The verdict in three sentences
The choice of visualisation tool accounts for less than 20% of the cost of an executive dashboard: most of it lies in the data warehouse that reconciles ERP, CRM, payroll and accounting, budgeted at 8,000 to 30,000 EUR excl. VAT. For a mid-sized company already on Microsoft 365, Power BI Pro at 14 USD per user a month is the default choice; Metabase wins when you want a fixed cost and controlled hosting; Looker Studio suits marketing teams on Google, rarely the finance department. A well-run project saves controlling about 2 days of reporting a month and brings Monday's figures down to a single version.
Why 12 Excel files never show the same revenue
In a 400-employee company, every department produces its own report: sales from the CRM, margin from the ERP, headcount from payroll, cash from the bank. Scopes, cut-off dates and rules (invoiced or ordered revenue, net or gross, credit notes included or not) differ. The CEO spends the Monday meeting arbitrating gaps instead of deciding.
| Observed symptom (400-employee company, 2026 order of magnitude) | Current situation | After warehouse + dashboard |
|---|---|---|
| Reports received every Monday | 12 Excel files | 1 shared dashboard |
| Revenue gap between two sources | 2 to 6% | under 0.5% |
| Controlling preparation time | 4 to 5 days a month | 2 to 3 days a month |
| Data freshness | D+5 to D+10 | D+1 |
| KPIs defined in writing | none or partial | 25 to 40 documented KPIs |
| Mobile access for management | no | yes, with rights by scope |
Power BI, Metabase or Looker Studio: 2026 costs and limits
All three tools display charts properly. They differ in pricing model, ecosystem dependency and the ability to manage access rights finely by subsidiary or region.
| Criterion | Power BI | Metabase | Looker Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 price | Pro 14 USD per user a month, Premium Per User 24 USD | open source free self-hosted, Cloud Starter 85 USD a month, Pro 500 USD a month | free, Pro 9 USD per user per project |
| Cost for 40 users a year | about 6,700 USD | 0 to 6,000 USD + hosting 600 to 2,400 EUR | 0 to 4,300 USD |
| Modelling and calculations (DAX, measures) | very rich | SQL and simple models | limited |
| Row-level security (subsidiary, region) | yes, native | yes on Pro, or via SQL views | partial |
| Natural ecosystem | Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics | independent, any SQL database | Google Workspace, BigQuery, GA4 |
| Learning curve for controllers | 3 to 6 weeks | 1 to 2 weeks | 1 week |
| Board reporting exports | PDF, PowerPoint | PDF, scheduled sends | PDF, shared link |
The classic trap is to plug the tool straight into the production ERP. Queries slow the ERP down, calculation rules get duplicated in every report, and you rebuild 12 versions of the truth in a nicer-looking tool.
The data warehouse: where the real budget lies
The warehouse centralises extractions, applies business rules once and exposes clean tables to the visualisation tools. For a mid-sized company, a managed PostgreSQL database, BigQuery or Azure SQL is more than enough.
| Project item | 2026 range (excl. VAT) | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| KPI scoping and metric dictionary | 2,000 to 5,000 EUR | 3 to 5 workshops with CEO, CFO, departments |
| ERP, CRM, payroll, bank connectors | 3,000 to 12,000 EUR | depending on available APIs (Sage, Cegid, SAP, HubSpot) |
| Modelling and business rules | 2,000 to 8,000 EUR | revenue, margin, headcount, working capital |
| Executive and departmental dashboards | 1,000 to 5,000 EUR | 4 to 8 pages, mobile |
| Warehouse hosting | 100 to 400 EUR a month | managed database, backups |
| Maintenance and changes | 300 to 1,200 EUR a month | new sources, KPIs |
| Total project | 8,000 to 30,000 EUR | 6 to 12 weeks |
Mini case study
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Philippe, CEO of a 400-employee food processing company in Rennes, receives 12 Excel reports every Monday. His three-person controlling team spends 5 days a month each on them. After an 18,000 EUR excl. VAT data warehouse and Power BI for 40 users (about 520 EUR a month) plus 300 EUR for hosting and maintenance, each controller saves 2 days a month: 6 days, or 48 hours at a loaded 55 EUR, about 2,640 EUR a month. After deducting 820 EUR of recurring costs, the net gain is 1,820 EUR a month and the project pays back in 10 months, not counting decisions made a week earlier.
FAQ
Is Power BI too expensive for a mid-sized company?
No, at 14 USD per user a month, 40 licences come to about 6,700 USD a year, less than one month of a financial controller's cost. It becomes expensive beyond 300 viewers, where a Fabric capacity or Metabase compares well.
Can free Metabase be used in production?
Yes, the self-hosted open source version serves hundreds of companies. Plan 50 to 200 EUR a month of hosting and a technical owner for updates and backups.
Can you skip the data warehouse?
For 2 or 3 simple sources, yes. Beyond 4 sources or with several subsidiaries, calculation rules get duplicated and the gap between reports returns to 2 to 6% within a few months.
How long does an executive dashboard project take?
Count 6 to 12 weeks: 2 weeks of KPI scoping, 4 to 8 weeks of connectors and modelling, 2 weeks of acceptance testing with management.
Who should own the project internally?
The CFO or financial controller, with the CEO as sponsor. Without an owner of the metric dictionary, 30 to 50% of dashboards are abandoned within a year.
Let's scope your project. List your data sources and the 10 metrics your management tracks every week: we will price the warehouse, the tool choice and a budget of 8,000 to 30,000 EUR excl. VAT with a go-live date. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
