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Dashboards and data visualization · October 2026 Edition

Microsoft Power BI vs Sigma

Eleven of fourteen models named Microsoft Power BI first on the direct prompt; one named Sigma. Microsoft Power BI was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Sigma by eight and Microsoft Power BI carries 71 labels and Sigma 15, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Microsoft Power BI

endorsed leader

By Microsoft, Vancouver, Canada, founded 1975. Named in five categories this edition.

Sigma

accepted challenger

By SIGMA COMPUTING, San Francisco. Named in two categories this edition.

First-choice share52%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate17%0%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#6A position in a field of 11; printed, not drawn.
Labels7115A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Microsoft Power BI reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Tableau was named alongside these two in thirteen of the fourteen direct answers. Microsoft Power BI vs Looker Studio · Microsoft Power BI vs Tableau · Microsoft Power BI vs Metabase

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the dashboards and data visualization page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Microsoft Power BIFirst choices, of fourteen modelsSigma
Direct111
Paraphrase100
Comparative60
Budget-constrained103 against Microsoft Power BI
Scale-constrained30
Negative109 against Microsoft Power BI
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Microsoft Power BI and Sigma were named in the same answer thirty-two times, of the 266 answers naming Microsoft Power BI and the 35 naming Sigma. In those answers Sigma took the first choice one time and Microsoft Power BI eighteen.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Microsoft Power BI and Sigma stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.20
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Microsoft Power BI Sigma first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Microsoft Power BI on the left and Sigma on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Microsoft Power BI and Sigma stood in it.

Microsoft Power BI first, Sigma an alternative

11 of 14 modelsSigma was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Claude Haiku 4.5Microsoft Power BI, Tableau alternatives: Metabase
GPT-5.4 miniMicrosoft Power BI alternatives: Looker, Tableau
Perplexity SonarMicrosoft Power BI alternatives: Tableau, Zoho Analytics
Grok 4.20Microsoft Power BI alternatives: Looker, Tableau, Zoho Analytics
DeepSeek V4 FlashMicrosoft Power BI alternatives: Domo, Looker Studio, Sigma, Tableau, ThoughtSpot
Qwen 3.7 FlashMicrosoft Power BI alternatives: Domo, Looker, Tableau, Zoho Analytics
Kimi K2Microsoft Power BI alternatives: Sigma, Sisense, Tableau
GLM 4.7 FlashXMicrosoft Power BI alternatives: Looker, Qlik Sense, Tableau
MiniMax M2.5Microsoft Power BI alternatives: Domo, Tableau
GPT-6 LunaMicrosoft Power BI alternatives: Looker, Sigma, Tableau
Muse Glimmer 30BMicrosoft Power BI alternatives: Domo, Looker, Looker Studio, Tableau, ThoughtSpot

Sigma first, Microsoft Power BI an alternative

1 of 14 modelsMicrosoft Power BI was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Gemini 3.5 FlashSigma alternatives: Explo, Metabase, Microsoft Power BI, Sisense, Tableau

Neither was the first choice, one was named

1 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Mistral SmallTableau alternatives: Domo, Microsoft Power BI

Neither was named

1 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Microsoft Power BI leads by thirty-seven points.
Microsoft Power BI37%#1 of 8
Sigma0%#– of 8
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Microsoft Power BI leads by fifty points.
Microsoft Power BI52%#1 of 11
Sigma2%#6 of 11
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Microsoft Power BI leads by fifty-eight points.
Microsoft Power BI58%#1 of 10
Sigma0%#7 of 10
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Microsoft Power BI

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.

“Dataset limits and performance: Pro tier caps at 1GB, slows on large data/DAX queries... When to avoid: Non-Microsoft stacks, massive datasets” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · soft negative
“If you are outside the Microsoft ecosystem, need platform-agnostic deployment, or don't want to invest in DAX and premium-capacity administration.” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“Why to be cautious: Power BI is incredibly powerful and cost-effective, but mostly if you are already in a Microsoft/Azure environment.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Microsoft Shop? ... $\rightarrow$ Power BI. It integrates natively, has deep Excel integration ... usually the cheapest option” Qwen 3.7 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“Microsoft Power BI — *Best Overall Value* ... Start with Power BI if you're cost-conscious and in the Microsoft ecosystem” Kimi K2 · direct prompt · first choice
“Power BI is almost always the default recommendation. It is widely considered the industry standard for mid-market companies” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice

What the models said about Sigma

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Three of four in this category shown.

“go with Sigma Computing” Gemini 3.5 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“Choose Sigma if your team lives in Excel, you use Snowflake/Databricks, and you want business users to perform heavy ad-hoc analysis on live data.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · alternative
“Sisense or Sigma are particularly strong choices due to their embedded analytics capabilities” Kimi K2 · direct prompt · alternative
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.