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Keep Power BI or Tableau for internal reporting if it already works there. Neither choice rules out Databrain: it can serve the customer-facing layer while the incumbent stays internal.
No published Databrain case study replaced Tableau, so this is the closest evidence we have: two teams that replaced Power BI for customer-facing analytics. Figures and quotes are taken from each published case study. Two customers is a small sample, so read the fit section for who should stay on Power BI or Tableau.
Mortgage broker ERP, replaced Microsoft Power BI
“We struggled with PowerBI - embedding it into our platform was difficult, the customization options were limited & the pricing structure was often unpredictable, making it hard to manage costs effectively.”
Insure-tech and employee benefits, replaced Power BI
“We tried setting up embedded analytics with Power BI and honestly, it was a nightmare.”
The short version of Power BI Embedded, Tableau Embedded and Databrain side by side.
| Power BI Embedded | Tableau Embedded | Databrain | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Microsoft's BI platform, with an embed-for-your-customers option typically used by ISVs | A visual analytics platform with desktop and web authoring, sold hosted or self-managed, with an Embedded Analytics license for external audiences | Multi-tenant B2B SaaS products embedding customer-facing analytics |
| How it embeds | An iframe driven by the powerbi-client library, with official React and Angular wrappers | Embedding API v3 web components that host the view in an iframe | Web components (Shadow DOM) for React, Next.js, Angular, Vue, Svelte, Solid and vanilla JS |
| How tenants are scoped | You design it: workspace per tenant, or a shared model with RLS roles, managed with service principal profiles | Sites and projects, with user filters or JWT user attributes inside a site | clientId in a server-minted guest token; one data app serves every tenant |
| Who needs a licence | App users need no Power BI licence; users who publish content need Power BI Pro | Role licenses, or for external viewers a usage-based license (per analytical impression) or capacity-based Viewer Blocks | Unlimited seats on every plan |
| Pricing model | Capacity billed hourly: A1 at $735.913/month, Fabric F2 at $262.80/month pay as you go | Per-user roles at published prices; embedded usage or capacity by quote; annual contract | Flat and published: $999/mo Growth, $1,995/mo Pro, Enterprise custom |
| Query model | Import, DirectQuery or Composite semantic models | Live connections or extracts | Live queries against your warehouse |
| Deployment | A capacity (A, EM, P or F SKU) you provision | Tableau Cloud in a chosen region, or self-managed Tableau Server | Databrain cloud, or self-hosted on Enterprise |
| Typical time to production | Depends on your build; Microsoft's pages give no figure | Depends on your build; Tableau's pages give no figure | 2 to 4 weeks for most teams; EpochOS 2 weeks, BerryBox 3 weeks |
Power BI Embedded is Microsoft's offering for embedding Power BI reports, dashboards and paginated reports in your own application.
In the embed-for-your-customers model (app owns data), your app authenticates to Power BI with a service principal or master user, so your customers do not sign in to Power BI or need a licence. Embedding in production requires a capacity (A, EM, P or F SKU).
Tableau is a visual analytics platform sold as Tableau Cloud (hosted) and Tableau Server (self-managed), licensed by Creator, Explorer and Viewer roles. For external audiences it offers an Embedded Analytics license, the Embedding API v3 and connected apps for sign-in.
Around it sit Tableau Prep, Tableau Pulse (a metrics layer that can be embedded) and Tableau Agent on its premium editions.
Databrain is an AI-native embedded analytics platform for B2B SaaS. You connect your warehouse with read-only access, define metrics, mint a guest token from your backend, and place a web component in your app.
Dashboards are white-labeled, and customers can ask questions in natural language.
Power BI and Tableau both host the view in an iframe that their JavaScript library controls: powerbi-client with React and Angular wrappers on one side, Embedding API v3 web components on the other. Databrain mounts web components inside Shadow DOM in your page.
Power BI gives you a workspace per tenant or a shared model with RLS roles, managed with service principal profiles. Tableau gives you a site per tenant, or user filters and JWT user attributes inside a site. Databrain passes a clientId in the guest token and one data app serves every tenant. All three isolate tenants; the difference is what you plan and operate.
Power BI Embedded and Fabric bill capacity by the hour, and a capacity can be paused. Tableau lists per-user role prices and quotes usage-based or capacity-based licensing for external viewers, under an annual contract. Databrain charges a flat monthly fee by feature.
