MicroStrategy Pricing

Pietro Saglietti - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Consultant at STG

I'm interested in finding a cost-effective way to introduce MicroStrategy to my customers. I've noticed that the workstation and desktop versions are free, which is great for development purposes, but not for customer deployment. Additional costs are associated with maintenance.

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Azhagupandi Parthiban - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President Of Technology at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Prices were competitive back then, like three or four years ago. Now, the price is high. But the bigger challenge was the lack of promotion for MicroStrategy in India. 

Products grow through word-of-mouth, like people like us talking about them, training, etc. Marketing in India wasn't great. MicroStrategy was strong in the US and Europe, but in India, they still haven't reached that critical mass. 

Very few people talk about MicroStrategy here. So, the price was high compared to others, but we got a very good discount. So, from that perspective, it's pricey compared to others, but that was three years ago. Things might have changed.

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it_user156600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Analyst at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Was not involved in purchasing.

We've converted our CPU licenses to user named licenses since we have two 32 core I-servers that are clustered. That means 90% of our power was sitting idle and wasted because of CPU licensing. There are a lot of benefits to have multiple CPUs. We've increased our cube refresh performance. Cube performance can be partition to use multiple CPUs. Best thing we did.

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Buyer's Guide
MicroStrategy
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about MicroStrategy. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Anuja Dhakshinamoorthy - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Manager at InfoCepts

MicroStrategy's licensing cost is higher than that of other tools in the market. My company uses the enterprise edition of the product. For beginners, there are trial accounts that are provided by the product.

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PK
Database Architect at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

MicroStrategy licensing is costly when you're rolling it out to 200 users. A license with Tableau costs the same as I pay for two MicroStrategy users. In order to keep costs down, I'm proposing that we use the data connector for MicroStrategy in Tableau. The company wants to move to one tool but I think we should keep the bare minimum of MicroStrategy with the semantic layer working with one or two architects and a few power users and expose the data connectors to Tableau so that the end-user has one tool, but we have two tools on the backend. 

We're probably going to move towards the MicroStrategy professional license scheme which provides flexibility and discounts.

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AE
Fintech Project Manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

The personal version is completely free, but the enterprise version requires a company profile or a company email account, and I have to pay for it. If I am trying to do a test study or test case at an enterprise level, I am not able to do it on my own, I would have to use my company's resources, which is a bit costly.

There is no subscription, I am using the free version.

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it_user69156 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Expert at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees

MSTR can be costly and difficult to digest to begin with, but is certainly one of most structured and scalable solutions out there available in market. I think companies should look at the tool from the scalability and stability perspectives, along with weighing it against the most important use cases and to not just go by how easy it is to create or visualize data. Most tools only present a pretty picture of the tool by showing how easy it is for users to visualize data on their own and hiding the data preparation realities.

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Sushrit Moundekar - PeerSpot reviewer
Program Manager at InfoCepts

The solution’s licensing cost is expensive.

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KRISTINA SELYUGINA - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Engineer at Solution BI

It is not an expensive solution. We need to pay for a license.

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EG
Data Analysis and Visualization BI Team Leader at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

MicroStrategy is comparable to Power BI, Tableau or Qlik. There is no big difference.

But there is a difference in price, in cost. With MicroStrategy I need to buy licenses for the users only once. Whereas for Power BI, I need to pay every year or every month.

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DE
IT project manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees

We pay annually for an annual subscription, and we renegotiate the price periodically. I don't know if it's cheaper than solutions like Tableau or Power BI. I don't remember comparing the cost. It's okay for us because we have a lot of users, and MicroStrategy gives us a reasonable price.

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AY
System Engineer at Roads & Transport Authority

I am unsure what the licensing costs are for this solution however, development costs are around $100,000 per year.

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MP
Senior MicroStrategy Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

They can improve its licensing. It is a bit expensive as compared to Microsoft and other tools.

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it_user514302 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. MicroStrategy Consultant at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

It’s a great tool and expensive, as well. That’s why small businesses will find it difficult to afford.

