Power BI Licenses and Datamart Retirement

[deepanwita25]

I am not sure if this is the proper place to post this question. However, I have a Report in Power BI Service and I use a Datamart for it.

I saw yesterday the datamart is going to retire and in the Learn More option it is suggested to migrate to Fabric Warehouse.

I have a Premium per user License and an Embedded License for hosting the report in the web.

First, what is the scope for Fabric warehouse with my license?

Second, if the license is beyond my budget then what is the alternative to the Datamart in the current licensing? 

Please let me know if this is a correct place for this question and if any other details are needed to understand the problem I am having.

[BhavinVyas3003 · Accepted solution]

Since Datamart is retiring, a budget-friendly alternative under your Premium Per User (PPU) license is to use Power BI Dataflow Gen1 + Semantic Model. While Dataflow Gen2 requires Fabric capacity (F‑SKU) and cannot run under PPU alone, Dataflow Gen1 works fully within PPU workspaces without extra cost. You lose Datamart's SQL interface, but can maintain ETL and reporting with no additional licensing.

If you have Fabric capacity, migrate to Fabric Warehouse or Dataflow Gen2 for advanced capabilities.

[BhavinVyas3003 · Accepted solution]

Since Datamart is retiring, a budget-friendly alternative under your Premium Per User (PPU) license is to use Power BI Dataflow Gen1 + Semantic Model. While Dataflow Gen2 requires Fabric capacity (F‑SKU) and cannot run under PPU alone, Dataflow Gen1 works fully within PPU workspaces without extra cost. You lose Datamart's SQL interface, but can maintain ETL and reporting with no additional licensing.

If you have Fabric capacity, migrate to Fabric Warehouse or Dataflow Gen2 for advanced capabilities.

[deepanwita25]

Thank you for your response. I was considering that Dataflow Gen 1 and SQL Server option as I get my data from MySQL database. Will you be able to tell me if there are any pros or cons for it. The cons i know for SQL server is I am exposing my credentials and that can be a vulnerability. If you at all know anything about it.

But thanks once again.

[BhavinVyas3003 · Accepted solution]

SQL gives full control with SQL queries, better performance for large data, and supports complex logic, but needs secure setup, credential management, and possibly a gateway. Dataflow Gen1, on the other hand, is cloud-native, easier to manage, safer with credentials, and works under PPU but doesn’t support direct SQL and is limited for complex transformations.

[Akash_Varuna]

Hi @deepanwita25 You will first need a Fabric Capacity workspace to use Fabric Warehouse. With a Premium Per User (PPU) license, you can access Fabric Warehouse for development, but full deployment requires dedicated Fabric Capacity. 

[deepanwita25]

When you say 'full deployment requires dedicated Fabric Capacity' do you mean I will not be able to use it if I am hosting the report in a website. I am sorry but its not very clear to me. Please let me know