license needs to access Fabric data warehouse

[Jeanxyz]

I'm very confused between Fabric free trial license and Fabric free license. According to MS document, for a user to access a Fabric Item, a free license is needed. But if I'm not wrong, when a user try to access a Fabric warehouse, he/she will be prompted to register a free trial license, which only lasts for 60 days. Is that correct?

[Jeanxyz · Accepted solution]

Someone provided the answer to me and it turns out to work. 

step 1. assign Fabric Free license in Azure Admin portal

step 2. provide user with workspace contributor role

step 3. user should be able to access the warehouse via the warehouse url directly or browse OneLake button to find the warehouse

step 4. user can preview data in the warehouse  (for this step, workspace read permission or warehouse read permission is sufficient), but the Shared Query folder is empty

step 5. to run a Shared Query, the user needs to have workspace contributor role or above.

[Jeanxyz]

I did some test. I asked Business Support to provide Fabric free license for one user. Now he can click open the lakehouse in sql end point. however, he couldn't see share queries. I have even given this user read access to the whole workspace, it still doesn't work. 

[v-menakakota]

Hi @Jeanxyz 

Thank you for sharing your query! We appreciate the detailed response provided by @nilendraFabric 

Certain advanced features, like viewing shared queries, may require a higher-level license. Check if the Fabric free license includes this feature or if an upgrade to a trial or paid license is necessary.

If this post was helpful, please give us Kudos and consider marking Accept as solution to assist other members in finding it more easily.

Regards,
Menaka.

[nilendraFabric]

Hello @Jeanxyz 

There might be some confusion around terminology. 

let me try to clarify it

Fabric Free License vs. Trial:
• Fabric Free License: A perpetual, no-cost license allowing users to create/share non-Power BI Fabric items (e.g., warehouses) and view Power BI content in workspaces assigned to F64 or larger capacities .

• Fabric Trial Capacity: A 60-day free trial (F64 SKU) providing full access to all Fabric workloads, including compute resources for data pipelines, warehouses, etc.

Access Requirements for Fabric Data Warehouses:
• If the workspace uses a paid F64+ capacity or trial F64 capacity:
• Users with a Fabric Free license can access the warehouse if they have a viewer role on the workspace .
• No trial license is required unless the user needs to create Fabric items (which requires a trial or paid capacity assignment).

If the workspace uses a smaller capacity (below F64):
• Users need a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User (PPU) license to access Power BI content, but Fabric items (like warehouses) still require a Fabric Free license with appropriate permissions

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/enterprise/licenses?WT.mc_id=data-91115-jndemenge

Please let me know if any other doubts are there regarding licensing 

Please accept this answer and give kudos if this is helpful 

[Jeanxyz]

I understand different types of Power BI licenses. But here I'm only sharing a Fabric warehouse with another user, so nothing related to Power BI content. The Fabric workspace is assigned to a F2 capacity. Why is he prompted to register a Fabric free trial license, which only last 60 days. Shouldn't he be directed to register a Fabric free license?

[nilendraFabric]

Hello @Jeanxyz 

Ps: removed this confusion. And answered in next reply 

[Jeanxyz]

I'm not convinced that one need Power BI license to access a non PB item in Fabric. Below is what I found from Microsoft, that means the user needs only a free license to access a Fabric item. Not sure if they need access to a Fabric Capacity as they don't need to create a Fabric item.

Free - A free license allows you to create and share Fabric content other than Power BI items in Microsoft Fabric, if you have access to a Fabric capacity (either trial or paid).

[nilendraFabric]

Agreed. The above answer is indeed confusing. 

let me try to clarify.

For Power BI Content Access:
• For Fabric capacities < F64 (e.g., F2–F32):
• Users must have a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User (PPU) license to view or interact with Power BI items (reports, dashboards) even if they have a Fabric Free license .
• For Fabric capacities ≥ F64:
• Users with a Fabric Free license and a viewer role can access Power BI content without additional licenses .

2. Non-Power BI Fabric Content (e.g., warehouses, data pipelines):
• No Pro/PPU license is required, regardless of capacity size. Users with a Fabric Free license can create and share non-Power BI items in any Fabric capacity (including F2–F32) .
• Example: A user with a Free license can build a warehouse in an F2 capacity workspace and share it with others who also have Free licenses

now last question why the user is prompted for Trail even after having Free license is still not clear.

there are 2 things we could check

Admins must enable Fabric features in Tenant Settings > Microsoft Fabric and ensure users have permissions to create Fabric items

If Fabric access is limited to specific security groups, users outside those groups will trigger trial prompts

[BIByte]

In order to access any fabric items (non power bi) the workspace that the item belongs to need to be linked to a fabric capacity (F SKU)

This page details the licenses quite nicely. 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/enterprise/licenses#per-user-licenses

Essentially the fabric trial license is to trial the capacity (the compute) and the fabric free license is a assigned to a user/identity similar to the power bi free license of the past.