PBIRS Licensing & Power BI Pro Requirement

Flos10250 To publish reports using Power BI Report Server with SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance, a Power BI Pro license is required. This license is necessary for publishing both paginated and Power BI reports in PBIRS. However, it is not required for viewing and interacting with paginated and Power BI reports on Power BI Report Server. Perhaps that is where the confusion lies?

Hi Flos10250,

Thank you GeraldGEmerick for your response to the query.

In addition to what’s already explained, the key point to note is that the Power BI Pro requirement applies only to authors who create and publish PBIX files, not to organizations that are licensed with SQL Server Enterprise + Software Assurance (SA) for the server itself. The server entitlement (PBIRS) comes from SQL Enterprise + SA, but authoring rights do not, those still require a Pro license.

Another important clarification:
Even though some older documentation states that a Pro license is not needed, Microsoft has updated licensing guidance, and the current rule is that any developer publishing PBIX reports to PBIRS must have a Power BI Pro license, regardless of the SQL + SA entitlement.

No additional licenses are needed for viewers, and this applies only to PBIX publishing, not for accessing or consuming reports.

Thank you.