Power BI is a full BI platform: DAX, in-memory Import models, paginated reports and a visual marketplace. Tableau is authoring first: Creators build workbooks and data sources in Desktop, Prep or the browser, and the embed shows them. Databrain is a narrower embedding layer that queries your warehouse live.
Copilot in Power BI requires a paid Fabric F2 or Power BI Premium P1 capacity or higher. Tableau Pulse embeds metrics with AI insights and Tableau Agent is listed on Cloud+, while Ask Data was retired. Databrain includes natural-language search on every plan.
Nineteen capabilities that decide a customer-facing analytics build, Power BI Embedded against Tableau Embedded, with Databrain as the third column. Power BI cells cite Microsoft's own documentation and pricing pages, Tableau cells cite Tableau's help, pricing pages and Playbook, all opened on 22 October 2026. Databrain cells cite our pricing page, product docs and Trust Center. Where Power BI or Tableau is stronger, the cell says so.
| Capability | Power BI Embedded | Tableau Embedded | Databrain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Embedding and branding | |||
| Partial: Iframe with a JavaScript API | Partial: Web components that host the view in an iframe | Yes: Web components in your page | |
| Whether the analytics surface is part of your DOM or a document your page hosts. Power BI and Tableau both use a frame. | The powerbi-client library controls an iframe, and Microsoft's React component lets you set CSS class names that style the embedded iframe. The report renders in a frame your page hosts. | The Embedding API v3 is a JavaScript ES6 module with <tableau-viz>, <tableau-authoring-viz> and <tableau-pulse> web components. Tableau's configuration docs expose iframe attributes (class, loading and style) for styling the frame around the view. Tableau's Playbook says the copy-paste embed code from the Share menu suits only very simple scenarios, and most deployments should use the Embedding API v3. | <dbn-dashboard>, <dbn-metric> and <dbn-dashboard-filter> from @databrainhq/plugin render inside Shadow DOM. An iframe route exists and our docs mark it as not recommended. |
| Partial: Theme JSON and container CSS | Partial: Toolbar, tabs, buttons, device layout and iframe styling | Yes: White-labeling and per-customer themes on every plan | |
| Whether customers see a dashboard that matches your product. | A report theme JSON object can be passed at embed time or applied at runtime with applyTheme, and the embedded iframe can be styled from outside with a CSS class. We found no Microsoft documentation of styling elements inside the report with your own CSS. | The Embedding API configuration table lists toolbar position or hidden, hidden tabs, hidden Edit and Edit in Desktop buttons, device layout, URL-action suppression and iframe class, loading and style. It has no property for the fonts or colours of a view. Embedded Pulse metrics can be themed with a Google Font and CSS colours through <theme-parameter> elements. | Four configuration layers resolve in priority order, from per-metric chart appearance to organization-wide theme options for fonts, card styles, palettes and backgrounds. White-labeling and custom themes per customer are on every plan, email white-labeling starts on Pro and a custom URL is Enterprise. |
| Yes: JavaScript API: filters and eventsPower BI Embedded leads here | Yes: Filters, parameters, events, marks and view dataTableau Embedded leads here | Partial: Component options; programmatic filters from Pro | |
| If your product must react to what the user does inside a chart, both incumbents give you more to work with than Databrain. | The powerbi-client library controls the embedded iframe. Microsoft documents getting, setting and updating filters on reports, pages and visuals, and the events the embedded component emits with their response values. Official React and Angular components wrap it. | The Embedding API v3 applies filters, sets parameters, adds event listeners, selects marks and reads data from the view, and Tableau's Playbook describes combining calls into custom interactions. The VizQL Data Service queries published data sources over HTTP, outside a visualization, on Tableau Cloud and on Tableau Server 2025.1 or later. | You configure the embed through component options and four theming layers. Programmatic filtering and input parameters start on Pro, and card-click actions are on every plan. |
| Yes: JS client plus React and Angular wrappers | Yes: JavaScript module and web components for any web page | Yes: Seven framework guides | |
| Whether your front-end team starts from a guide for its stack. | Microsoft publishes the powerbi-client JavaScript library and official React and Angular components that embed reports, dashboards, tiles, visuals and Q&A. | The Embedding API v3 library is an ES6 module you import in JavaScript or load with a script tag of type module, and the web components work in plain HTML. Tableau's Embedding API help also lists a page on React components. | Guides for React, Next.js, Angular, Vue, Svelte, Solid and vanilla JS, all against the same component. |
