Power BI – pricing and licensing in 2026

In this blog post, the Power BI pricing model is described briefly and concisely. The text has been updated in January 2026.

PBI Desktop is free and can be installed on any Windows workstation. However, PBI Desktop is not intended for report end users, so to make use of it you need either the cloud service with cloud licenses or, alternatively, a PBI Report Server running in your own data center.

There are five types of cloud service licenses:

• Power BI Free

• Power BI Pro

• Power BI Premium Per User

• Power BI Embedded capacity (EM1–EM3, A1–A6)

• Fabric capacity (F2–F2048)

You can check the current prices on Microsoft’s website.

Microsoft Fabric is a comprehensive analytics solution for organizations. Fabric covers everything from data movement to real-time analytics and business intelligence. It offers a broad range of services, including data lakes, data processing, and integration, all in one place. It is important to note that Fabric does not replace Power BI; instead, Power BI is part of Fabric.

Your organization may still be using the previously sold Premium capacity, but this must be replaced with Fabric capacity no later than the end of the current contract period. Fabric includes all the same features as Premium capacity (including Report Server from the F64 level upwards), but additionally, you get access to Fabric’s comprehensive data integration and processing capabilities and Power BI Copilot. Power BI Copilot can be used either in Fabric workspaces or by enabling a separate Copilot capacity, which allows Copilot to be used also in Pro and PPU workspaces.

Explore these related articles:

• Guide: Microsoft Fabric – a unified platform for data management and analytics

Fabric also enables premium features to be adopted by smaller organizations, as there are far more capacity options available than with Power BI Premium.

Fabric is available with capacity-based licensing (F2–F2048). Capacity can be reserved for a year at a time, with pricing starting at approximately €150 per month for two capacity units (F2).

Unlike Power BI Premium capacity, Fabric capacity can be turned off and back on as needed. Fabric capacity can also be purchased on a pay-as-you-go basis starting at €0.35 per hour (F2), with no usage commitment.

Report publishers always require an additional Power BI Pro license. Report viewers are included in the license starting from capacity level F64; at lower levels, viewers also need a Pro license.

The price of the F64 level, which corresponds to Power BI Premium P1, starts at approximately €4,900 per month or €11 per hour. You can check the latest pricing details on Microsoft’s website.

A Power BI Free account, i.e. a free license, can be obtained by registering with a business email address here. Free email addresses such as gmail.com or live.com are not accepted for registration.

The Free account is mainly intended for personal use and cannot be used to share reports with colleagues or to view reports shared by others (unless the organization has purchased a so-called Premium capacity–based license).

The Free account does allow fully public sharing, meaning you can create a link that allows anyone to view the report. The account can therefore be used, for example, to publish completely public statistics.

It is worth noting that almost all M365/O365 bundles include this PBI Free license, but it does not yet allow reports to be shared within the organization. It is often mistakenly assumed that the Power BI icon visible in O365 would provide full Power BI functionality. Sharing reports and viewing them requires paid licenses, which are described next.

With Power BI Pro licenses, reports can be shared with everyone who also has a Power BI Pro license. In this licensing model, end users of the reports must therefore also have a Pro license. The organization’s global administrator can separately define whether sharing with external Pro users outside the organization is allowed.

PBI Pro is included only in the most comprehensive M365/O365 E5 bundle or the A5 bundle intended for educational institutions, in which case it does not need to be purchased separately for users. Otherwise, Pro licenses must be purchased separately, and they can be purchased even if the organization does not use O365. The price of a Pro license is €13.10 per month per user.

The Power BI Premium Per User license is a licensing model that offers a range of additional Premium features compared to the Pro license, using per-user licenses.

Examples of these features include more frequent report refreshes (up to 48 times per day), the ability to use AI features in reports, and deployment pipelines in workspaces. A full list of all differences between Pro and Premium features can be found on Microsoft’s pricing page.

PBI Premium Per User is designed for organizations whose reporting needs require features that cannot be met with the Pro license, but for whom capacity-based licensing is too expensive an option. Premium Per User costs €22.50 per month per user. If the licensed user already has a Power BI Pro or M365/O365 E5 license, Premium Per User can be obtained for €13.10 per month.

With Premium Per User, it should be noted that this license is required both for report authors and for users who view Premium Per User reports. A Pro license alone is therefore not sufficient to view reports that use Premium Per User features.

Power BI Premium was removed from new sales on June 1, 2024, and its features are now available through Microsoft Fabric capacities.

EA agreement customers were able to continue renewing Premium capacity until the end of their contract period, but for contracts ending after February 1, 2025, the transition to Fabric capacity has become relevant. Existing Premium capacities support Fabric features, so the transition can be prepared in a controlled manner in advance.

Although the migration is technically straightforward, capacity assessment and planning are important to ensure a smooth transition. Context& supports customers with planning and evaluation before migration. Get in touch with us if you need help with this.

With Pro and Premium licenses, Power BI reports can be embedded in intranet sites and O365 products (SharePoint Online, Dynamics, Teams, PowerApps), but in some scenarios Pro and Premium licensing costs would become high.

If the goal is to enable reporting for a very large number of users, for example via a customer portal, at a reasonable cost, it is possible to purchase a separate license intended specifically for embedding.

With Power BI Embedded licenses (A or EM series), reports can be shared embedded within a custom-built application. With A-series PBI Embedded licenses (A1–A6), Premium capacity is available starting at approximately €680 per month, or even on a minute-based basis, as the service can be shut down and started as needed. A-series licenses allow embedding only in custom applications (not in O365 applications), as the A series requires authentication to be implemented in code.

In addition, there is also the EM embedding license series (EM1–EM3), which allows reports to be embedded not only in custom applications but also in O365 products (PowerApps, Teams, SharePoint Online, Dynamics), as EM licenses can leverage O365 authentication. EM series licenses are not available to everyone; they are only available to volume licensing customers.

EM pricing also starts at approximately €680 per month, similar to A-series licenses, but they cannot be used on a minute-based model by stopping and starting the service as desired.

Neither license series (A or EM) allows reports to be viewed in the cloud service or mobile applications; they are intended solely for embedding.

The reporting server is not a separate licensing option as such; instead, it is available if the organization has a SQL Server Enterprise license and a Microsoft Software Assurance (SA) agreement. Report Server is an on-premises server running in the organization’s own data center, enabling the publishing and management of reports within the organization’s own server environment. This provides an alternative to the cloud service, especially in situations where security or compliance requirements limit the use of cloud-based Power BI.

The reporting server is also included with a Fabric capacity subscription from the F64 level upwards.

Original text by Heidi Enho.