Differences between Access and a SQL server as a central data source

[Arne819]

Hi first of all I haven't been working with Power Bi for long let alone in the Business Intelligence world. We are planning to automate reports which are currently done in Excel. We have to decide between an Access or SQL database as central data source. Here is my question. What are the advantages and disadvantages between the two (databases). Is it possible to publish an Access report or are there problems?

First of all thanks for taking the time to read the question and I look forward to the answers.

cheers Arne

[Arne819]

Thank you for the small comparison.
After reading some more i think we will use SQL in combination with View`s.

[DataVitalizer]

Hi @Arne819 

Here I created a quick comparaison between the usage of Access or Sql Server as database, I hope it will help you make the right decision.

  Microsoft Access SQL Server

Easy to use	Yes	A little harder
Cost	Cheap	More expensive
Size of data it can handle	Small to medium	Very large
How many people can use it at the same time?	A few friends	Lots of friends
Works well with Power BI	Yes	Yes
Security features	Limited	Strong
Needs a special computer to run?	No	Yes

Did it work ? 👌 Mark it as a solution to help spreading knowledge 👉 A kudos would be appreciated