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Quick answer
The Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate is a long, structured route into Power BI for beginners, and we rate it 3.8 out of 5. Its eight courses go from Excel through Power Query, data modelling and DAX to report design, deployment and a final course that reviews Microsoft's PL-300 exam, at 188 hours by Coursera's course cards. It is not the Microsoft certification itself: PL-300 is a separate exam, booked and paid for with Microsoft. If you want PL-300 preparation in fewer hours, DataCamp's Data Analyst in Power BI is the alternative we would weigh.
Why we score it 3.8 / 5
Microsoft's eight-course programme for beginners in Power BI: preparing data in Excel, transforming it with Power Query, data modelling and DAX, report and dashboard design, deploying and maintaining workspaces, and a final course reviewing the PL-300 exam with a practice exam, at 188 hours by Coursera's course cards. We value the practice, a project closing every course and a capstone, and a Microsoft certificate that is ACE-approved for up to 5 degree credits. What holds the score down is cost and currency: it runs on a Coursera subscription priced by country, the PL-300 exam is a separate registration whose fee is not included, and its page states no update date.
4.0 / 5 learning score — our reading of the published curriculum4.2 / 5 credential score — our reading of who issues it
Curriculum currency 3.7 · Completion realism 3.8 · Skill value 4.5 · Employer recognition 4.2 · Cost & value 3.0 · Salary impact 3.8 — the score is the average of these six, each out of five.
Scored with AI assistance against our published rubric, from what the provider publishes; the editor is responsible for the rubric and for every published score. What our scores can and cannot tell you.
Provider facts for this entry were last checked on 2026-10-09.
Check price & enrol on Coursera →
This review covers what the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate teaches across its eight courses, how it relates to Microsoft's PL-300 exam, what it costs and how long it takes, how it compares with the other Power BI courses we review, and who should take something else. Every fact in it comes from the certificate's Coursera page as it stood on 9 October 2026.
What is the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate?
It is a Coursera Professional Certificate made by Microsoft that teaches Power BI, Microsoft's business-intelligence tool, from the beginning. Coursera's page says “No prior experience or prerequisites required to get started”, and its FAQ says you do not need any background knowledge.
The name invites a misunderstanding worth clearing up first. Finishing it gives you a Coursera certificate from Microsoft; it does not make you a Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate. That credential comes only from passing Microsoft's PL-300 exam. Coursera's FAQ says the programme “provides training to support your preparation for the Microsoft PL-300 certification exam administered by Microsoft”, that the certification and its fee are not included in the programme's cost, and that you must register for the exam as a separate step.
On 9 October 2026 the page showed 562,097 learners already enrolled and an average of 4.6 stars from 9,637 reviews, an average across its eight courses rather than a rating of the certificate as a whole. The page's own data gives a launch date of 28 August 2023, which the page does not display, and the page states no update date.
What do the eight courses cover?
The eight courses in the programme, in the order Microsoft and Coursera list them:
- Preparing Data for Analysis with Microsoft Excel
- Harnessing the Power of Data with Power BI
- Extract, Transform and Load Data in Power BI
- Data Modeling in Power BI
- Data Analysis and Visualization with Power BI
- Creative Designing in Power BI
- Deploy and Maintain Power BI Assets and Capstone project
- Microsoft PL-300 Exam Preparation and Practice
Coursera recommends taking them in order, and they follow the life of a Power BI report:
- Excel first (course 1). The formulas and functions an analyst uses to prepare data in a worksheet.
- Getting data in (courses 2 and 3). The analyst's role and the analysis process in Power BI, then extracting, transforming and loading data with Power Query.
- The model (course 4). Relationships, star and snowflake schemas, calculations in DAX — Power BI's formula language — and optimising the model.
- The report (courses 5 and 6). Report design, navigation and data storytelling, then dashboard and report design.
- Shipping it (course 7). Deploying and maintaining Power BI workspaces, security and monitoring, with a capstone that analyses a multinational business's performance.
- The exam (course 8). Microsoft PL-300 Exam Preparation and Practice reviews every area of the exam and ends in a mock exam that Coursera describes as set up in a similar style to PL-300.
Each course ends with a project that simulates a real-world analysis in Power BI, and the page's data counts 164 assignments across the programme. That is the programme's strength: you build reports throughout rather than only watching them built.
