Power BI vs. Qlik – The BARC Benchmark Study 2025 reveals clear differences

Today, business intelligence is standard in almost every company. But the crucial question remains:
Which platform not only provides beautiful dashboards, but also real measurable added value?
The new BARC Benchmark Study 2025 provides a clear answer to this question – and shows clear differences between
Microsoft Power BI and Qlik Cloud Analytics.

Why the right BI solution is so important

Today, choosing a BI and analytics platform is more than just a software decision. It concerns
Productivity, efficiency, scalability and ultimately the company’s success.
Those who rely on shiny product demos or feature lists often overlook the reality:
How does the system behave when millions of data records are processed?
What happens when not ten, but fifty or a hundred users access the system simultaneously?
This is precisely where the BARC Benchmark Study comes in.

The setting of the BARC Benchmark Study

BARC tested Power BI (Standard Cloud) and Qlik Cloud under realistic conditions:

• Data model: 10 million data records (typical for sales and finance in medium-sized companies)
• Parallel users: up to 50 simultaneous users
• Measurement: productivity, response times, scalability, stability

Premium versions (dedicated hardware) were deliberately not part of the study.
The focus was on the standard tiers – exactly what most companies actually use.

Results at a glance

The benchmark scores show clear differences:

While Power BI performs solidly overall, Qlik is clearly ahead in both disciplines.
Particularly exciting: the detailed results.

Productivity: less waiting, more results

The benchmark measured how many complete user sessions can be run per hour.
The result:

• Power BI: approx. 2,372 sessions/hour
• Qlik: approx. 4,942 sessions/hour

Qlik therefore delivers twice the productivity in practice.
Main reasons:

• Average response times: Qlik 1.37 seconds vs. Power BI 3.84 seconds
• More stable performance: no dropouts with Qlik, occasional crashes with Power BI
• Modern technology: Qlik relies on WebSockets (continuous communication), Power BI on classic HTTP requests
• Fewer clicks: Qlik requires 30% fewer interactions to complete the same tasks

Scalability: How well does the system hold up under load?

A similar picture emerged with up to 50 simultaneous users on 10 million data records:

• Qlik: Constant response times, no outliers, even slight improvements at higher loads
• Power BI: Throughput acceptable, but with outliers (some requests took 60, 120 or even 300 seconds)

Qlik therefore scales more predictably and stably – a decisive advantage for
medium-sized companies with a growing number of users or
critical business scenarios.

User experience: ergonomics is key

In addition to numbers and measurements, the user experience is also crucial.
Power BI requires more clicks, delivers irregular response times for filter changes and therefore appears less consistent.
Qlik scores with its smooth operation, caching strategies and a more modern interaction model.
The result: higher acceptance among end users – and this is precisely what ultimately determines actual use.

So why do so many companies rely on Power BI?

Quite simply, Power BI is inexpensive, quick to implement and deeply integrated into Microsoft 365.
It’s convenient. But convenience is not automatically the best solution.
In the long term, hidden costs can arise:
inefficient use, dissatisfied users and technical limitations that only become apparent when it is actually too late.

Conclusion of the study

The BARC Benchmark Study 2025 makes it clear:
Qlikdelivers measurably better results in the standard cloud tiers than Power BI –
both in terms of productivity and scalability.
For decision-makers, this means: don’t rely on habit or market share, but critically scrutinize
which solution really suits the company.

Experience Qlik for yourself – your chance in Hamburg

Those who want to not only read the results, but experience them live, have two opportunities in Hamburg:

• 05.11.2025: Qlik AI Reality Tour – experience live how Qlik makes Open Lakehouse and AI-powered analytics a reality.
• 04.12.2025: Try it with Qlik – our introductory training for Qlik Cloud Analytics.
  

👉 Book now and test for yourself how Qlik can take your data analysis to the next level.