Power BI asks your team to learn DAX. Kater asks your agent to write SQL.
Power BI is everywhere, and in a Microsoft shop it is easy to start. Then come DAX, a Windows-only Desktop and Fabric capacity. In Kater, metrics are SQL, every model and dashboard is a file in git, and your agent does the building.
In Kater
Kater runs no chat of its own. Your team’s own agent works across the whole project, on governed metrics.
Kater vs Power BI at a glance
Kater and Power BI, feature by feature
Feature
Kater
Power BI
Building with agents
Source of truth
Yes.Files in git: models, queries, charts, dashboards and apps. Every save is a commit.
In part.Projects save models (TMDL) and reports (PBIR) as files. Published content lives in the Power BI service.
Coding agents
Yes.Claude Code, Codex and Cursor edit the files through the Kater MCP, or in a local copy.
In part.The Power BI modeling MCP server edits models. It cannot change reports.
Checks on changes
Yes.A write through the MCP compiles first and is refused on error. Every change has a diff, History and Undo.
In part.Fabric git integration and deployment pipelines, with documented limits.
Answers in your own AI
Yes.People ask in Slack, Claude or ChatGPT. The agent sees only what that person can see.
Yes.Copilot, which needs Fabric capacity, and an MCP server for governed models.
Metrics and trust
Semantic layer
Yes.Kater SQL: your warehouse’s SQL with DIMENSION, MEASURE and EVAL. Defined once, read everywhere.
Yes.Semantic models with DAX measures, shared across reports.
Dashboards and apps
Build without code
Yes.Select fields, a chart and a place on the dashboard, all in the browser.
Yes.Drag-and-drop reports in Power BI Desktop and on the web.
Custom apps
Yes.HTML apps, reports and decks on live queries, built by your agent. Export to PDF, PowerPoint, Word or Excel.
In part.Custom visuals and Power BI apps, built in the editor.
Paginated reports
Yes.Report templates for PDF, PowerPoint and Word, on live queries.
Yes.Paginated reports, built in Report Builder.
Any computer
Yes.Everything runs in the browser.
In part.Power BI Desktop runs only on Windows.
Platform
Warehouses
In part.Snowflake and DuckDB today.
Yes.Hundreds of sources through Power Query.
Embedding
No.No embedding (for now). It is in development.
Yes.Power BI Embedded, on Azure capacity.
Row-level access
Yes.Row-level security, access filters and grants, with access by folder and file.
Yes.Row-level and object-level security.
Where Power BI is ahead
Power BI does some things better today. Here is each one, and why teams still
select Kater.
Where Power BI is aheadWhy teams still select Kater
The Microsoft bundle
Pro comes with Microsoft 365 E5, and Power BI fits Excel, Teams and Azure.
Why teams still select Kater
Kater meets people where they already work. They ask in Slack, Claude or ChatGPT, and apps export to Excel, PowerPoint and Word.
Power Query and modeling
Analysts shape data in Power Query and model it with relationships and DAX.
Why teams still select Kater
In Kater, the warehouse does the shaping. Relationships and measures live in SQL files that your agent can write and test.
More warehouses
Power BI connects to hundreds of sources through Power Query. Kater connects to Snowflake and DuckDB today.
Why teams still select Kater
Kater goes deep on each warehouse it supports. Queries run live, and the compiler checks each SQL dialect before a query runs. Have a warehouse we do not support? Request it.
Power BI comes with Microsoft’s scale, a long track record and a large partner network. A vendor that size also sets one roadmap for thousands of customers.
Why teams still select Kater
Kater is ready for enterprise: SOC 2 Type II, row-level security, access filters, grants and SSO. And you work with the people who build it. You decide how you pay, and you help decide what agentic BI becomes.
Power BI Pro is $14 a user a month and Premium Per User is $24, after increases in April 2025. Below an F64 capacity, every viewer needs a paid license. Fabric capacity runs from about $263 a month for F2 to about $8,410 for F64, pay as you go. Copilot needs F2 or higher.
Kater
A 30-day free trial with every feature, then a subscription quoted for your team. Kater does not charge per viewer or per dashboard. Kater runs no chat of its own, so answers run in the agent your team already uses.
Moving from Power BI
Save the report as a Power BI project. Your agent reads the model’s TMDL files and the report’s PBIR files, and writes Kater SQL and a dashboard. You review each diff, and tests compare the numbers with Power BI.
What each Power BI object becomes in Kater
In Power BI
In Kater
Semantic model (TMDL)
Kater datasets and a semantic model, in Kater SQL
DAX measure
MEASURE in Kater SQL
CALCULATE with a changed filter context
A measure with EVAL and SET, REMOVE or CLEAR
Relationship
RELATIONSHIP join
Power Query step
Custom SQL dataset, or a model in your warehouse
Report page and visuals (PBIR)
dashboard.yaml and chart files, or an HTML app
Row-level security role
Row-level security and access filters
Workspace and app
Folder, with grants
Ask your agent to migrate one dashboard. Kater rebuilds it as a private draft on your warehouse, and you compare the numbers before you publish.
Yes. Kater gives you governed metrics, dashboards, apps and AI answers. Metrics are SQL, and every layer is a file in git that your agent builds.
Can our agent convert DAX to Kater SQL?
Yes. Save the report as a Power BI project, and give your agent the TMDL files. It writes each measure in Kater SQL, and Kater compiles every file as it saves it. A same_as test then compares the numbers.
Do our analysts have to learn a new language?
They write SQL, which most analysts already know. Or they describe what they want, and their agent writes it.
Does Kater work on a Mac?
Yes. Kater runs in the browser, so it works on any computer.
Does Kater connect to SQL Server or Fabric?
Not today. Kater connects to Snowflake and DuckDB. Have a warehouse we do not support? Request it on our integrations page.
Can we keep Power BI and add Kater?
Yes, for as long as you want. Both read the same warehouse. Keep Power BI for its dashboards, and add Kater to give your team’s agent one definition for each metric, your context and your access rules. When you want, rebuild one dashboard in Kater, compare the numbers with Power BI, then move the next one.