Installing Power BI on an O365 E3 license

[JamieM]

Hello,

We are using Office 365 under an E3 agreement which I believe means that we will have to pay for Power BI end users (as opposed to the Desktop version which is seemingly free).

My question is what is the difference in paying for a normal Power BI license and a Power BI Pro license? If we have to pay for users to have the application, surely the Pro version is always going to be preferable. Are all paid licenses $9.99 / £6.20 per month?

Have I understood this correctly re: costings?

Clarity would be appriciated.

Thanks!

[Greg_Deckler]

This link will get you the information you need on pro versus free:

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/

Yes, if you purchase it online, the price is $9.99 although you might consider going E5 as this makes Power BI about $2.50/$3.00. That is if you need all of the extra stuff in E5. You can purchase Power BI Pro licenses in the Admin area and then just assign them to users.

[JamieM]

Many thanks for replying, but I am still confused.

With an E3 license Power BI is not included for free. Therefore paying is the only option. What I am confused about is that if this is the case, are the Power BI normal license and the Power BI Pro license the same price? That isn't specified on the pricing sheet.

Also, if that is the case, why would anyone with an E3 package purchase anythign less than a Pro license?

Apologies if there's something I'm missing here but clarification would be greatly appriciated!

[v-micsh-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi JamieM,

Power BI is not included in O365 E3, but we could use the Power BI free version without any charge. And if you would like to use Power BI Pro, then you should pay $9.99 / £6.20 per month.

Check the article below to see what is a Power BI pro content:

Power BI Pro content - what is it?

And there is no free or pro version regarding Power BI desktop, Power BI desktop is totally free.

Regarding how to buy Power BI pro, check:

Purchasing Power BI Pro

Also see the FAQs:

Frequently asked questions about Power BI

What smoupre suggest here is, as you are considering use both O365 E3 and Power BI Pro, it is better for you to switch to O365 E5 version, which includes Power BI, and this is more economical. See:

Office 365 Business plans

If any further assistance needed, please feel free to post back.

Regards