What it does not teach is a programming language. Power Query and DAX are taught properly, but no course teaches SQL or Python, although the skills list of course 7 names SQL. For an analyst role that asks for SQL alongside Power BI, you will need a SQL course as well.
How long does it take, and what does it cost?
Time. The Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate runs to 188 hours by Coursera's course cards. Coursera's headline gives a pace instead, five months at 10 hours a week. Of the eight course cards, the final exam-preparation course carries the most hours, and the data-modelling and DAX course is the one most worth taking slowly.
Cost. Coursera's page states no price for it: it is billed as a Coursera subscription priced by country, and it is included with Coursera Plus. Open the certificate's page from where you live to see what you would pay. A subscription keeps billing until you cancel, so the hours you can give it each week decide the total.
The exam is extra. PL-300 is booked and paid for with Microsoft, not Coursera. Microsoft's certification page for Power BI Data Analyst Associate gives the current fee for your country.
If the fee is the barrier. Coursera's financial aid is a discount you apply for one course at a time, from each course's page. Coursera says a decision can take up to 16 days, and starting a free trial cancels a pending application. Our Coursera financial aid guide walks through it.
Credit. Coursera's FAQ says the programme is ACE approved and FIBAA recommended, for up to 5 degree credits and up to 8 ECTS credits; whether an institution accepts them is up to it.
Check the price & enrol on Coursera →How we checked this. We list the cost as Coursera Plus subscription (priced per country). Source: Coursera certificate page, read 2026-10-09: 'Included with Coursera Plus' and 'Financial aid available'; neither the page nor its FAQ states a price, so no figure is published. Where we give a figure, the source says when we read it on the provider's page. We re-read prices by hand and publish no figure we cannot source — where a provider prices regionally, we say so rather than quote a number that is wrong for most readers.
Pros and cons
✓ What we liked
- Covers the whole Power BI workflow, from Power Query and DAX to deploying workspaces
- A project closes every course, with a capstone and a PL-300 practice exam at the end
- A Microsoft certificate, ACE-approved for up to 5 degree credits
- No experience needed, and included in Coursera Plus
✕ What to keep in mind
- It is not the Microsoft certification: PL-300 is a separate exam with its own fee
- Long: 188 hours by Coursera’s course cards
- Power BI and Excel only: no SQL or Python is taught
- Coursera’s page states no price and no update date
Not sure this is the right one for you?
Tell the picker about your background and what you want the certificate to do, and it narrows the list to the one or two courses we would start with. It suggests only our affiliate partners’ courses, and says so before it suggests anything.
Try the AI Certification Picker →Who should take it, and who should skip it?
Take it if you are aiming at analyst or reporting roles in organisations that run on Microsoft's tools; if you live in Excel today and want to move into Power BI with a structured route; or if you plan to sit PL-300 and want a long, guided build-up with a practice exam at the end.
Skip it if you already build Power BI reports at work: much of the programme will be revision, and the exam is what you need. Skip it if the jobs you want ask for SQL or Python, where Google's Data Analytics Certificate or a SQL course is the better start. And if you only want to get productive in Power BI Desktop quickly, Udemy's Microsoft Power BI Desktop for Business Intelligence is far shorter.
How it compares with the other Power BI courses we review
The table below compares four Power BI and analytics programmes on provider, level, time, coding and our rating. All four are Beginner; they run from about 17 hours to 188.
| Programme | Provider | Level | Time | Coding | Our rating | Enrol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate | Microsoft (Coursera) | Beginner | ~188 hrs | None (DAX, Power Query) | 3.8 / 5 | Coursera → |
| Data Analyst in Power BI | DataCamp | Beginner | ~50 hrs | None (DAX, Power Query) | 3.8 / 5 | DataCamp → |
| Microsoft Power BI Desktop for Business Intelligence | Udemy | Beginner | ~17 hrs | None | 3.5 / 5 | Udemy → |
| Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate | Google (Coursera) | Beginner | ~152 hrs | SQL and Python, taught | 4.0 / 5 | Coursera → |
DataCamp's Data Analyst in Power BI. The closest rival: a DataCamp career track built as preparation for PL-300, browser-based and on a DataCamp subscription. It covers the same ground — Power Query, data modelling, DAX, reports and the Power BI Service — in about a quarter of the hours by the two providers' own figures, and we score the two the same. Choose Microsoft's if you want its name on the certificate and a project in every course; choose DataCamp's if you want to reach the exam sooner.
