Is pro or PPU license required with Power BI Report Server (PBIRS)?

[janmeetbhatti06]

Hi everyone,

I’m a bit confused about the licensing requirements for Power BI Report Server (PBIRS).

If we are hosting dashboards on PBIRS (on-premises), do end users need a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User (PPU) license to view the reports?

Also, is a Pro/PPU license required only for developers who publish/creates reports, or does it apply to all users accessing the dashboards?

I’ve gone through some documentation but I’m still not fully clear on how licensing works specifically for PBIRS vs Power BI Service.

Would really appreciate if someone could clarify this. Thanks in advance!

[Nasif_Azam · Accepted solution]

Hey @janmeetbhatti06,

PBIRS licensing works very differently from the Power BI Service, and this trips a lot of people up. Here is the clear breakdown:

1. End users viewing reports on PBIRS → No Pro/PPU required: Users who only view and interact with reports (both Power BI .pbix and paginated .rdl) on Power BI Report Server do not need any Power BI Pro or PPU license which is confirmed directly by Microsoft.

2. How PBIRS itself is licensed (the server): PBIRS is not licensed per user. It's obtained through one of two entitlements:

• SQL Server Enterprise Edition with active Software Assurance (SA) which is the most common on-prem path, or
• Microsoft Fabric F64+ reserved capacity (previously Power BI Premium P1+, but P-SKUs are retired for new customers since July 2024, and existing customers have transitioned to F-SKUs).

PPU (Premium Per User) does NOT grant rights to deploy or use Power BI Report Server. PPU is only for the Power BI Service. This is a common misconception.

3. Developers who publish reports

This depends on which entitlement path you're using:

Publishing Scenario	SQL Server Enterprise + SA	Fabric F64+ Reserved
Publishing Power BI (.pbix) reports	Pro license required	Pro license required
Publishing Paginated (.rdl) reports	Pro not required	Pro license required

So under the SQL + SA path (which most on-prem PBIRS customers use), only developers publishing .pbix reports need a Pro license. Paginated report authors do not.

4. PBIRS vs Power BI Service

• Power BI Service (cloud): Per-user licensing (Free/Pro/PPU) applies to everyone, unless content lives in F64+ capacity where Free users can view.
• PBIRS (on-prem): Server-level licensing. Viewers are free. Only specific publishers of .pbix reports need Pro.

For your scenario:

• End users viewing dashboards on PBIRS → no license needed
• Developers publishing paginated reports (SQL+SA path) → no Pro needed
• Developers publishing .pbix reports → Pro license required
• PPU → not applicable to PBIRS at all

For Detailed Information:

• What is Power BI Report Server?
• Reporting Services Consolidation FAQ (SSRS ↔ PBIRS)
• Power BI Licensing Guide for Organizations
• Microsoft Product Terms (Official Licensing Terms)
• Licensing and Roadmap Update for Power BI Report Server

Best Regards,
Nasif Azam

[v-priyankata]

Hi @janmeetbhatti06 

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community.

@Vanchy_Liao @Nasif_Azam @ArwaAldoud Thanks for the inputs.

I hope the information provided by users was helpful. If you still have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to the community.

[v-priyankata]

Hi @janmeetbhatti06 

Hope everything’s going smoothly on your end. I wanted to check if the issue got sorted. if you have any other issues please reach community.

[Nasif_Azam · Accepted solution]

Hey @janmeetbhatti06,

PBIRS licensing works very differently from the Power BI Service, and this trips a lot of people up. Here is the clear breakdown:

1. End users viewing reports on PBIRS → No Pro/PPU required: Users who only view and interact with reports (both Power BI .pbix and paginated .rdl) on Power BI Report Server do not need any Power BI Pro or PPU license which is confirmed directly by Microsoft.

2. How PBIRS itself is licensed (the server): PBIRS is not licensed per user. It's obtained through one of two entitlements:

• SQL Server Enterprise Edition with active Software Assurance (SA) which is the most common on-prem path, or
• Microsoft Fabric F64+ reserved capacity (previously Power BI Premium P1+, but P-SKUs are retired for new customers since July 2024, and existing customers have transitioned to F-SKUs).

PPU (Premium Per User) does NOT grant rights to deploy or use Power BI Report Server. PPU is only for the Power BI Service. This is a common misconception.

3. Developers who publish reports

This depends on which entitlement path you're using:

Publishing Scenario	SQL Server Enterprise + SA	Fabric F64+ Reserved
Publishing Power BI (.pbix) reports	Pro license required	Pro license required
Publishing Paginated (.rdl) reports	Pro not required	Pro license required

So under the SQL + SA path (which most on-prem PBIRS customers use), only developers publishing .pbix reports need a Pro license. Paginated report authors do not.

