Updated for 2026

Best Power BI Alternatives

Looking beyond Microsoft Power BI? Compare the top BI tools with better cross-platform support, dbt integration, and AI features.

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Why teams are switching from Power BI

Common pain points that drive teams to evaluate alternatives

Windows dependency

Power BI Desktop only runs on Windows. Mac users and Linux teams need alternatives.

No dbt support

Power BI does not integrate with dbt or MetricFlow. Teams want their semantic layer in code.

Microsoft lock-in

Power BI works best in the Microsoft ecosystem. Cloud-agnostic teams prefer open options.

Limited AI

Q&A has limitations. Modern BI tools offer better AI-powered natural language queries.

Top Power BI alternatives

Compare features, pricing, and use cases for each option

Metricly

Recommended

AI-native, platform-agnostic BI

Modern BI built on your dbt semantic layer with AI-powered queries. Works on any platform, any browser.

From $49/user/mo

Pros

  • Native dbt/MetricFlow integration
  • AI natural language queries
  • Platform agnostic (web-based)
  • Simple per-user pricing

Cons

  • No Excel integration
  • Requires dbt for semantic layer
See full comparison

Tableau

Enterprise visualization

Industry-leading visualization platform. More visualization options but complex licensing.

From $70/user/mo

Pros

  • Best-in-class visualizations
  • Platform independent
  • Large community

Cons

  • No semantic layer
  • Complex licensing
  • No dbt integration
See full comparison

Looker

Enterprise semantic layer BI

Google Cloud BI with LookML semantic layer. Cloud-native but expensive.

From $5,000+/mo

Pros

  • True semantic layer
  • Cloud-native
  • Google Cloud integration

Cons

  • Very expensive
  • LookML learning curve
  • Proprietary modeling language
See full comparison

Metabase

Simple open-source BI

Free, open-source BI that works on any platform. Great for simple use cases.

Free (self-hosted)

Pros

  • Free and open source
  • Platform independent
  • Easy to set up

Cons

  • No AI features
  • Basic semantic layer
  • Self-hosting required
See full comparison

Superset

Open-source SQL analytics

Apache open-source platform for technical teams. Powerful SQL Lab.

Free (self-hosted)

Pros

  • Completely free
  • Powerful SQL Lab
  • Highly customizable

Cons

  • Complex setup
  • SQL knowledge required
  • No AI features
See full comparison

Frequently asked questions

Common reasons include Windows dependency (Power BI Desktop), lack of dbt integration, Microsoft ecosystem lock-in, complex licensing tiers, and wanting better AI features.
Metricly, Tableau, and Looker are all fully web-based and work on Mac. Metricly offers the best combination of AI features, semantic layer, and pricing for modern data teams.
Power BI Pro starts at $10/user/mo, which is low. However, many features require Premium ($20/user/mo or capacity pricing). Open-source options like Metabase are free but require self-hosting.
Power BI can connect to dbt models as data sources, but it does not understand MetricFlow metrics. For native dbt semantic layer support, consider Metricly or Lightdash.
Metricly and ThoughtSpot offer the best AI-powered natural language queries. Metricly is more affordable and integrates natively with dbt.

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