The Best Power BI Courses in 2026

Power BI is one of the most widely used BI tools in business, and the hard part of learning it is not the interface. Dragging a bar chart onto a canvas takes an afternoon. Writing DAX that returns the right number under a filter, and building a model that does not slow to a crawl at a million rows, takes deliberate practice.

We have ranked the best Power BI courses by what you are trying to do: get started, learn DAX, model data properly, design reports people read, or pass the PL-300 exam. Every course below is hands-on, and every rating and learner count comes from our live course data rather than a marketing page.

Course ratings, review counts and learner numbers last verified 23 September 2026.

Best Power BI Course for Beginners

A good first Power BI course gets you from a raw file to a report someone else can use, without drowning you in DAX on day one. These are where we would send a complete beginner.

1. Introduction to Power BI

This is the most-taken Power BI course on DataCamp by a wide margin, with 821,308 learners. It walks you through loading data, cleaning it in Power Query, building visuals and adding filters and slicers, so you finish with a complete report rather than a collection of isolated charts. The content was refreshed in Jul 2026, so the screenshots match the Power BI Desktop you will download today.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• What you build: A filterable report, from data import to published visuals

2. Power BI Fundamentals (track)

If you already know you want Power BI and not just a taste of it, the track is the better buy. It bundles Introduction to Power BI with data preparation, data modelling, visualisation, a first DAX course and a customer churn case study, in the order you need them.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 17 hours across 6 courses
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

3. Power BI training for Data Analysts (Microsoft Learn)

Microsoft's own learning path is free and written by the people who build the product. It is the honest first stop if cost is the deciding factor. The trade-off is that most modules are reading and screenshots rather than exercises you complete and get checked, so it is easier to feel you understand DAX than to actually write it.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: Self-paced
• Cost: Free

Our pick: Start with our Introduction to Power BI. If you are committed to Power BI as a career skill, take the Power BI Fundamentals track instead, and use Microsoft Learn as free reference reading alongside it.

Best Power BI Course for DAX

DAX is where most Power BI learners stall. The syntax looks like Excel, but it evaluates in filter context, and that single idea explains most of the wrong totals you will ever see in a report. These three courses take you from your first measure to time intelligence.

1. Introduction to DAX in Power BI

The course that separates people who use Power BI from people who build with it. You learn the difference between calculated columns, measures and calculated tables, then spend a full chapter on row and filter context before moving on to dates. It is rated 4.8/5 across 12,703 reviews.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisite: Introduction to Power BI

2. DAX Functions in Power BI

Depth on the function library: filtering and counting functions, and the iterators such as SUMX that trip up most intermediate users. Take it once you are comfortable writing basic measures.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisites: Introduction to DAX, Data Modeling in Power BI

3. Intermediate DAX in Power BI

Logical and table manipulation functions, time intelligence, and row-level security, which is the part of DAX that matters most once your reports are shared across a company. This is the most advanced DAX course in our Power BI catalogue.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

Our pick: Take our Introduction to DAX in Power BI first, and do not skip the context chapter. Move on to Intermediate DAX in Power BI when you need time intelligence or row-level security.

Best Power BI Course for Data Modelling and Power Query

Most slow or broken Power BI reports are modelling problems in disguise. A clean star schema makes DAX simpler, makes reports faster, and makes the numbers easier to trust. Power Query is the other half: getting the data into shape before it reaches the model.

1. Data Modeling in Power BI

Tables, relationships, dimensional modelling, and star versus snowflake schemas. It is rated 4.8/5 across 7,988 reviews and was last refreshed in May 2026.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

2. Intermediate Data Modeling in Power BI

Date dimensions, granularity, hierarchies, and a chapter on identifying performance problems. This is where reports stop breaking when the data grows.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

3. Data Preparation in Power BI

A full course on Power Query Editor: profiling your data, using the data preview features, and applying text and numerical transformations. It has the highest rating of any Power BI course on this list, at 4.86/5.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

Our pick: Take our Data Modeling in Power BI straight after your introductory course, before you go deep on DAX. Add Data Preparation in Power BI if your source data arrives messy.

Best Power BI Course for Data Visualisation and Report Design

A report that nobody reads is not a report. These courses focus on the design side: choosing the right visual, reducing clutter, and making a dashboard that works for the person who has to act on it.

1. Data Visualization in Power BI

Built around design principles rather than button clicks, with chapters on designing for your audience, reducing cognitive load and cutting what does not earn its place. With 152,278 learners, it is one of our most-taken Power BI courses.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

2. Report Design in Power BI

Progressive disclosure, custom views, and designing reports for mobile devices. Take it once you have DAX measures you want to surface cleanly.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisites: Reports in Power BI, Intermediate DAX in Power BI

Our pick: Our Data Visualization in Power BI is the one to take. It will improve every report you build afterwards, whatever tool you end up in.

Best Power BI Course With Certification

The credential that Power BI job adverts actually name is Microsoft's PL-300: Power BI Data Analyst Associate. A course completion certificate is useful evidence of effort, but the PL-300 is the one hiring managers recognise by name.

1. Data Analyst in Power BI (track)

Co-created with Microsoft and designed around the PL-300 skills outline. Across 17 courses it covers preparing, modelling and visualising data, DAX from the basics to time intelligence, trend analysis, and deploying and maintaining assets in the Power BI service. When you complete the track you receive a 50% discount code for the PL-300 exam.

• Level: Beginner to Intermediate, no prior Power BI experience required
• Time: 50 hours across 17 courses
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Certification: Prepares you for Microsoft PL-300, with a 50% exam discount on completion

2. PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst (Microsoft)

The exam itself. Microsoft publishes a free study guide and a free practice assessment, and the exam fee varies by country. It is a proctored, timed exam, so you need hands-on fluency rather than recognition of the right answer. The certification must be renewed each year through a free online assessment.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: Exam only
• Cost: Exam fee, priced by country

Our pick: Work through our Data Analyst in Power BI track, take Microsoft's free practice assessment, then book the PL-300 with your 50% discount code.

Best Hands-On Power BI Project

Once you know the pieces, the fastest way to consolidate them is a realistic project where no one tells you which visual to build next.

1. Case Study: Analyzing Customer Churn in Power BI

You investigate why customers are leaving a fictional telecom company, Databel: explore the data, find the churn patterns, then build the report that explains them. It has been taken by 93,924 learners, and it doubles as a portfolio piece you can talk through in an interview.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisites: Introduction to DAX in Power BI, Data Visualization in Power BI

Our pick: Take our Case Study: Analyzing Customer Churn in Power BI as soon as you have finished an introductory DAX course. It is the quickest way to find out what you do not yet know.

How We Chose These Power BI Courses

• Verified learner data. Every rating, review count and learner number comes from our live course data, checked on 23 September 2026. We only show a rating when it is based on at least 200 reviews.
• Current content. Power BI ships updates every month. We left out any course whose content has not been refreshed in the last 18 months, even where it is well rated.
• Hands-on practice. We favoured courses where you write DAX and build models in exercises that are checked, over courses you only watch.
• Honest alternatives. Where a free or official option is the better choice for some readers, we say so.

Conclusion

If you are starting from zero, take our Introduction to Power BI and follow it with Data Modeling in Power BI and Introduction to DAX in Power BI, in that order. If you want the credential employers ask for, the Data Analyst in Power BI track takes you all the way to the PL-300, with half the exam fee covered.