| Identity and tenancy | |||
| Service principal or master user, then an embed token | Connected apps (JWT), OAuth 2.0 trust or unified access tokens | Guest token minted by your backend | |
| Authentication decides how many moving parts sit between your login and the chart. | Your backend authenticates with a service principal or master user, gets a Microsoft Entra token and calls GenerateToken. Microsoft states the embed token lifetime is set to the remaining lifetime of the Entra token used to call GenerateToken, so reusing one Entra token shortens each embed token. The access level can be View, Edit or Create. | Connected apps use a JWT that your web server signs with a shared secret, with a scope claim such as tableau:views:embed, and a domain allowlist controls where content can be embedded. OAuth 2.0 trust uses an external authorization server. Unified access tokens (Tableau Cloud only, from Tableau 2025.3) configure the same JWT flow through Tableau Cloud Manager. Tableau says your application must generate the JWT dynamically for each enabled user, and that for users to authenticate, browsers must be configured to allow third-party cookies. | Your backend calls POST /api/v2/guest-token/create with the tenant clientId and an expiry time. On each request Databrain checks that the token exists, has not expired, comes from an allowed origin and has permission for the requested dashboard or metric. |
| Partial: Workspace per tenant, or shared model with RLS | Partial: Site per tenant, or user filters and attributes | Yes: One data app; the tenant comes from the token's clientId | |
| How much you operate per tenant as your customer count grows. | Microsoft documents a workspace per customer, managed with service principal profiles, and a shared model with row-level security. Without profiles a service principal is limited to 1,000 workspaces; each profile can access or create up to 1,000, and a service principal can have up to 100,000 profiles. It scales, and it is a provisioning system you run. | Tableau's Playbook says sites act as a logical firewall and, for a multi-tenant Tableau Server, recommends one site per tenant as the only bullet-proof method, with projects and permissions inside a site. Tableau Cloud's edition table lists up to 3 sites on Standard, 10 on Enterprise and 50 on Cloud+, so ask Tableau how many tenant sites your edition and contract allow. Where tenants share a database, the Playbook points to user filters, and the Embedding API supports user attributes carried in the JWT. | You do not need a data app per tenant, and most teams run one workspace. Tenancy can be a tenant column, or a schema or database per tenant through the {{DATABASE_NAME}} variable, and the datamart's Client ID mapping sets the tenant column. Multi-tenancy is included on every plan. |
| Yes: DAX roles, static or dynamicPower BI Embedded leads here | Yes: User filters, user attributes or database securityTableau Embedded leads here | Partial: Tenant filter on every plan; row and column security on Enterprise | |
| Per-user rules inside a tenant are where tenancy models usually get complicated. Both incumbents document them in depth. | Roles are defined with DAX filter expressions. Dynamic security uses username() or userprincipalname(), and static roles use a fixed value. If no effective identity is passed, token generation fails for a service principal but succeeds for a master user with the data unfiltered. | The Playbook gives three methods: a template workbook cloned per tenant database with the Document API, user filters such as username() = [Owner] for tenants that share a database, and Initial SQL with in-database security for live connections. The Embedding API adds user attributes from the JWT, read in a workbook with USERATTRIBUTE() or USERATTRIBUTEINCLUDES(). On Tableau Cloud they are not supported in published data sources, and the functions return NULL or FALSE in authoring preview, so you check them after embedding. | For builder metrics Databrain injects the tenant filter into the generated query server-side. In custom SQL metrics the filter is not auto-injected, so you reference the tenant variable yourself, or the metric runs unscoped. Per-session constraints go in rlsSettings in the guest token. The pricing matrix lists row and column level security on Enterprise, so check which plan covers your per-user rules. |
| Partial: No licence for app users; Pro for publishers; capacity needed | Partial: On-demand access, Cloud only, usage or capacity (Cloud+ or Tableau+) licensing | Yes: Unlimited seats; access by guest token | |
