Why is there no proper histogram in Power BI?

[Anonymous]

Power BI has existed for quite some years now. And there is still no decent way of creating a historgam. These are the possibible ways I know of:

1. Get the certified Histogram visual from Microsoft. It completely sucks.
   1. You can't define bin size.
   2. The binning is [x] for the first bin and (x] for the others, which is so weird. You do expect [x) for all bins in a histogram.
   3. Many more stupid things.
2. Get any other histogram visual. They're even worse.
3. Build your own using some combination of DAX, helper tables/parameters. This works but it's a bad solution. If you build a big complex data model, you don't want to add even more complexity just for the sake of a histogram. Hence a histogram should be a report/visual thing, not a data model thing.

The fact that no one has solved this for so many years is very fascinating I think. A proper histogram is an essential component in a BI solution. How come it hasn't been solved? And how come so few talk about it?

[asitm]

We recently published a histogram visual and are pretty confident it is better than the current available options. please try it out. This is a paid visual though.

https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/power-bi-visuals/histogramstd

[JasonSuave]

The original histrogram plugin used to be free and what you're pitching here is a paid solution.  Oh how we seem to leave out such details.  GTFO with this garbabe.

[asitm]

That's pretty disrespectful. We straightaway clarified that these are paid visuals so that users who want free items don't even have to click on the link and waste their time.

We would love to give it for free but creating these visuals with zero or minimal bugs, and then maitaining these visuals through every Power BI software update takes a lot of effort and funds. The only reason we created the tool was because we ourselves faced the lack of visuals in Power BI as compared to Excel and Tableau. And then quit our well paying, full time jobs to develop these over two years. Our visuals are free on Desktop and hundreds of users download our visuals daily - some continue to use it for free on their desktop. Everybody has the option open to spend a few months learning D3.js and develop their own visual instead of using ours. Then spend a few weeks every 4 months or so to update the visual so that it works with the latest Power BI releases.

You are not forced to buy it, so you sure don't have to be disrespectful for the efforts we had put and are continuously putting into these visuals. Hundreds and hundreds of users have found these useful at the extremely minimal prices we charge.

[JasonSuave]

The problem is that the original FREE plugin has been removed and now this is the only viable out-of-the box histogram option in PBI.  I'm getting tired to having to find workarounds in PBI for the most basic reporting features, which have existed in other Msft products - like Excel - for years.  I'm just going to say it: PBI kind of sucks and it's a pain in the butt to train developers to implement workarounds just to get basic reporting functions working.  I'm ready to go back to SSRS.

Customers should not have to pay for any level of histogram feature in 2023.  Tableau already has a dedicated option for histograms so it's pure laziness on Msft's side to omit such a feature in PBI.  I appreciate that yall are building a plugin to address Msft's lack of customer-focused innovation... but it's too complex out of the gate and still needs a free option.

Reason for fustration is I can't tell my client they have to spend the n-teenth charge to enable the most basic functionality in PBI for their 100 users.  And that's notwithstanding the complexity of this app and its potential to break/disable reports down the line if Msft ever inadvertantly breaks the plugin functionality.  I just don't see the value prop here.

[schau234]

It's been a few years since I used Power BI, and I recently downloaded it in order to practice for some Data Analyst interviews. Fun fact: if you have the free version, you cannot get to the viz marketplace unless you have a school or work account. If you're unemployed and trying to level up your skills using a personal MS account, no such luck.

This is a bit maddening, and the fact that a histogram isn't a default option is a bit insane. Histograms are one of the first steps in any data exploration, and competitor programs have much more customizable options readily available...

[Ultramarp]

I agree with this!! an Histogram is a quick tool neccesary to check how our data is distributed, skewness kurtosis etc....i find it super basic and yet it is not a built in visual.

[amitchandak]

@Anonymous , Please check if there is any idea for it. Or log a new one , you can share same here we can also vote

ideas.powerbi.com/

Another option python visual, But I doubt that can be of much help

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX3-G8u5fwc