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it_user111504 - PeerSpot reviewer
VP of Customer Experience at a consumer goods company with 501-1,000 employees

Pricing, as I understand it, is now based on:

  • Users
  • Cores
  • A separate price for mobile

I have no advice, I'm afraid; it’s quite straightforward. As a rule of my company, we keep costs low so strictly report readers have no access; "inquirers", power users, and technical staff have full access. If at any point the cores become cheaper, we would switch. :) Then they have to reassess access strategies, as it becomes more important the time users access the platform rather than the amount. We'll never be in that situation because we run on commodity servers (we prefer more servers with more cores rather than a big mainframe). If I have any advice, it is to go cloud if possible; due to our regulations, we cannot.

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BC
Enterprise Analytics Manager at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

The price was good. We have had great support along the way. 

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MD
Co-Founder at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

The Azure part has a publicly available flat pricing structure. But for the on-premises version, you negotiate directly with MicroStrategy. They're often willing to offer significant discounts, up to 80% off the original price. The pricing list itself is not publicly accessible, so it's a bit opaque.

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CW
Principal Consultant at RedScreen

We are waiting to switch to Microsoft Power BI because MicroStrategy is too costly. So, as for the pricing, I would rate it three out of ten, where one is high price, and ten is low price.

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CD
Vice President & CIO at a logistics company with 201-500 employees

We have the best pricing available, but we can't disclose that information.

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it_user514329 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Partner and Sr. MicroStrategy Enterprise Solution SME at a tech company

MicroStrategy licensing structure has been recently revamped and in my opinion, they have done a great job. From a cost perspective, it’s pretty competitive, but one thing to keep in mind is the fact that you don’t need to hire a ton of consultants to manage this application.

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it_user513906 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

MicroStrategy can be very expensive compared to other platforms – at first blush. The cost of purchasing the software and licenses has frequently been identified in numerous surveys as the factor most often cited for not going the MicroStrategy. The initial buy-in can be expensive; however, the platform is so much cheaper to run over the long haul than most other enterprise systems. A very small dedicated team of developers and quick development times (after initial setup) result in a much-lower yearly platform cost than other systems.

From a licensing viewpoint, there are basically two ways to go: per CPU or per user.
Per CPU: If you will have more than a few hundred users on your system or foresee a very dynamic user base where the number of system users can grow rapidly then shrink then grow again – use per CPU. You can have virtually unlimited users.

Per user: If you have a well-defined user base that you anticipate to stay roughly the same or grow slowly over time this may be your best option. Also, if you anticipate a very high workload (many thousands of reports run per day), this option allows you to add hardware without incurring licensing costs.

FYI It is easier to renegotiate your licensing with MicroStrategy if you go from per user to per CPU than to go the other way around.

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it_user5598 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Director, BI Architecture at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
It depends on how you count costs and what you include. View full review »
it_user238434 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees

It is expensive, but there is a good quality-price relationship.

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it_user511203 - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineering Senior at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Before purchasing licenses, be absolutely sure about the number of users that will be using the product. This will be useful when deciding to go with a named-user license (better for a small user base) or a CPU-based license (better for a large-er user base).

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it_user123129 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Visalization Architect at MSD

Negotiate at least a 30-40% discount.

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MT
BI Architect/Admin at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees

I cannot disclose our licensing costs due to privacy concerns.

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AM
Director Departamento Data Analitics at a wellness & fitness company with 1,001-5,000 employees

It is important to make an analysis of consumer users of reports that will interact with MicroStrategy because it is what most will condition the investment. It is necessary to take into account the training of the architects and designers of the project to try to internalize them since the dependence of a third party can be very expensive in the medium-long term.

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it_user413238 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Specialist at a tech company with 10,001+ employees

They should make it cheaper and add more value to the product by resolving small issues that are very key to businesses. Other than that, the current pricing and licensing model is good.

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SS
Graduate Engineer at a transportation company with 5,001-10,000 employees

It is a licensed product, so we need to pay for it, but I'm not aware of the exact pricing and comparisons.

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it_user262917 - PeerSpot reviewer
Retail Solutions Manager at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

I don’t typically advise others regarding the pricing. We tend to serve lower user count customers so they are not getting any volume discount consideration.