| Whether adding a customer user means adding an account or a license record. | In the embed-for-your-customers model, Microsoft states app users do not need to sign in to Power BI or hold a licence, while users who publish content need Power BI Pro. Production embedding requires a capacity, and free embed trial tokens show a free-trial banner until one is purchased. | On-demand access lets users authenticated by your JWT see embedded content without being provisioned in your Tableau Cloud site. It needs a Tableau Cloud site licensed with the Embedded Analytics usage-based model, or the capacity-based model with Tableau+ or Cloud+, and works with connected apps (from 2023.3) or unified access tokens (from 2025.3). Those users get View capabilities only: no custom views, no share button and no subscriptions. | Seats and embeds are unlimited on every plan, and your end customers reach dashboards through a guest token your backend mints. |
| Data, modeling and AI | |||
| Yes: Import, DirectQuery, CompositePower BI Embedded leads here | Yes: Many connectors, live or extractTableau Embedded leads here | Partial: Live queries only; caching from Pro | |
| If you want data held in an in-memory model or an extract, both incumbents offer it and Databrain does not. | Import mode delivers fast in-memory querying, DirectQuery sends native queries to the source, and Composite mixes the two at table level. In DirectQuery, Microsoft states any query or intermediate operation that returns more than 1,000,000 rows fails, and that Premium capacities can raise the limit. With RLS each user runs separate tile queries, which can create heavy load at scale. | Tableau documents a long list of Tableau-supplied connectors, including Snowflake, Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, Databricks, PostgreSQL, MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server, plus generic JDBC and ODBC. Tableau Cloud help says many data sources can be captured as extracts and refreshed on a schedule, and the Playbook notes that Initial SQL works only for live connections. | Every surface queries your warehouse live: Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks, ClickHouse, Postgres, MySQL, MSSQL, Athena, Trino, MongoDB, Elasticsearch and more. Growth includes one data source, and Pro and Enterprise are unlimited. Caching starts on Pro. CSV uploads are snapshots, not live connections. |
| Yes: DAX in a full modeling layerPower BI Embedded leads here | Yes: Tableau Desktop, Prep Builder and web authoringTableau Embedded leads here | Partial: Builder, custom SQL, Python and SQL environment | |
| If your analysts already build in DAX or Tableau, that skill carries over. | DAX is used in measures, calculated columns, calculated tables and row-level security. It is more expressive than a drag-and-drop builder, and it takes real expertise to use well. | Creator licenses include Tableau Desktop and Prep Builder and can create and publish new workbooks, data sources and flows. Explorers edit existing workbooks in the browser. | Metrics are built by drag and drop, custom SQL or natural language, and a Python and SQL environment is on every plan. Datasets, datamarts, the semantic layer and the metric store are listed on Enterprise in the pricing matrix, so on Growth and Pro you build metrics with the builder or custom SQL. |
| Partial: Copilot needs F2 or P1 and up | Partial: Pulse metrics embed; Agent on Cloud+; Ask Data retired | Yes: Natural-language search on every plan; follow-up chat from Pro | |
| Whether your customers can ask a question in plain language inside your product, and what that costs. | Copilot in Power BI requires a workspace on a paid Fabric capacity (F2 or higher) or Power BI Premium (P1 or higher), or a Fabric Copilot capacity. Trial capacities are not supported. | Tableau Pulse metrics embed with the <tableau-pulse> web component on Tableau Cloud and need connected apps for authentication. The default layout includes AI insights, and card and big-number layouts show less. Tableau Agent is listed on Cloud+ and the Tableau+ Bundle. Ask Data, which the Embedding API help navigation still lists, was retired in Tableau Cloud in February 2024 and in Tableau Server 2024.2. | Natural language search is on every plan. Follow-up questions and chat start on Pro, and you can connect OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Llama or Mixtral. Summaries, forecasting, outlier detection, predictive algorithms and a text-to-SQL API are listed on Enterprise. |
| Yes: Edit and Create access levels | Partial: Embedded web authoring for editors; on-demand users view only | Partial: Enterprise only | |
| Whether customers can build their own views, and on which plan. | The embed token's access level can be View, Edit or Create, so embedded users can edit reports or create new ones, subject to your permissions. | The Embedding API can embed web authoring with <tableau-authoring-viz>, and the token scope respects the permissions a user already has in Tableau. Users on on-demand access have View capabilities only. | End-user report creation is listed on Enterprise in the pricing matrix. |
