What Is a KPI Card?
A KPI card is a compact tile that shows a single metric — revenue, active users, conversion rate — as a headline number, usually with a bit of context underneath: how it compares to the prior period, how it's tracking against a target, and which direction it's moving.
It's the first thing anyone looks at on a dashboard, precisely because it doesn't require any reading. One number, one glance, one decision: are we on track or not?
What a Good KPI Card Needs
A plain number on a tile is a start, but it's rarely enough on its own. A number without context is just a number — is $2.4M good or bad? Compared to what?
- Comparison to prior period — the same metric last month, last quarter, last year. This is what turns a number into a trend.
- Variance — the difference expressed as a percentage or absolute value, usually color-coded (green for good, red for bad) and often with a direction arrow.
- Target tracking — a goal or budget line, so the reader knows not just "is this up or down" but "are we where we need to be."
- A sparkline — a small trend line showing the shape of the metric over recent periods. Direction matters, but so does volatility: a KPI that's up 5% but has been swinging wildly tells a different story than one climbing steadily.
- Display units and formatting — $2,400,000 is harder to scan than $2.4M. Good KPI cards abbreviate large numbers automatically.
Where KPI Cards Are Used
Executive dashboards, sales scorecards, operations control rooms, finance monthly close packs — anywhere a small number of metrics need to be understood in under two seconds. They're usually placed in a strip across the top of a report page, functioning as the summary before the reader drills into the detail visuals below.
The Problem With Power BI's Native Card
Power BI's built-in Card visual shows exactly one number. To get variance, a target line, and a sparkline, you'd typically combine three or four separate visuals — a card, a KPI visual, a line chart — and align them manually. Every metric on the page multiplies that setup, and keeping the styling consistent across a dozen tiles becomes its own maintenance job.
KPI Card Pro for Power BI
KPI Card Pro packs the current value, prior-period comparison, target line, variance and a sparkline into a single tile — with conditional formatting across every element — so one visual replaces the three or four you'd otherwise need to align by hand.
What it adds
- Up to 6 metrics per card (Pro) — lay out a 2-column grid, 3-column grid, or horizontal strip inside a single visual instead of placing six separate cards.
- Sparkline types: Line, Area or Bar (Pro), with a target line overlaid directly on the trend.
- Variance shown as a pill with independently configurable positive, negative and neutral colors — including the ability to invert the logic for metrics where a decrease is the good outcome (cost, churn, defect rate).
- Tooltip drill-through with a custom payload, so hovering a card can surface additional context without leaving the page.
- Full accessibility: high-contrast color scales and ARIA visual titles for screen readers.
The Free tier covers a single metric with a basic area sparkline (20 data points) and a fixed color scheme — a real starting point, not a crippled trial.
Getting Started
- Install from Microsoft AppSource or import the .pbiviz file directly.
- Add at least one measure to the Value field well — the card renders immediately.
- Add Prior Period and Target measures to unlock variance and target tracking.
- Add a Category (typically a date field) to enable the sparkline.
- Format via the Formatting pane — Card, Main Value, Variance, Sparkline, Target, Metrics Layout and Accessibility are all independently styled.
If your dashboard needs more than one metric summarized at a glance, KPI Card Pro is built to hold that density without turning into visual noise.