Import and Direct Query Load question

Hi elcapitano ,

With import connection mode from the source will be loaded into Power BI. Loading in Power BI means consuming memory and disk space. As long as you are developing Power BI on your machine with Power BI Desktop, then it would be memory and disk space of your machine. When you publish the report into the website, then it will be memory and disk space of Power BI cloud machine.

DirectQuery is a direct connection to data source. Data will NOT be stored in Power BI model. Power BI will be a visualization layer, then query the data from data source every time. Power BI will only store metadata of tables (table names, column names, relationships…) but not the data. Power BI file size will be much smaller, and most probably you never hit the limitation of the size because there is no data stored in the model.

Import Data

Advantages

• Fastest Possible Connection
• Power BI Fully Functional
• Combining Data from different sources
• Full DAX expressions
• Full Power Query transformations

Disadvantages

• Power BI file size limitation (It is different for Premium)

DirectQuery

Advantages

• Large Scale data sources supported. No size limitation.
• Pre-Built models in some data sources can be used instantly

Disadvantages

• Very Limited Power Query functionality
• DAX very limited
• Cannot combine data from multiple sources
• Slower Connection type: Performance Tuning in the data source is MUST DO

If you want more details about import and DirectQuery, please kindely refer to

DirectQuery, Live Connection or Import Data? Tough Decision! - RADACAD.

Best Regards,

Stephen Tao

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