1 Fabric licence - 2 subscriptions

[syl-ade]

Hi all,

If I have a single Microsoft Fabric license assigned to subscription A in tenant X, can I use it in subscription B if that subscription also belongs to tenant X?

[v-ssriganesh · Accepted solution]

Hello @syl-ade,
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community.

A Microsoft Fabric license is tied to a capacity, which is a pool of computational resources allocated within a Microsoft Entra tenant. The capacity is not directly bound to a specific Azure subscription but is associated with the tenant where it is provisioned. Since both Subscription A and Subscription B belong to the same tenant (Tenant X), you can use the Fabric capacity across workspaces in that tenant, regardless of which subscription was used to purchase or manage the capacity.

Here’s how it works:

• A Fabric capacity (e.g: F SKU or P SKU) is created under a specific Azure subscription (e.g: Subscription A) for billing purposes, but it is available for use across the entire tenant.
• Workspaces within Tenant X can be assigned to the Fabric capacity, even if those workspaces are associated with resources or users managed under Subscription B, as long as both subscriptions are in the same tenant.
• You can manage the capacity and assign workspaces to it via the Fabric Admin Portal or Azure Portal, provided the user has the appropriate permissions (e.g: Fabric Capacity Admin or Contributor roles).

Kindly refer to the links provided below:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/enterprise/licenses
• https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/microsoft-fabric/

If this information is helpful, please “Accept as solution” and give a "kudos" to assist other community members in resolving similar issues more efficiently.
Thank you.

[v-ssriganesh · Accepted solution]

Hello @syl-ade,
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community.

A Microsoft Fabric license is tied to a capacity, which is a pool of computational resources allocated within a Microsoft Entra tenant. The capacity is not directly bound to a specific Azure subscription but is associated with the tenant where it is provisioned. Since both Subscription A and Subscription B belong to the same tenant (Tenant X), you can use the Fabric capacity across workspaces in that tenant, regardless of which subscription was used to purchase or manage the capacity.

Here’s how it works:

• A Fabric capacity (e.g: F SKU or P SKU) is created under a specific Azure subscription (e.g: Subscription A) for billing purposes, but it is available for use across the entire tenant.
• Workspaces within Tenant X can be assigned to the Fabric capacity, even if those workspaces are associated with resources or users managed under Subscription B, as long as both subscriptions are in the same tenant.
• You can manage the capacity and assign workspaces to it via the Fabric Admin Portal or Azure Portal, provided the user has the appropriate permissions (e.g: Fabric Capacity Admin or Contributor roles).

Kindly refer to the links provided below:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/enterprise/licenses
• https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/microsoft-fabric/

If this information is helpful, please “Accept as solution” and give a "kudos" to assist other community members in resolving similar issues more efficiently.
Thank you.

[syl-ade]

Thank you for the comprehensive response.
I have one more question. In the meantime I asked Copilot: 

"I have a reservation for 32 CU, can I pick 2x F16 and assign them to different subscriptions?"

Copilot said:

Yes, you can split your 32 CU reservation into multiple SKUs like 2× F16, but you cannot assign them to different subscriptions directly from a single reservation.

Here’s how it works:

---

✅ What You Can Do

• Fabric reservations are purchased at the CU level, not SKU level. So your 32 CU reservation can be used to cover any combination of SKUs (e.g., 2× F16, 4× F8, etc.).

• You can assign different capacities (SKUs) to different workspaces or workloads within the same subscription or same tenant.

• You can create two separate F16 capacities and assign them to different workspaces or departments.

  ---

  🚫 What You Cannot Do

  • You cannot split a single reservation across multiple Azure subscriptions directly.

  • Reservations are scoped to a subscription or shared scope at the time of purchase. If you chose single-subscription scope, the reservation applies only to that subscription.

  • If you want to use the reservation across multiple subscriptions, you must purchase it with shared scope (across billing context or tenant).

    ---

    🔄 Workaround Options

    1. Use Shared Scope: When purchasing the reservation, choose "shared" scope so it can apply to multiple subscriptions under the same billing account.

    2. Reassign Capacity: You can assign the F16 capacities to different workspaces in different Fabric domains, as long as they’re under the same tenant.

    3. Manual Cost Allocation: If you must use different subscriptions, you can still deploy the capacities under one subscription and track usage manually for internal chargeback.
       

        

       I assume this: "Use Shared Scope: When purchasing the reservation, choose "shared" scope so it can apply to multiple subscriptions under the same billing account." is mandatory to be able to split a single reservation across multiple Azure subscriptions. Is that correct?

[v-ssriganesh · Accepted solution]

Hello @syl-ade,
Thank you for sharing the details and Copilot’s response. You’re correct in your assumption and I’ll clarify to confirm:

To split a single Microsoft Fabric capacity reservation (e.g: 32 CU) across multiple Azure subscriptions, the reservation must be purchased with a shared scope. Here’s why:

• When you purchase a Fabric capacity reservation, you select a scope either single subscription or shared.
• The reservation applies only to the specific Azure subscription selected at purchase. Capacities created under this reservation (e.g: 2× F16) can only be deployed and billed within that subscription.
• The reservation applies across all subscriptions within the same billing account or tenant, allowing you to deploy capacities (e.g: 2× F16) to different subscriptions under the same tenant, if they are part of the same billing context.
• If you want to split your 32 CU reservation into 2× F16 capacities and assign them to different subscriptions (e.g: Subscription A and Subscription B) within Tenant X, the reservation must have been purchased with shared scope. This allows the reservation’s capacity units to be utilized across multiple subscriptions in the same tenant or billing account.

[syl-ade]

Thank you for the clarification @v-ssriganesh 

[syl-ade]

What do you mean with "Pro" licence? Is there a Fabric Pro licence?

The case looks like that: DEV resource group is on subscription X, PROD resource group is on subscription Y. 
Does the customer need to buy 2 Fabric licences (have 2 capacities)?

[lbendlin]

The term "license"  (Pro license, to be specific) is reserved for individual users acting as developers.

Fabric doesn't have a "license".  It has SKUs ("capacities") that you can purchase as a consumption based subscription or as part of a reservation.

[syl-ade]

The customer wants to purchase SKU as a part of a 1-year reservation. 

[lbendlin]

Let's say they purchase a F64 reservation for a year. Within that year they can run any number of F SKUs as long as their total doesn't exceed F64.  So they could run 1 F64 or  2 F32  or four F16 etc. They can change these around at any time as long as the change doesn't exceed F64.

[lbendlin]

Please be more specific.  Do you mean a Pro License?