| Yes: Paginated reports and translytical task flowsPower BI Embedded leads here | Not covered on the Tableau pages we reviewed | No: Not a Databrain feature | |
| If customers must edit data from the dashboard or download pixel-perfect documents, check this row first. | Paginated reports can be embedded, using a service principal. Translytical task flows let users update, add or delete records in Fabric databases from a report, using Fabric user data functions, and Microsoft states Power BI Embedded is supported only for secure embed scenarios. Built-in visuals are joined by custom visuals from Microsoft AppSource and R and Python visuals. Microsoft also documents embedding Power BI content in Microsoft 365 apps such as SharePoint Online and PowerPoint, with per-user licensing implications on smaller capacities. | The Tableau pages we reviewed for this guide do not describe paginated reports or write-back for embedded use. We did not look for third-party extensions, so this cell is not a statement that they are impossible. | Databrain reads from your warehouse and does not write back to it. It has a standard chart set, no third-party visual marketplace, and does not target Microsoft 365 surfaces. |
| Security and deployment | |||
| Yes: HIPAA, PCI DSS and ISO 27001 in scope (Microsoft) | Yes: ISO 27001, SOC 2 and 3, HIPAA and PCI-DSS 4.0 for Tableau Cloud | Partial: SOC 2 and GDPR compliant; ISO 27001 in progress | |
| Compare these lists against your buyers' requirements. | Microsoft's compliance offerings list the Power BI cloud service as in scope for HIPAA/HITECH and PCI DSS, and Power BI and Power BI Embedded for ISO/IEC 27001. The service is built on Azure; check the Microsoft Trust Center for your region and workload. | Tableau's help states Tableau Cloud is HIPAA compliant and meets PCI-DSS 4.0 under a shared responsibility model. A Tableau blog post dated 5 December 2022 says Tableau Cloud obtained TISAX and ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 certifications, on top of its SOC 2 and 3 reports. Check the vendor's compliance site for current reports. | Databrain's Trust Center lists SOC 2 and GDPR as compliant and ISO 27001 as in progress. Our pricing page lists HIPAA as coming soon on Pro and Enterprise. Ask for the current report before you rely on any of them. |
| A capacity you provision | Yes: Tableau Cloud by region, or self-managed Tableau Server | Yes: Cloud, or self-hosted and multi-region on Enterprise | |
| Residency and hosting requirements often decide the shortlist. | Embedding in production needs a capacity (A, EM, P or F SKU). In Import mode, data is stored in the semantic model; in DirectQuery mode, the model holds only metadata and queries the source. | Tableau Cloud runs on Salesforce Hyperforce, and a new site can be placed in regions across Asia Pacific, Europe and North America, for example Australia, Germany, the UK, Canada and US East or West. Tableau Server is self-managed on-premises, in a private cloud or in a public cloud instance. | Self-hosted on-prem and private cloud, multi-region deployment, VPC peering and bastion host, and auto-scaling with Kubernetes are listed on Enterprise. Queries run against your warehouse and Databrain stores metadata such as connection settings, dashboard definitions and metric SQL, not your business data. |
| Pricing, support and time to value | |||
| Yes: Capacity prices published, by SKUPower BI Embedded leads here | Partial: Role prices published; embedded usage and capacity by quote | Yes: Growth $999/mo, Pro $1,995/mo, Enterprise custom | |
| A published price lets you model margin before you talk to sales. | Microsoft publishes Power BI Embedded A SKU prices (A1 $735.913/month to A6 $23,542.938) and Fabric prices (F2 $262.80/month pay as you go) in East US. Power BI Pro, needed by users who publish content, is $14 per user per month paid yearly. | Tableau publishes Creator, Explorer and Viewer prices for Standard and Enterprise on Tableau Cloud. Cloud+ and the Tableau+ Bundle are by Contact Sales, and so are capacity-based viewer blocks and Tableau Embedded Analytics. | Plans and the full plan matrix are published on the pricing page, with a 14-day free trial on every plan. |
| No per-viewer licence; you pay for capacity | Per Viewer, per analytical impression, or per capacity block | Flat by plan; seats are unlimited | |
