Microsoft Power BI
Free planMicrosoft's BI tool for modeling company data and sharing reports through Teams, SharePoint and PowerPoint.
Best for companies on Microsoft 365 that want full BI at a low per-user price
Facts checked November 4, 2026
The short answer
Power BI is the first BI tool most companies should try, and the obvious one if you already pay for Microsoft 365. You build reports for free in Power BI Desktop, and Pro at $14 a user a month (paid yearly) lets you publish and share them, so a small team gets data modeling, scheduled refreshes and shared dashboards for $14 a person. The learning curve is the real cost, since good reports depend on a sound data model and DAX formulas. Licensing also gets complicated as you grow, because viewers need their own paid license until you buy a large Fabric capacity, and Copilot only works on paid capacity.
Choose it if
- Your company already uses Microsoft 365, Teams and SharePoint and wants reports to live where people already work
- You want to try serious BI at no cost: Power BI Desktop is a free Windows download and a free account lets you build reports for yourself
- You pull data from many places, such as SQL Server, Excel, Salesforce, Google Analytics and Snowflake, and need to combine it in one model
- Someone on your team knows Excel well enough to learn Power Query and DAX, or you can budget for training
- Hundreds of staff will read the same dashboards, and you can justify an F64 or larger Fabric capacity so viewers don't each need a license
Skip it if
- Your report authors all work on Macs: Power BI Desktop runs on Windows only, so Mac users are limited to the browser
- You want five numbers on a TV screen by this afternoon and nobody wants to learn a data model
- You run on Google Workspace with personal Gmail accounts: sign-up needs a work or school email address
- You want an AI assistant on a small budget: Copilot needs a paid Fabric (F2 or higher) or Premium (P1 or higher) capacity, and a Pro license alone doesn't include it
- Your company needs to share dashboards with outside clients or many occasional viewers but can't fund per-user licenses or a large capacity
Main features
Power BI Desktop
A free Windows app where you connect to data, shape it, build the data model and design reports before publishing them. Microsoft releases an update every month, and the Microsoft Store version installs updates automatically.
Data connectors and Power Query
Microsoft's connector list shows more than 200 sources for Power BI, from Excel, SQL Server and SharePoint lists to Salesforce, Google BigQuery, Snowflake and Google Analytics. Power Query lets you clean and combine them before they reach your report.
Data modeling with DAX
You relate tables to each other and write measures in DAX, Power BI's formula language, so one model can answer questions across sales, finance and marketing data. This is where most of the learning time goes.
Scheduled refresh
Reports refresh on a schedule: up to eight times a day on Pro, and up to 48 times a day on Premium Per User or a Fabric or Premium capacity. Manual refreshes from the settings page don't count toward the Pro limit.
Sharing in Microsoft 365
Pro users publish to shared workspaces and apps, and can put reports in Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint and SharePoint. Email subscriptions send a report to people on a schedule.
Copilot
Copilot can summarize a report, answer questions about the data, build report pages and write DAX queries. It needs a paid Fabric capacity (F2 or higher) or Power BI Premium (P1 or higher); a Pro or Premium Per User license alone is not enough.
Mobile apps
Apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android phones and tablets show your dashboards and reports, with data alerts when a figure moves past a limit you set. The separate Windows app was retired at the end of 2023, so Windows users view reports in the browser.
Microsoft Fabric and OneLake
Power BI runs inside Microsoft Fabric, where data engineers can build pipelines, warehouses and lakehouses in OneLake that your reports read directly. Smaller teams can ignore this and use Power BI on its own.
Power BI Embedded
Software companies can show Power BI reports inside their own product under their own brand, paying for capacity by the hour instead of buying a license for every customer who views a report.
Pricing
US list prices from Microsoft's Power BI pricing page, checked November 4, 2026. Microsoft says these prices are for marketing purposes and your checkout price may differ by country and currency. Academic, government and nonprofit pricing is available. Fabric capacity and Embedded prices are not listed on the pricing page.
Free (Fabric Free license)
$0
Create reports and dashboards for yourself in My workspace and Power BI Desktop; you can view content others share only from an F64 or larger capacity
Power BI Pro
$14 / user a month, paid yearly
Publish to shared workspaces, share and collaborate with other Pro users, up to eight scheduled refreshes a day; included in Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5
Power BI Premium Per User
$24 / user a month, paid yearly
Everything in Pro plus models up to 100 GB, up to 48 refreshes a day, deployment pipelines and XMLA endpoints; content in a PPU workspace is only visible to other PPU users. Pro and E5 users can add it for $14 a user a month, paid yearly
Microsoft Fabric capacity
Capacity for the whole organization, as a yearly reservation (Microsoft says it saves 40.5% over pay as you go) or pay as you go; at F64 and above, people with free licenses can view shared reports, and Copilot needs F2 or above. Creators still need Pro to publish
Power BI Embedded
Put Power BI reports inside your own app under your brand; Microsoft says it costs as little as $1 an hour for analytics, with no end-user licenses
Reviews
Write a reviewNo reviews yet. If you use Microsoft Power BI, yours would be the first.
