Inviting Fabric (free) licensed users to a workspace

[sba_ur]

Hi folks,

I have a user in my tenant who is looking at inviting guest accounts to a PBI workspace. So far, we are hesitant as the licensing part (Premium per user/Pro licensing) of it will be hard to manage with guest accounts. The customer is interested in a solution that allows report sharing in a secure way. 

Is there a way to share these reports with access controls with Fabric (free) licenses? I know so far that if it is a Pro/PPU workspace, all users of the workspace need the same license even to view reports. I saw the option of a workspace that is Fabric capacity - what ways can Fabric (free) licenses be invited with a Fabric capacity workspace?

If there are other alternatives, I'd love to know. 

Thanks!

[v-saisrao-msft]

Hi @sba_ur,

Checking in to see if your issue has been resolved. let us know if you still need any assistance.

Thank you.

[MichaelVenables]

Hello,

On the same page as MasonMA with what they have put.

You did also mention access for users/ a secure way to do this. Have you thought about using the workspace App as a way of sharing your access to the reports you want to share with the users?

If you have multiple workspaces you can have multiple apps. If you are using one workspace you can use one app but use the Auidience level to split them apart & you can have up to 25 audience views for each app.

This is just an idea rather than adding them to the workspace as you don't need to add them to it, if you try this approach.

Thank You,

Michael

[v-saisrao-msft]

Hi @sba_ur,

Have you had a chance to review the solution we shared earlier? If the issue persists, feel free to reply so we can help further.

Thank you.

[v-saisrao-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @sba_ur,

Thank you @MasonMA, for your insights.

You can securely share Power BI reports with external guest users without needing to assign them Pro or PPU licenses by setting your workspace to a Fabric F64 or higher capacity. In this configuration, guest users only require a Fabric Free license and the Viewer role to access the reports. While you still need a Pro or PPU license to create or publish content, viewing is allowed for guests with F64.

Distribute Power BI Content to External Guest Users with Microsoft Entra B2B - Microsoft Fabric | Mi...

Understand Microsoft Fabric Licenses - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

Business to business - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

Thank you.

[MasonMA]

Hi, 

I know that if your workspace is assigned to a Fabric capacity of F64 or higher view-only users either internal or guest can access reports without needing Pro or PPU licenses. They only need a free Power BI account. This is similar to the old Premium capacity model. As for smaller capacities even F32 Pro or PPU licenses are still required for viewers, including guests. 

So Fabric Free alone does not solve licensing for guests unless paired with F64 or higher capacity...