Microsoft Fabric vs Power BI Licensing: What You Need to Know

[Abhilash_P]

Introduction

There are already many blogs that explain what Microsoft Fabric is. In this blog, we’ll address one of the most common questions, What is the Microsoft Fabric licensing model? We’ll also compare it with the Power BI licensing structure to help you understand how they align and differ.

Microsoft designs its services to cater to all types of users including individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises. For example, Microsoft Word can still be purchased as a standalone product for home users, or as part of the broader Microsoft 365 suite.

Similarly, with the introduction of Microsoft Fabric, Power BI is now available either as a standalone service or bundled within Microsoft Fabric, alongside other Fabric components.

Understanding Microsoft Fabric Licensing

Microsoft Fabric follows a capacity-based licensing model, which is different from the traditional per-user licensing that Power BI Pro and Premium Per User (PPU) offer.

There are two main types of Microsoft Fabric licenses:

1. Per-user License (Power BI Pro / PPU):
   These are for individuals who need access to Power BI content. They can create, share, and consume reports, but do not get full access to other Fabric workloads like Data Factory, Synapse Data Engineering etc.
   
   
2. Capacity-based License (Fabric Capacity - F SKUs):
   These are organization-wide licenses based on compute capacity (measured in CU - Capacity Units). This model unlocks access to all Fabric workloads such as Data Engineering, Data Factory, Data Science, Real-Time Analytics, and more in addition to Power BI. Some common Fabric SKUs include:
   
   

• F2, F4, F8, F16, F32, F64, F128, F256, F512, F1024, F2048 - the number represents the capacity level. Power BI P1 capacity is equivalent to F64 in fabric.
• These can be scaled up or down based on performance and concurrency needs.

Additionally, a free trial (usually F64 capacity for 60 days) is available for users who want to explore all features before committing.

Understanding Microsoft Fabric Licensing

Microsoft Fabric follows a capacity-based licensing model, which is different from the traditional per-user licensing that Power BI Pro and Premium Per User (PPU) offer.

There are two main types of Microsoft Fabric licenses:

1. Per-user License (Power BI Pro / PPU):
   These are for individuals who need access to Power BI content. They can create, share, and consume reports, but do not get full access to other Fabric workloads like Data Factory, Synapse Data Engineering etc.
   
   
2. Capacity-based License (Fabric Capacity - F SKUs):
   These are organization-wide licenses based on compute capacity (measured in CU - Capacity Units). This model unlocks access to all Fabric workloads such as Data Engineering, Data Factory, Data Science, Real-Time Analytics, and more in addition to Power BI. Some common Fabric SKUs include:
   
   

• F2, F4, F8, F16, F32, F64, F128, F256, F512, F1024, F2048 - the number represents the capacity level. Power BI P1 capacity is equivalent to F64 in fabric.
• These can be scaled up or down based on performance and concurrency needs.

Additionally, a free trial (usually F64 capacity for 60 days) is available for users who want to explore all features before committing.

 Comparison of Power BI Pro vs Fabric Capacity

Feature / Aspect	Power BI Pro / PPU	Microsoft Fabric Capacity (F SKUs)
License Type	Per-user	Capacity-based (organization-wide)
Access to Power BI	✅Full access	✅Full access
Access to Fabric workloads	❌Not included (only Power BI)	✅Includes all Fabric workloads
Sharing & Collaboration	✅With other Pro/PPU users	✅Broad sharing within licensed capacity
Deployment Scope	Individual	Department or Enterprise
Capacity Units (CU)	Not applicable	F2, F4, F8, F16, F32, F64, F128, F256, F512, F1024, F2048
Performance/ Scaling	Limited by user license	Scalable based on capacity tier
Trial Availability	60-day Pro trial available	60-day Fabric (F64) trial available
Best For	Individual report creators/viewers	Organizations running full data platform workloads

How to Choose the Right License

Choosing between Power BI and Microsoft Fabric licenses depends on the scale of your data needs, user roles, and the type of workloads your organization runs. Here's a quick guide to help.

✅Choose Power BI Pro or PPU if:

• You have individual users or small teams focused only on reporting and dashboards.
• Your workloads are limited to data visualization without the need for large-scale data integration, engineering, or real-time processing.
• You prefer a low-cost, per-user model.

✅Choose Microsoft Fabric Capacity (F SKUs) if:

• You need access to multiple data workloads (e.g., Data Factory, Synapse, Real-Time Analytics, Data Science).
• You’re managing large datasets, pipelines, or collaborative analytics across departments.
• You want centralized governance and performance scaling.
• You require dedicated capacity for consistent performance and higher concurrency.

Summary and Recommendations

Microsoft Fabric represents a significant shift in how organizations can unify their data workloads from ingestion and engineering to science and business intelligence under a single SaaS platform. But with this shift comes a change in how licensing works.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all model, Microsoft now offers a flexible licensing structure that lets organizations start small and scale as needed. Whether you're a data analyst using Power BI or a data engineer working with pipelines and notebooks, there's a license that aligns with your role and workload.

The key is to understand your organization's data maturity, collaboration needs, and performance expectations. With the right license, Microsoft Fabric can help you modernize your data stack without adding operational complexity.