| The meter on external viewers decides whether cost tracks your customer growth. | Viewers in an app-owns-data setup need no Power BI licence, so cost tracks the capacity you provision rather than viewer count. Power BI Embedded bills hourly by node, computed to the second, and you are not charged while a capacity is paused, though embedded content will not load. | Role-based, a Viewer is $15 per user per month on Standard and $35 on Enterprise. Under the Embedded Analytics usage-based license, Usage Viewers must be outside your organization and are licensed per analytical impression, which covers loading a dashboard or worksheet, exporting, receiving a subscription, Pulse insight requests and VizQL Data Service requests. Capacity-based Viewer Blocks replace per-Viewer licensing with no limit on Viewer accounts and, per Tableau's pricing FAQ, no overage charges. | Pricing is flat and feature-based: priced on the modules you use, not on seats, monthly active users, query volume or capacity units. Unlimited tenants on every plan. |
| Hourly billing; pause a capacity when idlePower BI Embedded leads here | Annual contract, billed annually | Priced per month, 14-day free trial | |
| A term sets how fast you can change course. | Actual usage is computed to the second and billed hourly. A SKU capacity can be paused and scaled, and Microsoft documents pause and resume for Fabric capacity. Reserved Fabric pricing is also listed: F2 is $156.334/month reserved against $262.80 pay as you go. | Tableau's pricing page says all Tableau products require an annual contract billed annually, and every deployment requires at least one Creator license. Tableau Embedded Analytics licenses cannot be used in the same environment as full-use licenses. | Every plan has a 14-day free trial, and Growth is billed monthly after it. Pro and Enterprise trials include a proof of concept on your own dataset. |
| No figure published | No figure published; the Playbook lists the work | 2 to 4 weeks for most teams | |
| Time to production is what your roadmap actually pays for. | Microsoft's pages we reviewed give no implementation time. Production needs a capacity, tenant design and an embed-token flow you build. | Tableau's pages give no implementation time. Tableau's Playbook says embedding a single dashboard in a single page is quite simple, but a well-engineered integration requires handling authentication, authorization, content management and performance. | EpochOS launched in 2 weeks and BerryBox in 3, according to their published case studies. A full multi-tenant white-label rollout sits at the top of the range. |
Tenant isolation is the hardest part of customer-facing analytics, and the three products solve it in different places. Power BI puts it in the semantic model and workspace layout. Tableau puts it in sites, then filters or user attributes. Databrain puts it in the token and the generated query.
Microsoft documents two ways to serve many customers. One is a workspace per customer, with service principal profiles to create and manage that content at scale. The other is a shared semantic model with row-level security roles written as DAX filters, either static or dynamic through username() or userprincipalname(). Both are documented patterns.
Two details matter for a multi-tenant build. First, Microsoft states a service principal without profiles is limited to 1,000 workspaces, and a profile can access or create up to 1,000, with up to 100,000 profiles per service principal. Second, when RLS applies and no effective identity is passed, token generation fails for a service principal but succeeds for a master user with the data unfiltered, so the identity you pass is a security-critical input.
Tableau's Playbook says sites act as a logical firewall: users on one site cannot learn about users or content on another. For a multi-tenant Tableau Server it recommends one site per tenant as the only bullet-proof method, with projects and permissions separating groups inside a site.
Inside a site, the Playbook gives three row-level methods: clone a template workbook per tenant database with the Document API, use user filters when tenants share a database, or use Initial SQL with in-database security on live connections. The Embedding API adds user attributes: your server puts a value such as a region or tenant in the JWT, and a workbook author reads it with USERATTRIBUTE() or USERATTRIBUTEINCLUDES() in a filter. Tableau warns that users can decode the JWT, so attributes should hold only information you do not mind exposing.
Tableau Cloud's edition table lists up to 3 sites on Standard, 10 on Enterprise and 50 on Cloud+, so ask Tableau how many tenant sites your contract allows before you plan one site per tenant.
Your backend mints a guest token that carries the tenant clientId. The embed sends that token with each request. Databrain looks it up server-side, checks expiry, permissions and the allowed origin, then generates SQL with the tenant filter applied before the query reaches your warehouse. One data app serves every tenant, and extra per-session constraints go in rlsSettings.
One sharp edge: in custom SQL metrics the tenant filter is not auto-injected, so the author must reference the tenant variable. A custom metric that omits it runs unscoped. Client dashboards created by import or clone are copies, so later edits to the master do not propagate.
