Power Bi Licensing

Power BI is Microsoft’s business intelligence and data visualization tool. It helps businesses analyse data, create interactive reports and dashboards, and gain insights. Users can connect to various data sources, build data models, and create visually appealing charts and graphs, and collaborate and share reports with other Power BI users.

There are two types of licenses available for Power BI:

• Standard – Per-user licenses
• Premium – allocates a capacity to the whole organisation.

Standard Licensing

There are three Power BI user licenses available:

• Power BI Free
  • Not in premium capacity: The free license allows users to create content for themselves and interact with that content, but they cannot share their content or consume content created by other Power BI users.
  • In premium capacity: Users can interact with can content in a premium capacity that has been shared with them, without requiring a paid user license.
• Power BI Pro:
  • Not in premium capacity: Users can create content Power BI content and share and collaborate with other users with a Power BI Pro license.
  • In premium capacity: Users can create content Power BI content and share and collaborate with other users with a Power BI Pro, Premium Per User, or Power BI Free license.
  • Power BI Pro is also included in Microsoft 365 E5
• Power BI Premium Per User (PPU): A er user license that includes all the Power BI Pro features plus most of the premium capacity features (see feature comparison below).
  • Not in premium capacity: Users can create content and share with other users with a PPU license.
  • In premium capacity: Users can create content and share with other users with a PPU, Power BI Pro, or free license.

Upgrade to Premium Per User

If a user already has Power BI Pro or Microsoft 365 E5 license, you can assign them an add-on license to step them up to Power BI PPU. Power BI Pro > Power BI PPU is not a valid NCE upgrade path so instead you need to purchase and assign the following add-on:

Premium Capacity 

Premium capacity is a tenant level subscription that allows widespread distribution of content, as it allows to view content with requiring a Power BI or PPU license. If you workspace is in premium capacity, you only need to assign a Power BI Pro license to a user if they are creating the content, connecting data sources, and creating reports and dashboards.

Power BI Premium Per User vs Capacity Feature Comparison 

Guest User Licensing

In order to share Power BI content with external users you must make sure external sharing is enabled and that the correct licensing is in place.

Firstly:

• Users who need the ability to invite guest users must be assigned a Power BI Pro
• You cannot invite guests if you just have a Power BI Pro trial license

The table below outlines with licenses are required for guest user access, depending on the workspace:

There are three ways you can make sure guest users are licensed correctly:

1. Use Premium capacity – if the workspace is assigned to Premium capacity guest users can access the workspace without requiring a paid Pro license.
2. Assign a license to the guest user account in your tenant – you can assign a Power BI Pro or PPU license to the guest user account in your M365 tenant.
3. The guest user can bring their own license – if the guest user is assigned a Power BI Pro or PPU license in their home tenant they do not need to be assigned a license in your tenant.