Azure Map Visual - additional costs

[SenseJR]

I wanted to use the Azure Map visual in my reports. However I need my admin to turn on the tennant switch to allow this.

I have spoken to my admin - however they have said that they wont do it because in their words: 
"even though the Azure Maps are free, there are usages costs for this that are very difficult to manage"

I know that Azure maps do have costs outside of the Power BI visual and reffered them to the documentation here which states that there are no costs "if you have a Power BI subcription"

My organisation uses MS365 E5 licences for staff which includes a Power BI Pro licence. We do not pay for a Power BI capacity, all users are licenced seperately.

I think my admins are mistaken, (or the MS documentation is unclear) and they are confusing the tearm "subscription" with a paid for capacity, and Azure maps are in fact free of any costs irrespective of licence type or capacity type (or lack of)?

Am I correct, and if so, is there any other way to prove to my admins that there will be no further costs?

[v-achippa]

Hi @SenseJR,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community.

Thank you @DataVitalizer, @Ahmed-Elfeel and @danextian for the prompt response. 

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided by the user's for the issue worked? or let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thanks and regards,

Anjan Kumar Chippa

[v-achippa]

Hi @SenseJR,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community.

Thank you @DataVitalizer, @Ahmed-Elfeel and @danextian for the prompt response. 

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided by the user's for the issue worked? or let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thanks and regards,

Anjan Kumar Chippa

[danextian]

We have the same problem. My company's IT mistakes Azure Map in Power BI to Azure Map itself.

[Ahmed-Elfeel · Accepted solution]

Hi @SenseJR,

Based on official Microsoft sources you are correct. Using the Azure Maps visual in Power BI does not incur additional Azure Maps service costs when you have a Power BI subscription which includes your organization's Microsoft 365 E5 licenses that come with Power BI Pro .

• The Azure Maps visual is a feature of the Power BI platform itself. As long as you have a Power BI subscription, which you do with your Power BI Pro licenses, there is no additional charge for using it .
• Your understanding is accurate the term "subscription" here refers to user based licenses like Power BI Pro and Premium Per User (PPU) not just capacity based subscriptions ; Since all your users are licensed separately with Power BI Pro you meet this requirement.

To convince your admin you can provide direct links to official Microsoft sources:

• Share the link to the Azure Maps Power BI visual documentation . The "What is sent to Azure?" section explains the limited data exchange and the documentation consistently states that the visual is part of Power BI.
• Provide the link to the Microsoft Q&A thread where the question of cost was asked and definitively answered by a accepted respondent . This directly mirrors your situation.
• You can also reference the Fabric Community thread where a similar question was asked for Power BI Embedded and the answer reaffirmed that usage is free under Pro, PPU, and Premium licensing.

if this post helps, then I would appreciate a thumbs up and mark it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[DataVitalizer]

Hi @SenseJR 

The Azure Maps visual in Power BI does not generate separate Azure Maps usage costs, Microsoft’s documentation states it is free to use as long as we have a Power BI subscription, which we already do via our MS365 E5 (Power BI Pro) licenses.

Costs only apply if Azure Maps APIs are used outside of Power BI, which we are not doing.

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