Databrain's Trust Center lists SOC 2 and GDPR as compliant and ISO 27001 as in progress; HIPAA is listed as coming soon on our pricing page. Microsoft and Tableau both list longer compliance coverage, in the comparison table above.
tableau:views:embed, and user attributes such as the tenant.<tableau-viz> web component.clientId and your data app name.POST /api/v2/guest-token/createAll three are real tenant isolation. The difference is whether you plan workspaces and roles, plan sites and workbook filters, or pass a value in a token.
All three lists are genuine. If your situation matches the Power BI Embedded or Tableau Embedded side, that is the right call.
Match your situation to the row, then check the feature comparison for the detail.
| If your question is | Lean toward | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Your team already builds in DAX and Power BI | Power BI Embedded | You reuse semantic models, reports and paginated reports, and Microsoft documents RLS and capacity in depth. |
| Your analysts already build in Tableau | Tableau Embedded | Their workbooks, data sources and skills carry into Tableau's Embedding API and connected apps. |
| You need to script the viz itself | Tableau Embedded | Tableau's Embedding API adds marks, view data and the VizQL Data Service; Power BI's JavaScript API also sets filters and handles events, so compare the specific calls you need |
| You need paginated reports, a visual marketplace or write-back | Power BI Embedded | These are documented Microsoft capabilities. The Tableau pages we reviewed do not describe them for embedded use, and Databrain does not offer them. |
| You need HIPAA, PCI DSS or ISO 27001 on the vendor's list today | Either | Microsoft lists Power BI in scope for HIPAA, PCI DSS and ISO 27001, and Tableau Cloud's help lists HIPAA and PCI-DSS 4.0. Databrain lists SOC 2 and GDPR as compliant and ISO 27001 as in progress, with HIPAA coming soon. |
| You want spend that pauses when idle | Power BI Embedded | Power BI Embedded and Fabric capacity can be paused; paused content does not load. Tableau's terms are annual. |
| The viewer is your customer, not your colleague | Databrain | Customer-facing embedding, per-customer themes and unlimited seats are what Databrain is built for. Power BI has no per-viewer licence for app users, and Tableau's Embedded Analytics license also targets external viewers, so compare each quote. |
| Many tenants with self-serve onboarding | Databrain | Tenant scope comes from a guest token, and one data app serves all tenants. In Power BI you plan workspaces or RLS roles, in Tableau sites, projects and filters. |
| The dashboard must match your product UI | Databrain | Web components, four theming layers and white-labeling on every plan. Power BI offers theme JSON and container CSS, and Tableau toolbar, tab, button and iframe styling. |
| You want AI insights for end customers | Either | Copilot needs a paid Fabric or Premium capacity, Tableau Pulse embeds metrics with AI insights, and Databrain offers natural-language search on every plan. Compare which interaction your users need. |
| You need forecastable spend from a published monthly price | Databrain | Flat monthly plans with unlimited seats, embeds and tenants. Power BI bills capacity hourly, and Tableau's embedded usage and capacity prices are by quote. |
| You need to self-host the analytics layer | Either | Tableau Server is self-managed, and Databrain lists self-hosted with VPC peering and a bastion host on Enterprise. Power BI Embedded runs on a Microsoft capacity. |
Hourly capacity, role-based licenses with quoted embedded terms, and a flat plan are different shapes of bill, so compare all three at your own tenant count, viewer volume and uptime needs. None is cheaper in every case.
Power BI Embedded bills hourly, computed to the second, and you are not charged while a capacity is paused, though embedded content will not load. Power BI Pro is billed yearly. Viewers in an app-owns-data setup need no Power BI licence.
Prices are Tableau Cloud list prices in USD per user per month, billed annually, and every deployment needs at least one Creator license. For external viewers Tableau offers a usage-based Embedded Analytics license, where Usage Viewers are licensed per analytical impression, and capacity-based Viewer Blocks with no limit on Viewer accounts. Tableau publishes no price for impressions, Viewer Blocks or Server compute on the pages we reviewed.
Growth includes multi-tenancy and 1 data source. Pro adds unlimited data sources, SSO and roles and permissions. Enterprise adds self-hosting, multi-region deployment, VPC peering and bastion host, and a dedicated account manager.
Microsoft prices are East US list prices read from Microsoft's Azure and Power BI pricing pages on 22 October 2026, and vary by region. Tableau prices are as listed on tableau.com/pricing/cloud on that date, and we do not estimate embedded usage, capacity or compute prices, because Tableau quotes them. Databrain prices are from the pricing page.