4. PBIRS vs Power BI Service

• Power BI Service (cloud): Per-user licensing (Free/Pro/PPU) applies to everyone, unless content lives in F64+ capacity where Free users can view.
• PBIRS (on-prem): Server-level licensing. Viewers are free. Only specific publishers of .pbix reports need Pro.

For your scenario:

• End users viewing dashboards on PBIRS → no license needed
• Developers publishing paginated reports (SQL+SA path) → no Pro needed
• Developers publishing .pbix reports → Pro license required
• PPU → not applicable to PBIRS at all

For Detailed Information:

• What is Power BI Report Server?
• Reporting Services Consolidation FAQ (SSRS ↔ PBIRS)
• Power BI Licensing Guide for Organizations
• Microsoft Product Terms (Official Licensing Terms)
• Licensing and Roadmap Update for Power BI Report Server

Best Regards,
Nasif Azam

[Vanchy_Liao]

Hi @janmeetbhatti06 ,

Based on this document, you can buy 3 kinds of license for hosting PBIRS.

How to Find Your Report Server Product Key - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

I suggest you to buy SQL Server Enterprise License if you won't use any cloud features.

[janmeetbhatti06]

Hi @Vanchy_Liao,

see the current scenario is : 

As per company guidelines, we cannot use the cloud-based Power BI Service and must proceed with an on-premises solution using Power BI Report Server (PBIRS).

We are currently evaluating the following licensing options:

1. SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance (includes PBIRS)
2. Power BI licensing approach (Pro / PPU / Premium Capacity) with PBIRS

We seek clarification on the following points:

1. Which of the above options is most suitable for an on-premises PBIRS implementation in terms of scalability and cost?
2. If we opt for SQL Server Enterprise with PBIRS, is a Power BI Pro license still required for report developers or users?
3. If we consider a Power BI (Pro/PPU) based approach, will viewer users also require licenses, or only report creators?
4. Are there any other recommended alternatives for deploying Power BI in a fully on-premises environment?

[ArwaAldoud · Accepted solution]

Hi @janmeetbhatti06 ,

Since your organization requires a fully on-premises solution, the best and most suitable option is SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance, as it includes Power BI Report Server (PBIRS).

In this setup, you do not need Power BI Pro or PPU licenses for end users or report viewers. Access to reports is managed through Active Directory, where users authenticate using their domain accounts. Once PBIRS is installed on your server, you can configure it within your domain and expose it via a web portal URL, allowing users to securely access reports through their browser.

For developers, they typically use Power BI Desktop (Report Server version) to build reports and publish them directly to PBIRS.

In terms of scalability and management:

• PBIRS supports centralized governance, security, and folder-level permissions.
• You can manage access and report execution directly from the PBIRS portal.
• Performance and scalability depend mainly on your infrastructure (CPU, RAM, storage), since everything is hosted on-premises.

For more details, you can refer to Microsoft Learn:

• Download Power BI Report Server
• Install Power BI Report Server
• Configure Web Application Proxy (WAP) and AD FS
• What is Power BI Report Server
• Compare Power BI Report Server and Power BI Service
• Install Power BI Desktop for Report Server
• Create reports for Power BI Report Server
• Manage content in the web portal
• Schedule refresh in Power BI Report Server
• Row-level security (RLS) in Power BI Report Server

If this response was helpful, please accept it as a solution and give kudos to support other community members!

[Vanchy_Liao]

Hi @janmeetbhatti06 ,

1. If you can only be in on-premise environment, "SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance" is your only option. No other license you need to buy.

2. Pro/PPU/Premium Capcacity are for Power BI Service (Cloud enviroment).

    You can still buy Premium Capcacity, but it is more expensive than SQL Server EE with Software Assurance.

    Premium Capacity allow you to use PBI Service (Cloud environment) and PBI Report Server (On-premise), but in your context, this waste money to buy this license.

3. Here is the document to understand Pro/PPU/Premium Capcacity. 

    Power BI Premium Per User 

    It's hard to understand, but you can imagine that:

    3-1. Premium Capacity: A whole PBI Package and everyone can use it.

    3-2. Pro/PPU: everyone need a license for create and share, even a user who won't create.

4. Power BI Report Server is the only choice for on-premise.

Btw, you can understand the differences between PBIRS and PBI Service from this document.

Compare Power BI Report Server and the Power BI Service - Power BI | Microsoft Learn