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it_user198780 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

I don't have much information on this. MicroStrategy offers two types of license: per user and per device. The licensing is a litter higher compared to other BI players in market.

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it_user144300 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of BI / Solution Architect at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

$150k for a single CPU of web/iserver capacity. Currently all development/administration is supported by a single off-shore developer at a rate of $35/hr. The new pricing model has allowed for simplified web user pricing allowing all web functionality to be available to all users.

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it_user702252 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Architect at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

The pricing for MicroStrategy is always on the higher side. They should seriously start thinking about their pricing and licensing strategy.

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it_user531798 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees

The pricing and licensing is a bit different than most products due to the suite of standalone tools that exist within the entire product. A sales representative would be able to assist with the pricing.

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it_user69087 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Data Analytics at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

The most expensive position is license cost. It is very expensive so this one of the reason why we can't expand the solution more widely in the company.

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SR
Vice President of Data Engineering Practice at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees

The price of MicroStrategy is reasonable.

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it_user185844 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior BI Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

I am not in charge of licensing. They made a change in the licensing module some time ago and we can now use all the enterprise tools for free. This was a big improvement. We are using a name license. The advantage is that these licenses can be used on all environments.

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it_user162021 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Development Manager at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Further simplify the licensing scheme:

  • Architect is expensive
  • Match or beat the pricing of Tableau
  • Tableau is still cheaper
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it_user516102 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - BI and Analytics with 501-1,000 employees

With V10, they made life easier for licensing; bargain and do not take the quote as serious.

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it_user512919 - PeerSpot reviewer
Microstrategy Developer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

It is somewhat expensive.

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HP
Senior Data Analyst at Charutarhealth Org

They offer yearly as well as perpetual licenses.

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HP
Senior Data Analyst at Charutarhealth Org

The pricing is fair.

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it_user519399 - PeerSpot reviewer
Freelance MicroStrategy Expert, MicroStrategy Master at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Most high-end tools cost roughly similar, but the TCO of MSTR is said to be lower than others due to the reuse of objects and the ability to work with the dependencies between the objects, instead of guessing which report/dashboard uses which metric.

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it_user72435 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The new licensing model is straightforward; I’d recommend to any new customer to push for CPU licensing to avoid having to track/count specific user licenses.

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it_user487488 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Architect at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The product has a nice price.

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GM
Sales Director at Expeditus (Pty) Ltd

All BI software vendors' list prices are high. It's about a price that fits the customer's needs. And I think MicroStrategy has some flexibility in its pricing model where we can easily demonstrate a total cost of ownership comparison against any of the other players. But you could do that from any BI vendor's perspective.

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OA
Business Application Group Manager at OBASE

I'm not sure of the actual cost of the solution. Licensing is not handled by my department. I can't speak to if it is reasonably priced or more on the expensive side. 

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MM
Ict Infrastructure Cluster Division Head at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

It is expensive. We would like to extend it to many users, but we are currently restricting that because the cost is a constraint. If we are given a chance, we would love to expand it.

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PD
Principal Co-founder at Enterprise BIDI Solutions

It’s cloud version pricing is competitive and in sync with market demand.

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MS
Senior Application Analyst at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The licensing is a bit high per user. 

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it_user807414 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

Take the time to find an experienced consultant. A good consultant can increase your adoption and lower your overall cost by saving you from costly missteps.

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it_user511212 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior BI Developer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The price is too high. They could at least increase the software evaluation period.

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it_user514278 - PeerSpot reviewer
Program Manager at a tech company with 10,001+ employees

Pricing is bit less transparent and high.

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it_user511446 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

It is an expensive tool. Licenses are user based or CPU based. Depending on the size of the organization, you might want to go with CPU based rather than user based, as that might be cheaper.

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it_user507996 - PeerSpot reviewer
MicroStrategy BI Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Honestly, I don't know much about pricing of other products, so I cannot compare, but I heard that MicroStrategy is expensive compared to its competitors. But, a company has to go over what they need and what they get through MicroStrategy and decide if it’s worth paying a little more for quality.

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it_user538236 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Staff BI Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

I would advise others to go for the Named User license instead of the Server Level license initially. License pricing is moderate.

