses AI to analyze business data, and generate and email recurring reporting like QBRs, client reports, monthly reports, and financial reports.