Neither is better in every case. Power BI Embedded fits teams that already run DAX, Fabric or Microsoft 365 and want hourly capacity pricing they can pause. Tableau Embedded fits teams whose analysts already build in Tableau and who need fine programmatic control of the viz, connector breadth or Tableau Cloud's compliance list. If the dashboard must look like part of your own product and tenants should be a token, not a workspace or a site, look at Databrain as a third option.
Power BI Embedded bills capacity hourly: A1 is $735.913 per month and Fabric F2 is $262.80 per month pay as you go, and users who publish content need Power BI Pro at $14 per user per month. Tableau Cloud lists Creator, Explorer and Viewer prices for Standard ($75, $42 and $15 per user per month) and Enterprise ($115, $70 and $35), billed annually, with embedded usage and capacity by quote. Databrain is flat: $999 per month for Growth and $1,995 for Pro, with unlimited seats, embeds and tenants. Compare at your own load and viewer volume.
Not a Power BI licence: Microsoft states app users in the embed-for-your-customers model do not need to sign in to Power BI or hold one, though users who publish content need Power BI Pro and production embedding requires a capacity. Tableau depends on the license: role-based Viewers are per user, external Usage Viewers are licensed per analytical impression, and capacity-based Viewer Blocks replace per-Viewer licensing. Databrain has no per-viewer fees.
Power BI Embedded offers a workspace per tenant or a shared model with RLS roles, managed with service principal profiles. Tableau's Playbook recommends one site per tenant on a multi-tenant Tableau Server, with user filters or JWT user attributes for rows, and Tableau Cloud editions list 3, 10 or 50 sites. In Databrain you pass a clientId in a guest token and one data app serves all tenants. The incumbents give you more isolation options; Databrain gives you less to choose and operate.
Partly, on both. Power BI accepts a report theme JSON object and CSS on the container, and we found no Microsoft documentation of styling elements inside the report with your own CSS. Tableau lets you hide the toolbar, tabs and Edit buttons, set the device layout and style the iframe around the view, with no property for the fonts or colours of a view, and embedded Pulse metrics accept a colour and font theme. Databrain includes white-labeling and per-customer themes on every plan.
Tableau's authentication help says that for users to authenticate when they access embedded content, browsers must be configured to allow third-party cookies. Plan for that in your browser support matrix, and test with the browsers your customers use.
Copilot in Power BI requires a paid Fabric F2 or Power BI Premium P1 capacity or higher. Tableau Pulse metrics can be embedded with the <tableau-pulse> component, and the default layout includes AI insights; Tableau Agent is listed on Cloud+ and the Tableau+ Bundle, and Ask Data was retired in Tableau Cloud in February 2024. Databrain includes natural-language search on every plan and follow-up chat on Pro and Enterprise.
Yes, for customer-facing analytics inside a SaaS product. Databrain renders as web components, scopes each tenant from a guest token and charges a flat monthly plan. It is not a replacement for Power BI or Tableau as an internal BI platform, which have DAX, Desktop authoring, Prep and long connector lists, so keep them for that if you rely on them.
Neither Microsoft's nor Tableau's pages we reviewed give an implementation time, so treat any figure you read for them as unsourced. Tableau's Playbook says embedding a single dashboard in a single page is quite simple, but a well-engineered integration requires handling authentication, authorization, content management and performance. Most Databrain teams take 2 to 4 weeks. EpochOS replaced Power BI in 2 weeks and BerryBox in 3, according to their published case studies, and no published customer has switched from Tableau.
We check every Power BI claim against Microsoft's own public documentation and pricing pages, and every Tableau claim against Tableau's own documentation, pricing pages and Embedded Analytics Playbook. We date the check: every Microsoft and Tableau source below was opened on 22 October 2026. Microsoft prices are East US list prices from Azure and Power BI pages and vary by region. The Playbook is hosted on tableau.github.io and linked from Tableau's embedded analytics page.
Databrain claims come from our published pricing page, product documentation, Trust Center and customer case studies. Tableau publishes no price for embedded usage, capacity or Server compute on the pages we reviewed, so we state none, and neither vendor's pages give an implementation time, so we state none. Where we found no documentation of a capability, the cell says so, not that it is impossible. We did not test either product, and we did not review service-level terms.
Where Power BI or Tableau is stronger, we say so. If you find something here that is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
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