Forum Discussion
Advocate IPower BI Report Server Licensing
I plan to upgrade from SQL Server Standard 2008 to SQL Server Standard 2016 later this year. If I want to use Power BI Report Server do I have to buy a Power BI Premium license, or can I download and run Power BI Report Server alongside or as a replacement for SSRS based on the licenses I purchase for SQL Server Standard 2016
You have two options.
You can buy Power BI Premium, this allows you to license the same number of cores that you purchase in capacity in the premium license on premises for your Power BI Report Server.
You can purchase SQL Enterprise Edition + Software Assurance. This give you license to install the Power BI Report Server.
Only the Content Creators (those building reports) need to have a Power BI Pro license in both cases.
Alternatively, can I use Power BI Pro Service and publish content for consumers with the understanding each consumer must also have a Power BI Pro License? The Pro license gives you the ability to share content in the Power BI Service. You don't get the Power BI Report Server in this license. You are correct, report creators and end users need Pro licenses.
In this scenario, you would have a normal SSRS report server, and the Power BI Service. They would not communicate, and you couldn't put PBI Reports on the SSRS Server.
Anonymous The other option is to purchase SQL Server Enterprise Edition + Software Assurance. This would provide you the license to use the Power BI Report Server on premises only.
The online Premium sku at 5k/mo would give you the Power BI Service, and the Power BI Report Server.
If they aren't interested in online, then the only other route is SQL EE + SA
Isn´t SQL EE + SA going to be marginally less at best compared to Premium? I´ve seen numbers of $4 - 7k per core for SQL EE + SA against Premium at $5k (and I´m assuming both are per month).
Anonymous I haven't done a direct compare, my guess is that the SQL EE +SA would be more based on a per core license. You can license SQL in many ways, I'm not well versed on all of it, but I believe you can do both subscription or yearly.
prazzy88Helper I
Hi,
Still there is no clarity on whether we need Pro licensing for users to save the reports onto Power BI report server. It would be great if Microsoft clearly mentions this in any licensing pages. We have SQL server 2016, along with that we got Power BI report server, we installed a Power BI desktop and saved the reports directly onto Power BI report server. I don't see where licensing fit here. In all threads its mentioned we need pro license for publishing the reports in report server. But i didn't see anywhere where Pro license is required for publishing into report server which is inside our server.
prazzy88 "Required" - A Pro license is required, this is clearly stated in documentation. Whether or not this mean the tools restrict you from performing an action is a different topic. If you don't have a Pro license and you are publishing to the PBIRS then you are not compliant with licensing.