Udemy's Microsoft Power BI Desktop for Business Intelligence. Maven Analytics' course is a single purchase and much shorter, focused on Power BI Desktop. It is a quick way to become productive in the tool, but its page names no exam, and it ends in Udemy's certificate of completion.
Google Data Analytics. Not a Power BI course: it teaches spreadsheets, SQL, Tableau and introductory Python. It is on this table because many beginners are really choosing between a tool-specific route and a general analyst route. If your target employers have not told you which tool they use, the general route keeps more doors open.
Does the certificate help you get hired?
The certificate helps a little; the exam it prepares you for helps more. If a job advert asks for Microsoft's Power BI certification, it means PL-300, which you sit separately. Treat this programme as the training and PL-300 as the credential, and plan for both.
Whichever you hold, show the work. Publish one report you built on a dataset of your own choosing, with a short note on the model behind it and the DAX measures you wrote; that tells an interviewer more than either certificate. Our guide on how to become a data analyst covers the rest of the route.
Is the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst certificate worth it?
Yes, for a beginner set on Power BI who wants a long, guided route with a lot of practice. We rate it 3.8 out of 5: it covers the whole workflow from Power Query to deployment, a project closes every course, and it ends with a review of PL-300 and a practice exam. What holds the score down is cost and currency: it runs on a subscription whose price Coursera's page does not state, the exam is a separate registration with its own fee, and the page shows no update date.
If you want to reach PL-300 in fewer hours, DataCamp's Data Analyst in Power BI is the alternative we would weigh.
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Paid through Coursera rather than through the provider, by subscription or per course. Coursera prices by country: its pricing page shows the Coursera Plus plans and the price for your country.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate worth it?
For a beginner who wants to work in Power BI, yes. We rate it 3.8 out of 5. It takes you through the whole workflow — Excel, Power Query, data modelling, DAX, report design and deployment — with a project at the end of every course and a PL-300 practice exam to finish.
It is less good value if you already use Power BI at work, because you mainly need the exam, or if the jobs you want ask for SQL or Python, which it does not teach.
Remember what you are buying: training and a Coursera certificate from Microsoft. The Microsoft certification itself comes only from passing PL-300, which you book and pay for separately.
Does this certificate make you Microsoft certified?
No. It is a Coursera Professional Certificate offered by Microsoft. The Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate credential comes only from passing the PL-300 exam, which Microsoft administers.
Coursera's FAQ says the programme supports your preparation for PL-300, that the certification and its fee are not included in the programme's cost, and that you must register for the exam as a separate step. Its last course reviews every area of the exam and ends in a practice exam.
Microsoft's certification page for Power BI Data Analyst Associate gives the exam's current fee for your country.
How long does the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst certificate take?
It runs to 188 hours by Coursera's course cards, across eight courses. Coursera's headline gives a pace rather than a length, five months at 10 hours a week.
Your own time depends on where you start. Someone fluent in Excel will move through the first course quickly; the data-modelling and DAX course is the one most worth taking slowly, and the final exam-preparation course carries the most hours of the eight.
If you plan to sit PL-300, leave time after the last course for the exam itself, which is booked separately with Microsoft.
Do I need to know Excel or coding for it?
No. Coursera's page says no prior experience or prerequisites are required, and the first course teaches the Excel formulas and functions you need.
No course teaches a general-purpose programming language. You will learn Power Query for preparing data and DAX, Power BI's formula language, for calculations; both are taught from the beginning.
If you want SQL or Python as well, add a course in either. Many analyst jobs ask for SQL alongside Power BI.
Is the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst certificate free?
No. Coursera's page states no price for it: it is billed as a Coursera subscription priced by country, and it is included with Coursera Plus. Open the certificate's page from where you live to see the price that applies to you.
If the fee is the barrier, Coursera's financial aid is a discount you apply for one course at a time from each course's page. Coursera says a decision can take up to 16 days, and that starting a free trial cancels a pending application.
The PL-300 exam is a separate cost in any case, paid to Microsoft rather than Coursera.
Keeping this current. Course formats, prices, and certification exam fees change and vary by region. We review our guides regularly, and we always recommend confirming the specifics on the provider's official page before you enrol.