
What does licensing look like in Microsoft Fabric (Power BI)?
Licensing in Microsoft Fabric, including Power BI, includes different types of licenses that can be customized to meet an organization's specific needs. There are two main types of licenses: user licenses and capacity licenses.
Capacity licenses
Capacity licenses are assigned to an organization's resources and enable advanced features of the data processing and analysis environment called Microsoft Fabric. Currently available for sale to new customers is the only type of license i.e. Microsoft Fabric Capacity - an extension of the former Power BI Premium license, which includes, in addition to the advanced analytical features of the Power BI service, support for tools related to data management and processing and AI such as Fabric Warehouse, Data Engineering (Lakehouse), Fabric Databases, Real-Time Intelligence, Data Science (ML), among others, or even pre-defined BI solutions for a particular industry

Each capacity license is associated with a stock keeping unit (SKU). Each SKU has its own issues and limitations. Microsoft Fabric capacity is paid according to actual usage or reservation and billed as part of the selected Azure subscription. It is possible to dynamically scale Microsoft Fabric capacity during the billing period.
For more on the fees associated with individual F SKUs, please visit: Microsoft Fabric - Pricing | Microsoft Azure
Â
Â
User licenses
User licenses are assigned to individual users and allow them to access Power BI service features.

Availability of licenses in existing packages
- Power BI Free: The Power BI Free service is included with all Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plans.
- Power BI Pro: Power BI Pro service is included with Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5 plans. When configured with other lower plans, it requires the purchase of a separate license.
- Power BI Premium Per User (PPU): If you are assigned a Microsoft 365 E5 or Office 365 E5 plan, or already have a Power BI PRO license, there is an option to purchase a Power BI Premium Per User Add-On, saving 50% the full price. When configured with other lower M365 and Office plans, the purchase of a separate full PPU license is required.
Comparison of capabilities between user licenses

What are organizations to do that don't want to leave their local data infrastructure but want the ability to create interactive reports?
In this case, it is possible to purchase and deploy the Power BI Service Report Server. It operates under a basic licensing model and is currently available through three different licenses: MS Fabrics Capacity SKU F64 or above, SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance or SQL Server Enterprise subscriptions. In addition to the server license
A Power BI Pro user license is required to publish paged reports and Power BI service reports to the PBIRS service. In other cases (for viewing, handling reports), a user license is not required.
Â
What new licensing-related developments await us in 2025?
As of July 1, 2024, Power BI PREMIUM licenses have been officially withdrawn from sale to residential customers. Individual and CSP customers who renewed existing licenses before February 2, 2025 will already be forced to purchase Fabrics capacity next year. Power BI PREMIUM can already only be renewed by Enterprise customers for the duration of their contract (until 2028 at the latest). After the Enterprise contract expires, these organizations too will be forced to purchase Microsoft Fabric Capacity licenses in the SKU of their choice.

Q1/Q2 2025 - Copilot features and the ability to write custom AI agents based on analytics data collected in Fabric OneLake will be available across all capacities (SKUs) in Microsoft Fabrics including the lowest ones starting from F2. Until now, only customers with purchased capacity of F64 and above have had access to the Copilot feature.

Sample license selection scenarios

Cooperation with external users
In the case of B2B cooperation, it is possible to assign a license to an external employee (Recipient) within the organization (Provider), or a guest collaborator can lend a Power BI PRO or Power BI Premium license assigned within his organization (Recipient) for the use of Microsoft Fabrics space to the Provider.

The following table shows the licensing requirements for B2B access to the Power BI service:

For more on Microsoft Fabric and B2B collaboration, visit the Microsoft website:
If an organization intends to share reports with people outside the organization, e.g. its customers, and does not want to share resources with recipients (allow guests into its organization), it can choose an external solution or build an application using the Power BI Embedded service. The Power BI Embedded service comes with the SKU A.
Summary
Choosing the right Microsoft Fabric license depends on the specific needs of the organization. User licenses are ideal for individual users and small businesses, while capacity licenses are more suitable for large organizations and all organizations regardless of size with advanced analytical needs. It's a good idea to carefully analyze the requirements and capabilities of each license before making a decision.
Â
There is now access to a familiarization version of the Microsoft Fabric license calculator, which can assist in directing you to the right choice:
More on licensing itself can be found on Microsoft's website:
