Microsoft Power BI is one of the leading business analytics software that can help you improve your business intelligence practices.
It offers multiple functionalities that simplify your process to understand business data and improve business decisions.
Apart from the features and benefits it provides, it’s important for you to know how much Power BI costs.
As it has multiple versions, you must know its prices before integrating it into your business ecosystem.
Let’s dive into understanding the cost of Power BI versions and help you finalize the ideal one for your business based on its requirements.
Microsoft Power BI Cost
You can choose from Power BI’s five major versions depending on your data visualization and analytics requirements.
From choosing the free version to purchasing the premium version, you have multiple options delivering different results and functionalities, like:
- Power BI Desktop (free)
- Power BI Pro (£7.50)
- Power BI Premium (varies)
- Power BI Report Server (on premium, possibly free)
- Power BI Embedded (varies)
1. Power BI Desktop
You can use Power BI Desktop for free, which can help you create charts and graphs, model, intuitive dashboards, connect datasets, transform different datasets, and share reports using different Power BI services.
The personal-use tool can transform the information into engaging visuals. It can help you connect on-premises and over 70 cloud data sources. Using Power BI without a license can be great for a start and assessing whether the tool is right and fit for your problems.
Once you understand different functionalities and aspects of Power BI and want to share your reports/data with others in your organization or outside, you can switch to the paid subscription.
2. Power BI Pro
This is one of the core skills any Power BI analyst should have. Using data analytics skills, the candidates must see the big picture and share insights in layman’s terms for effective decision-making.
Perform a background check to check the candidate’s data analytics abilities or share current business issues to check their competence.
They should be able to drill down and visualize data in the best possible way using charts, reports, or dashboards generated using Power BI.
- A data model size limit of 1 GB
- Publish reports to collaborate and share
- Access to Power BI assets on the phone using the Power BI mobile app
- Refresh datasets 8 times per day
- Connect to over 100 data sources
- Create dashboards and reports with Power BI Desktop
- Create and publish Power BI apps
- Access to AI visualizations like Q&A, key influencers’ visuals, and the decomposition tree
Using Power BI Pro, you can enjoy useful governance and administration features, such as data security and metrics for content consumption and creation.
3. Power BI Premium
The premium version of Power BI software offers the capacity and space in the Microsoft cloud to help you share and manage your reports.
You can get the required capacity based on the number of users, capacity, or factors like scale-down or up. The platform enables you to publish or share reports with others without the license requirement.
Power BI Premium offers better scalability and performance to ensure you unlock great data visualization results quickly.
Primarily, Power BI Premium offers two pricing options based on per user and per capacity.
Power BI Premium Pricing – Per User
It costs $20/month per user and includes all the features available in Power BI Pro, plus a few additional features for users.
For example, using Power BI Premium with a per-user license, you can:
- Create paginated reports
- Get a model size limit of 100 GB compared to 1 GB for Power BI Pro
- Refresh datasets 48 times per day compared to 8 for Power BI Pro users
- Use more technical features like Dataflows, Advanced AI, and XMLA endpoint read/write connectivity.
- Store 100 TB compared to 10 GB offered in Power BI Pro
Also, Power BI Premium per-user license holders can use the governance and admin capabilities of Power BI Pro but also access the application lifecycle management feature of Power BI.
This version of Power BI also offers on-premises reporting and additional governance and admin capabilities.
4. Power BI Report Server
It is an on-premise physical server you can use to create and view reports on Power BI Desktop or Pro. Multiple reports can be viewed on an email, web browser, or mobile device.
Using Power BI Report Server is great for you to access and view different reports when you have restrictions on cloud storage.
You can integrate the Power BI report server by purchasing:
- Power BI Premium P SKU P1-P5
- SQL Server Enterprise with Software Assurance agreement
The first option can cost you around $5K/month, and the second option can be around at least $15K.
5. Power BI Embedded
It connects Microsoft Power BI dashboards and reports to applications using Power BI Embedded. Make your desired changes and create a solid ecosystem for better business results.
The overall cost of Power BI Embedded relies on the type and number of nodes chosen and deployed. The nodes are differentiated based on the number of RAM and v-cores.
The Power BI Embedded pricing is available on a monthly/hourly basis across multiple regions. For example, the pricing for the Central U.S. region by the hour is:
| Node type | Dedicated infrastructure | Virtual cores | Memory | Front-end/back-end cores | Price |
| A1 | No | 1 | 3 GB RAM | 0.5/0.5 | $1.0081/hr |
| A2 | No | 2 | 5 GB RAM | 1/1 | $2.0081/hr |
| A3 | Yes | 4 | 10 GB RAM | 2/2 | $4.0242/hr |
| A4 | Yes | 8 | 25 GB RAM | 4/4 | $8.0565/hr |
| A5 | Yes | 16 | 50 GB RAM | 8/8 | $16.121/hr |
| A6 | Yes | 32 | 100 GB RAM | 16/16 | $32.2506/hr |
If you want to test Power BI premium features before you buy, you can create a Power BI Embedded capacity in the Azure portal and assign it a workspace. It will give access to the premium features to complete your tests and limit further costs.
Now that you understand the Power BI costs for different versions, it’s time to understand why it is essential for your organization.
Reasons to Use Power BI
Being a result-oriented organization, you can utilize different Power BI functions for great reporting and analytics power. It can also improve your data analysis approach. Here’s why using Power BI can help you unlock new heights of business intelligence:
1. Simple and Easy Management
From setup to usage, it’s simple to use Power BI. You can also use Power BI mobile applications on Android, iOS, and Windows 10 for quick management. Using the mobile app, you can interact and quickly view, edit, or manage different dashboards and reports.
Managing your data analytics and visualization demands gets easier as your team doesn’t require complex training to make the most of the software.
You can also access services like Google Analytics, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics to simplify your data visualization process.
2. Excellent Customizations
Power BI’s different versions offer different customization capabilities. You can also use many templates to visualize your data intuitively, enhancing the representation.
The software offers exclusive features ideal for handling large data sets; it gets easier to organize raw information based on your preferences.
3. Smooth Distribution and Collaboration
Power BI offers a solid ecosystem and different versions to simplify your report sharing internally and externally. It helps you remove the hassles of distributing and managing files. You can upload reports and visualizations to the Power BI service to achieve your desired targets.
But to avail the above-listed benefits of using Power BI, you require a professional and experienced team. To help you avoid hassles, we at Integrative Systems have got you covered.
Why Choose Integrative Systems for Power BI Assistance?
There are many reasons why you should opt for professional Power BI support services from Integrative Systems. Here are a few major ones:
1. Improve Your Power BI Outcomes!
We offer expert Power BI solutions to convert your business information into rich visuals for streamlining your decision-making. Our experts have the expertise to create reports that can help you achieve better results in the long run.
We can help you assess key business trends and provide you with the correct information for better outcomes. We are a leading Power BI consultant and support firm with decades of experience in the industry and can help you implement a comprehensive approach offering excellent Microsoft Power BI solutions based on your requirements.
2. Enhance Your Data Visualization Capabilities!
We offer advanced analytics to help you delve deep into your data about business activities and act intelligently to get the best results for business success. Our team offers professional Microsoft Power BI support services that can help you foresee risks and implement ways to mitigate them.
We have a robust team of Power BI consultants who can help you strengthen your data visualization and analysis capabilities and ensure you stand out and improve business operations. At Integrative Systems, we ensure our clients can leverage business data generated during operations using tailored Power BI solutions.
3. Identify Industry Trends With Finesse!
We help you understand the industry trends beforehand to provide you with an advantage and ensure you make informed business decisions for better outcomes. Our Power BI solutions can streamline your processes and remove the friction of tackling future business complexities.
4. Boost Profitability and Revenue
We can share their experience and knowledge to help you increase your revenues by making the most of Power BI. You can also minimize the issues of working with an inexperienced in-house team and unlock desired business results with finesse.
Our team has access to the best strategies to ensure you can utilize business and customer data to streamline your revenue streams and boost your business impact on your clients.
Provide personalized experience to your clients and build long-term relationships with the help of deep consumer data insights.
5. Get a Competitive Edge!
We can help you solve your dynamic issues with the help of Power BI consultation services, which are available round-the-clock.
Our team’s resources and skills can transform your business analytics, data modeling, and development results. Accessing our Microsoft BI support can help you stand out and gain a competitive edge.
To avail of all these benefits, you must invest in the right Power BI version and our support assistance.
Invest in the Right Power BI Technology
Now that you know the estimated Power BI costs of different versions, it can simplify your investment process according to your budget.
But making a rushed Power BI investment call can be a waste.
We at Integrative Systems can help you make informed decisions as we offer top-notch Power BI consultation and support services.
Connect with our professionals at [email protected] to highlight your requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Mircosoft PowerBI costs you nothing if you are just starting with your BI initiative. It’s totally Free to use and you can create, view and share basic sort of visualizations, dashboards and reports using Power BI Free. If you are willing to gain access to the advanced Power BI features, you can always opt out to invest in the paid plans of PowerBI.
Yes, that goes without saying! If you are done exploring the basics that are offered in the Power BI Free version and are willing to explore Power BI Pro, you get a 60 day trial to experience all the advanced Power BI Pro features. You can explore the capabilities and decide if it would be worth deal to make an investment in Power BI Pro.
Powerbi cost solely depends on the licensing and subscription that you choose to go ahead with. If you are starting afresh with Power, you can choose to start with the Free version of it, till you along with it. Once you are confident to take your business intelligence game to the next level, you can choose upgrade to Power BI Pro, which costs you at around $20/month, per user.
Considering different usage requirements, PowerBI offers a set of different plans with advanced features. To name the list, Power BI offers Power BI Free, Power BI Pro, Power BI Premium, and Power BI Embedded. Each plan serves different features and capabilities. Based on your business requirements, you can choose one that solves the purpose for you.
When you buy in Power BI license, it moreover includes maximum of the features and capabilities that you may need in your day-to-day business operations. Yet, there could be some additional costs that may incur if you are willing to gain access to advanced capabilities or add-ons. As an example – if you are willing to connect multiple data sources, it may demand premium licensing fees to access those features.
