Overview

Periscope

Stacks45

Followers94

Votes10

Power BI

Stacks953

Followers945

Votes29

Periscope vs Power BI: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Periscope and Power BI are both powerful data visualization tools that allow users to analyze and present data in a visually appealing way. However, there are several key differences between the two platforms that set them apart from each other. In this article, we will explore these differences in detail.

Integration with other tools: One key difference between Periscope and Power BI is the level of integration they offer with other tools. Periscope is known for its seamless integration with popular data storage and warehousing solutions such as Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, and Snowflake. On the other hand, Power BI offers built-in integration with Microsoft Azure services, SQL Server Analysis Services, and Excel.
Data connectivity options: When it comes to connecting to various data sources, Periscope and Power BI differ in their capabilities. Periscope offers a wide range of connectors to different databases, cloud storage platforms, and web services. Power BI, on the other hand, provides an extensive list of native connectors but also allows users to build custom connectors using Power Query. This gives users more flexibility and control over connecting to their data sources.
Collaboration and sharing features: Periscope and Power BI also differ in their collaboration and sharing capabilities. Periscope provides a real-time collaborative environment where multiple users can work on the same dashboard simultaneously. Its sharing options allow users to easily share dashboards with anyone, even if they do not have a Periscope account. Power BI, on the other hand, offers collaboration features through its Power BI service, allowing users to collaborate and share dashboards with their team members.
Data modeling and transformation: While both Periscope and Power BI offer data modeling and transformation capabilities, their approaches differ. Periscope provides a SQL-based interface that allows users to write queries and create custom transformations using SQL. Power BI, on the other hand, uses a graphical interface called Power Query, which enables users to visually define data transformations through a series of steps. This makes it easier for users who are not proficient in SQL to work with data.
Natural language query: Power BI offers a unique feature called "Q&A" which allows users to ask questions about their data using natural language queries. This feature utilizes advanced algorithms to interpret the user's intent and generate relevant visualizations and insights. Periscope does not currently offer a similar natural language query feature.
Deployment options: Another key difference between Periscope and Power BI lies in their deployment options. Periscope is a cloud-based platform that runs entirely on the server infrastructure provided by Periscope Data. Power BI, on the other hand, offers both cloud-based deployment through Power BI service and on-premises deployment through Power BI Report Server. This gives users the flexibility to choose the deployment option that best suits their needs.

In summary, Periscope and Power BI have key differences in terms of their integration capabilities, data connectivity options, collaboration and sharing features, data modeling and transformation approaches, natural language query capabilities, and deployment options. These differences make each platform unique and cater to different user preferences and requirements.

Advice on Periscope, Power BI

Vojtech

Head of Data at Mews

Nov 24, 2019

Decided

Power BI is really easy to start with. If you have just several Excel sheets or CSV files, or you build your first automated pipeline, it is actually quite intuitive to build your first reports.

And as we have kept growing, all the additional features and tools were just there within the Azure platform and/or Office 365.

Since we started building Mews, we have already passed several milestones in becoming start up, later also a scale up company and now getting ready to grow even further, and during all these phases Power BI was just the right tool for us.

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Periscope	Power BI
Periscope is a data analysis tool that uses pre-emptive in-memory caching and statistical sampling to run data analyses really, really fast.	It aims to provide interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities with an interface simple enough for end users to create their own reports and dashboards.
Beautiful Visualizations;Expert Query Tools;Seamless Sharing	Get self-service analytics at enterprise scale; Use smart tools for strong results; Help protect your analytics data
Statistics
Stacks 45	Stacks 953
Followers 94	Followers 945
Votes 10	Votes 29
Pros & Cons
Pros 6 Great for learning and teaching people SQL 4 Gorgeous "share-able" and "embeddable" dashboards	Pros 18 Cross-filtering 4 Database visualisation 2 Intuitive and complete internal ETL 2 Access from anywhere 2 Powerful Calculation Engine
Integrations
No integrations available	Microsoft Excel

What are some alternatives to Periscope, Power BI?

Metabase

It is an easy way to generate charts and dashboards, ask simple ad hoc queries without using SQL, and see detailed information about rows in your Database. You can set it up in under 5 minutes, and then give yourself and others a place to ask simple questions and understand the data your application is generating.

Superset

Superset's main goal is to make it easy to slice, dice and visualize data. It empowers users to perform analytics at the speed of thought.

Cube

Cube: the universal semantic layer that makes it easy to connect BI silos, embed analytics, and power your data apps and AI with context.

Mode

Created by analysts, for analysts, Mode is a SQL-based analytics tool that connects directly to your database. Mode is designed to alleviate the bottlenecks in today's analytical workflow and drive collaboration around data projects.

Google Datastudio

It lets you create reports and data visualizations. Data Sources are reusable components that connect a report to your data, such as Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Google AdWords and so forth. You can unlock the power of your data with interactive dashboards and engaging reports that inspire smarter business decisions.

AskNed

AskNed is an analytics platform where enterprise users can get answers from their data by simply typing questions in plain English.

Shiny

It is an open source R package that provides an elegant and powerful web framework for building web applications using R. It helps you turn your analyses into interactive web applications without requiring HTML, CSS, or JavaScript knowledge.

Redash

Redash helps you make sense of your data. Connect and query your data sources, build dashboards to visualize data and share them with your company.

Azure Synapse

It is an analytics service that brings together enterprise data warehousing and Big Data analytics. It gives you the freedom to query data on your terms, using either serverless on-demand or provisioned resources—at scale. It brings these two worlds together with a unified experience to ingest, prepare, manage, and serve data for immediate BI and machine learning needs.

Looker

We've built a unique data modeling language, connections to today's fastest analytical databases, and a service that you can deploy on any infrastructure, and explore on any device. Plus, we'll help you every step of the way.