Power BI Report Server pricing

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I have been tasked with finding a better solution for our company, than what we use right now which is the free desktop version of PBI. So far, I believe the best option for us is the PBI service. After learning of the PBI Report Server, I'm a little confused as to what the requirements are, pricing etc. I've seen that it comes included with the PBI Premium service. I've also read where if you have SQL Server Enterprise, there is no cost for the Report Server. Can someone please explain the requirements and cost? I have setup a local Report Server configuration, and published a dashboard to my local instance and it seems to be a viable solution for on premise. My other question is, what about security? 

Any help is appreciated, thanks! 

[Greg_Deckler · Accepted solution]

The rights to install and use Power BI Report Server is included with any Power BI Premium licensing, which a P1 costs $5K/month. Alternatively, Power BI Report Server is included with SQL Server Enterprise with Software Assurance. Please note those last two words.

The pricing for SQL Server Enterprise can be relatively complex:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2016-pricing

But bottom like, it's going to cost you at least $15K

You can also spin up an Azure VM for the Power BI Report Server and pay for it on a consumption basis, but I think that's really there more for demo and testing purposes.

As far as security. Power BI Report Server has security. Do you have a more specific question around security?

[Greg_Deckler · Accepted solution]

The rights to install and use Power BI Report Server is included with any Power BI Premium licensing, which a P1 costs $5K/month. Alternatively, Power BI Report Server is included with SQL Server Enterprise with Software Assurance. Please note those last two words.

The pricing for SQL Server Enterprise can be relatively complex:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2016-pricing

But bottom like, it's going to cost you at least $15K

You can also spin up an Azure VM for the Power BI Report Server and pay for it on a consumption basis, but I think that's really there more for demo and testing purposes.

As far as security. Power BI Report Server has security. Do you have a more specific question around security?

[JEsraelo]

As a developer, why would I want to "publish" my report to the PBIRS where I can "save as" onto the PBIRS?

[CheenuSing]

Hi @Greg_Deckler

Please help me to get clarity on

1. We need atleast one Power BI pro licence to publish reports to the PBI Report Server.

2. For others to consume, what tool they should use. Is the PBI report to be embedded in an application.

3. Do other users have to get a Power BI Pro licence to view the PBI reports. - any documentation available on this.

Cheers

CheenuSing

[JanV]

Hi CheenuSing,

1. You need at least 1 PowerBI Pro license per user that publishes reports to the report server.

2. Published reports can be easily accessed in the report server web portal through your web browser. However possible, embedding in a 3rd party application is not necessary.

3. Only users that publish content to the PowerBI Report Server should have a license, report browsers do not require a PowerBI Pro license.

Kr,

JanV

[sajidmansoorali]

as per local vendor, it's mandatory to purchase at least 2 packs, i.e. 4 core. for SQL Server Enterprise + SA.

i want to purchse only 1pack of 2 core with SA. can i do ?

[cnschulz]

Hi, 

I'd like a little clarification on this if possible.

We have many SQL servers, a mix of Enterprise and Standard and we have 1 Enterprise Licence with Software assurance. 

I can essentially install PBIRS as an app server, with the the software on machine A, the RS databases on machine B and the data from machine C. So, is it a physical requirement of operation that one of these machines needs Enterprise SQL or is it solely for licencing purposes? If not, which one needs enterprise?

Cheers

[JanV]

Similar question.

Still need some clarity on the following situation: if you just have somewhere within your organization a SQL EE SA license available your are able to install a Power BI RS on other machines and the report catalog db on e.g. a SQL Server standard edition? Would this somehow limit functionality or would this work just fine?

[oajayi]

I have Power Bi desktop free & Power BI Report Server trial installed. If I just need to license the Power BI Report Server, what would  I be paying? Is there no one off cost for the Power BI Report Server license? 

[fab]

Hello,

My customer is interessed by the on premise report server. He has already SQL Server 2012 Enterprise.

How much costs the Software Assurance for SQL Server ?

Once the report server is configured, users can build their reports with power bi desktop and upload in the server.

Are the others users can see reports on the reports server with the SQL Server CAL or with a power BI Pro licence ?

[PaulDBrown]

May I join this thread, please? I am too a little confused about the pricing policy (SQL Server Enterprise + Software Assurance option; the PBI Premium is fairly straightfoward) I'm having trouble understanding what the pricing "per core" actually means in the real world, and what exactly does the Software Assurance licensecing mean in practice - for example, is it required per user, per SQL Server EE license...?.

I have a possible client who will only consider PBI if it is deployed on premise; he wants nothing to do with the cloud. His organization is about 150 people (which makes Premium overkill and pricey to say the least)

So if he had to go down the SQL EE + Software Assurance, how much is it going to cost per month for an operation involving 150 people, asuming only a couple of them will actually developing PBI and the rest will be users of the reports?

I find it somewhat surprising that it is not simple to calculate these numbers (I'm not a systems guy so have no clue as to what the technical jargon of cores and nodes etc entails in terms of fulfilling requirements... Apologies for that) 

If the solution is to contact Microsoft directly I'll willingly do that, though I have sent a couple of requests in the past and have not yet received a reply...

Thanks for any help on this,

Paul.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

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Hi @PaulDBrown,

We are using On-Prem PBI and so I can offer my understanding on this.

You will need SQL Server 2016 /17 Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance. The SA adds certain licensing benefits one of which is the right to download, install and operate the PBI RS on site. The SA covers the SQL SVR license, it adds benefits to that licence.

The SQL Licence is not usually paid for on a monthly basis, you can pay for it over a longer period 12, 24, 36 months etc, this needs to be agreed with your MS reseller or MS direct.

As most modern processors have 8 cores at least, you will typically need 4 x 2 Core Packs, the cost of which could be as high as $60k if you look at online MS pricing. But again this price can be by negotiation with the Reseller and MS, and can depend on the business sector your client is operating in.

You will also need PBI Pro licenses for the staff that are developing and publishing to the PBI RS, but under this setup the users of the PBI reports will not need any extra licenses. This is something I have only recently found out, luckily they are not expensive compared to the other costs.

You will of course also need the server hardware plus Windows Server Licenses to run the SQL Svr and PBI RS on. Get lots of RAM, we have 768GB RAM for our prod server, but are developing on something more modest.

Hope this helps

Rob

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[JanV]

Hi Rob,

Thx for this clear statement, nevertheless still wondering what the exact requirements are related to  "You will also need PBI Pro licenses for the staff that are developing and publishing to the PBI RS". 

PBI RS does not seem to enforce user being logged in as a Pro user in order to push content from PBI D to PBI RS. Is it hence an unenforced licensing requirement? And if so, what rights can be granted to users that don't have a PowerBI Pro licence (Report Builder, Publisher, Content Manager,...)? 

Thx

Jan

[PaulDBrown]

Thanks Rob, That was very helpful and gives me an idea of how much it may cost. And I must say it adds up!

I find it really quite surprising that there isn't a better deal for small organizations. I mean in my client's situation, if there were no corporate constraints to using the cloud, at the most the costs for PBI reporting would amount to 1.260€ (150 x 8.4€) per month (Europe), and that would be if everyone in the organization were to use Power BI, which probably isn't even the case. For an on premise solution, it seems that Power BI Premium is probably the less pricey option, and that brings the bill up to a minimum of 4.208€ per month.

I'm not looking forward to the conversation with them on the different options, and my guess is they'll look elsewhere for possible BI solutions if they finally decide to move forward with a BI platform.

Thanks again for you help,

regards

Paul.