Alternatives to Microsoft Power BI
| Product | Choose it instead if | Starts at |
|---|---|---|
| Databox | You are a small team without a data warehouse that wants KPI dashboards from marketing and sales apps, without building a data model | Free |
| Klipfolio | You want live KPI dashboards built from many business apps and a shared metric catalog, without learning DAX | $24 a user a month bille... |
Questions people ask
Is Power BI free?
Partly. Power BI Desktop is a free download, and a free Fabric account lets you build reports and dashboards for your own use. To publish reports to shared workspaces or share them with colleagues, you need a paid Pro or Premium Per User license, unless the content sits on an F64 or larger Fabric capacity.
How much does Power BI Pro cost?
Microsoft lists Power BI Pro at $14 a user a month, paid yearly, as of November 4, 2026. Pro is already included in Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5, so check your current licenses before you buy. Microsoft notes that the checkout price can differ by country and currency.
What is the difference between Power BI Pro and Premium Per User?
Premium Per User costs $24 a user a month, paid yearly, and adds most Premium capacity features to one person's license: models up to 100 GB, up to 48 refreshes a day instead of eight, deployment pipelines and XMLA endpoints. The trade-off is that content in a Premium Per User workspace can only be opened by other Premium Per User users, unless it is moved to a capacity.
Does Power BI work on a Mac?
Power BI Desktop runs on Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 or later only. On a Mac you can use the Power BI service in a web browser, and there are mobile apps for iPhone and iPad. Teams with many Mac users should test whether browser editing covers their needs before committing.
Do people need a license just to view Power BI reports?
Usually yes. Viewers need Pro or Premium Per User unless the report and its data model are on a Fabric capacity of F64 or larger, or a Power BI Premium P1 or larger capacity. On those capacities, people with free licenses can view content they've been given access to.
Is Copilot included with Power BI Pro?
No. Microsoft says a Pro or Premium Per User license alone isn't enough for Copilot. Your organization needs a paid Fabric capacity (F2 or higher) or Power BI Premium (P1 or higher), and an admin must leave Copilot switched on. Trial capacities don't support it.
Can I sign up for Power BI with a Gmail address?
No. Power BI sign-up needs a work or school email address and doesn't accept consumer addresses such as Gmail or Outlook.com. Without one, Microsoft suggests starting a Microsoft 365 trial, which creates a work address but asks for a credit card.
Sources we checked 16
- microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi/pricing for Free account, Pro, Premium Per User, Embedded and Fabric capacity plans, E5 inclusion, viewer licensing rules, country pricing disclaimer checked November 4, 2026
- microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi for Product features, Copilot, OneLake, Teams, PowerPoint and SharePoint sharing, Embedded from $1 an hour checked November 4, 2026
- microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi/desktop for Power BI Desktop is free checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/desktop-get-the-desktop for Desktop system requirements (Windows only) and monthly updates checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/service-self-service-signup-for-power-bi for Work or school email requirement, trial options, Microsoft 365 trial needs a credit card checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/service-self-service-sign-up-help for Consumer email not accepted, free license limits and expiry checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/end-user-license for Free, Pro and PPU capabilities; F64 threshold for free viewers checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/service-features-license-type for License types and sharing rules checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/fundamentals/fabric-trial for 60-day Fabric trial with a Power BI individual trial checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/enterprise/service-premium-per-user-faq for Premium Per User 100 GB model size, 48 refreshes a day, PPU-only features and sharing limits checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/refresh-data for Eight scheduled refreshes a day on shared capacity, 48 on Premium, PPU and Fabric checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-query/connectors for Connector count: 215 connectors marked available for Power BI semantic models checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/copilot-introduction for Copilot capabilities and capacity requirements checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/consumer/mobile/mobile-apps-for-mobile-devices for iOS and Android apps, data alerts, Windows app retired December 31, 2023 checked November 4, 2026
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/support/service-support-options for Support options and response times checked November 4, 2026
- news.microsoft.com/facts-about-microsoft for Microsoft founding year and headquarters checked November 4, 2026