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it_user221904 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

The license is based on a fee per user, but recently they did decrease prices.

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it_user139296 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Pricing/licensing is little bit on the high side. Businesses buying this product should plan in advance what licenses to purchase. I would advise you to hire a contractor or free lancer with previous MicroStrategy experience to plan your project correctly.

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it_user260568 - PeerSpot reviewer
MicroStrategy Developer at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

Like any enterprise implementation, clients should first take time to analyze the needs of their organization, the level of expertise of their user base and how reports are to be delivered to the end users. Before doing any future upgrades, they should do a sizing exercise by gauging how much server resource is used historically and the projected use over the next 12 months. In particular, many companies underestimate the size and total number of Intelligent Cubes that need to be preprocessed each day.

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it_user70134 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior business Intelligence consultant at Asociación SevillaUP

I'd rather not disclose it.

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it_user278022 - PeerSpot reviewer
Microstrategy Project Manager & Microstrategy Lead Architect at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The pricing policy is good compared to other products in the market. It's a license-based software.

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it_user505854 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Manager at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees

Make a good study of your needs because its very expensive to change from nominal licensing to a server core licensing.

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it_user257493 - PeerSpot reviewer
Application Developer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

We have no specific comments regarding this issue.

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it_user406914 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Architect at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees

Licensing is completely dependent on the number of architects and developers the organization requires. The pricing is reasonable when compared with other industry leading tools.

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it_user250524 - PeerSpot reviewer
Development Director at a government with 10,001+ employees

Recently, the licensing method and pricing have been simplified. Now it is much easier to understand.

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Alexandra  Misios - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

We have a license with packages, and there are additional costs for extra components.

I am a user and don't have all of the information regarding licenses and how they are acquired. I know this is a special contractual relationship between our managers and the team in the USA.

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it_user132261 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sub-Manager of Development at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Setup is not complex.

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it_user26829 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Intelligence Manager at a aerospace/defense firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Be patient; get a good understanding of what you need.

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it_user807372 - PeerSpot reviewer
Developer at a renewables & environment company with 1,001-5,000 employees

They gave us a good deal. They convinced one of our executives that we are getting a deal, so they signed. 

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it_user5331 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Intelligence Engineer at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees

While initial cost of MicroStrategy is still on the higher side, the long-term benefits brings down overall cost of ownership significantly as compared to other tools like Tableau/Cognos.

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it_user295878 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior BI Analyst at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

It's expensive. I believe there are others that can provide most of the features for a better price.

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it_user193482 - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Publishing Portfolio Manager at a comms service provider

It’s very expensive. If the pretty picture isn’t one of your core requirements, then most other tools would fit the job.

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it_user476271 - PeerSpot reviewer
Tech Lead at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

License cost is quite pricey with loads of add-on functionalities and tools. Organizations possessing an enterprise-wide vision should be the right customers for this tool.

The new addition - MicroStrategy desktop can be used as a standalone application and can help ease pricing pressure.

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it_user75861 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Intelligence Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

MicroStrategy need to create cheaper solutions, as nowadays it's too expensive, and sometimes you pay for something that you are not going to really use.

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it_user135108 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Team Leader at a government with 501-1,000 employees

It is not worthwhile if you have a small budget, although it is worth every penny.

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it_user505383 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

If you really need these features, it is an excellent product with a very good price. Sometimes you do not need much functionality and then other alternatives at a lower price might be a better option.

In our company, we help our clients identify the option that best suits their needs. We then develop/implement the data warehouse, ETL process, data integration, and visualizations.

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it_user6837 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect with 1,001-5,000 employees

Consider CPU-based licenses, if you have a large user population with highly varying reporting needs.

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DR
Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Pricing, in general, is high. With Power BI, you get mobile with the license, whereas with MicroStrategy, you have to purchase mobile for extra.

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it_user656304 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

This all depends on your budget.

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it_user528906 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Intelligence Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Licensing is a bit complex.

Identify the user base & then analyze usage from the end-user & developer point of view. Keep track of unused licenses instead of adding new ones every time.

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Buyer's Guide
MicroStrategy
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about MicroStrategy. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.