Here's the thing most Power BI consultants won't tell you: those shiny custom visuals everyone's talking about are probably going to break your dashboards.
We've cleaned up enough Power BI disasters to know. That animated gauge chart might look impressive in the demo, but wait until it stops working after a Microsoft update. Or when your reports take 30 seconds to load because someone thought a 3D pie chart was a good idea.
Most UK SMEs we work with get seduced by custom visuals, then wonder why their dashboards are slower than Excel. The answer is usually sitting right there in their custom visuals gallery.
Custom visuals are the number one cause of Power BI performance issues in small business implementations. We've seen loading times increase by 400% after adding just three custom visuals to a single report.
The Custom Visual Problem Nobody Talks About
Microsoft's AppSource has over 500 custom visuals. Most are created by third parties, not Microsoft. And here's what that means for your business:
No guaranteed support. When a custom visual breaks, you're at the mercy of whoever built it. We've seen visuals that haven't been updated in two years still being downloaded by unsuspecting businesses.
Security risks you don't see. Every custom visual is essentially code running in your Power BI environment. Most SMEs never check who created them or what data they might be accessing.
Performance killers. Custom visuals often use more memory and processing power than standard visuals. Your reports slow down, users get frustrated, and suddenly nobody's using the dashboards you spent months building.
But the biggest issue? Most custom visuals solve problems you don't actually have.
When SMEs Actually Need Custom Visuals (Spoiler: Rarely)
In five years of Power BI implementations, we've found legitimate uses for custom visuals in maybe 15% of projects. Here are the only scenarios where they make sense:
Highly Specific Industry Requirements
Manufacturing companies sometimes need custom Gantt charts for production scheduling. Financial services might need specialised risk visualisations. But even then, we usually find ways to achieve the same result with standard visuals.
Regulatory Compliance Needs
Some industries have specific reporting formats mandated by regulators. If you're required to present data in a particular visual format, custom visuals might be your only option.
Advanced Mapping Requirements
Power BI's standard map visual is decent, but limited. If your business depends on detailed geographical analysis, custom mapping visuals can add real value.
But here's what we tell every client: if you can't explain exactly why the standard Power BI visuals won't work, you don't need a custom one.
The Standard Visuals Are Better Than You Think
Microsoft's included 30+ visual types in Power BI for a reason. They're optimised, regularly updated, and handle most business scenarios brilliantly.
Tables and Matrices
Boring? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely. Most business users want to see their data in familiar formats. Tables work because everyone understands them.
Bar and Column Charts
The workhorses of business reporting. Clean, fast, and perfect for comparing values. You can customise colours, add data labels, and create small multiples without touching custom visuals.
Line Charts and Scatter Plots
Trend analysis and correlation identification. These cover 80% of analytical needs for most SMEs.
Cards and KPI Visuals
Perfect for dashboards. Show key metrics clearly without fancy animations that distract from the actual numbers.
The secret most consultants won't tell you? You can achieve sophisticated analysis with these basic building blocks. It's about thoughtful design, not flashy visuals.
When Custom Visuals Go Wrong (Real Examples)
The Animated Gauge Disaster: A client downloaded an animated gauge visual for their sales dashboard. Looked great for three months, then stopped working after a Power BI update. The visual developer had abandoned the project. Cost them £1,800 to rebuild the reports with standard visuals.
The Hierarchy Nightmare: Another SME installed a custom organisational chart visual. It crashed every time they tried to export to PDF. Took us two days to track down the issue and replace it with a standard matrix visual that worked perfectly.
The Performance Killer: A manufacturing client added five custom visuals to their production dashboard. Loading time went from 3 seconds to 45 seconds. Users stopped checking it. Productivity dropped because nobody had real-time visibility into production metrics.
"We thought the custom visuals would impress senior management. Instead, they stopped looking at our reports because they took too long to load. Going back to simple charts was the best decision we made."
The Right Way to Think About Power BI Visuals
Focus on your users, not the visuals. Ask these questions:
What decision does this visual help someone make? If you can't answer this clearly, it doesn't belong in your report.
Will this visual work on mobile devices? Many custom visuals don't scale properly for phone screens. Your field teams need access to data too.
Can I achieve the same insight with a standard visual? Usually yes, with better performance and reliability.
Do I have time to maintain this? Custom visuals sometimes break. Standard visuals rarely do.
Building Better Dashboards Without Custom Visuals
Start with user requirements, not visual possibilities
Interview your actual users. What questions are they trying to answer? What decisions do they need to make? Design visuals around these needs.
Master formatting options for standard visuals
Power BI's standard visuals have extensive customisation options. Change colours, fonts, axis labels, and data point shapes. Most businesses never explore half these options.
Use bookmarks and drill-through for interactivity
You don't need animated visuals for engagement. Bookmarks let users switch between views. Drill-through pages provide detailed analysis. Both work reliably across all devices.
Test performance rigorously
Load your reports on different devices and network connections. If they're slow in your office, they'll be unusable in the field.
The Custom Visual Exceptions (Use These Sparingly)
If you absolutely must use custom visuals, stick to these Microsoft-verified options:
| Visual | Use Case | Performance Impact | |--------|----------|-------------------| | Timeline Slicer | Date range selection | Minimal | | Hierarchy Slicer | Multi-level filtering | Low | | Chiclet Slicer | Better filter visuals | Low | | Text Filter | Search functionality | Minimal |
These have Microsoft's backing and regular updates. But even then, test thoroughly before rolling out to users.
Making the Right Decision for Your Business
The best Power BI implementations we've built focus on three things: fast loading, reliable data, and clear insights. Custom visuals rarely contribute to any of these goals.
Before considering custom visuals, invest in proper data modelling. A well-designed data model with good relationships and measures will do more for your analysis than any fancy visual.
Focus on automation workflows that keep your data fresh and accurate. Users care more about having current data than pretty charts.
And remember: the most successful dashboards are the ones people actually use. Simple, fast, and reliable beats flashy and broken every time.
What We Recommend Instead
Skip the custom visual marketplace. Spend that energy on:
- Better data preparation - Clean, well-structured data makes any visual more effective
- Thoughtful report design - White space, consistent formatting, and logical layouts matter more than visual variety
- User training - Teaching people to interact with standard visuals often reveals insights they never knew were possible
- Regular review cycles - Monthly check-ins to ensure reports still meet business needs
If you're struggling with Power BI performance or thinking about custom visuals, get in touch. We've probably solved similar challenges with standard visuals and better data architecture.
The goal isn't to build impressive dashboards. It's to help people make better decisions faster. Standard visuals do that brilliantly when implemented properly.