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doug_sheehan's avatar
doug_sheehan
Advocate I
8 months ago
Solved

Power BI Python Visualisations being depreciated?

I heard on a podcast (I may have misunderstood) that the custom visualisations in Power BI created using R and Python may be depreciated in the future, since they are not being widely used. Can anyon...
  • lbendlin's avatar
    7 months ago

    You are probably referring to this announcement

     

    Power BI November 2025 Feature Summary | Microsoft Power BI Blog | Microsoft Power BI

     

    We are announcing an important change for Power BI customers who use Embed for your customers with R or Python visuals. As part of our ongoing commitment to provide a secure, scalable, and robust analytics platform, we continually evaluate our feature set to ensure alignment with industry standards, customer needs, and platform performance.
    
    What’s Changing?
    
    Starting May 2026, Power BI will end support for the ability to embed reports and dashboards containing R or Python visuals using Power BI’s Embed for your customers solution (also known as app owns data) and Publish to web scenarios. Embed for your customers typically involves a custom app which manages authentication directly, and for which app users do not need Power BI licenses.
    
    This change does not impact customers leveraging secure embeddings to SharePoint, Website or Portal. Embed for your organization (also known as user owns data) scenarios are also not impacted.
    
    Timeline for Deprecation
    
    Announcement & Guidance: Effective immediately, customers are notified of the upcoming deprecation.
    Deprecation Date: Official support for embedding R and Python visuals in PaaS scenarios will end on 05/01/2026.
    Post-Deprecation: After this date, any embedded Power BI reports or dashboards containing R or Python visuals will still load, but the R or Python charts will display as blank. Reports without these visuals will continue to function as expected.
    Recommended Actions for Customers
    
    Review all embedded Power BI reports and dashboards to identify usage of R or Python visuals.
    Plan to update or redesign any affected reports using alternative Power BI visuals or DAX-based analytics. Consider leveraging Fabric Notebooks for more sophisticated or technical visualizations.
    Consult the Power BI & Fabric documentation for guidance on using alternative visuals effectively.
    Support and Resources
    
    We understand that this change may require updates to your existing solutions. Please reach out via the Power BI community forums or through your Microsoft account representative for personalized guidance.
  • SavioFerraz's avatar
    7 months ago

    Hi lbendlin,

    This concern comes up quite often, so it’s a good question — but based on everything Microsoft has officially communicated so far, there is no announcement or roadmap indicating that Python or R visuals in Power BI are being deprecated.

    Here’s how to think about it.

    Current official status

    R and Python visuals are still supported in Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service.

    There has been no Microsoft statement, blog post, or roadmap item announcing their retirement.

    If Microsoft were planning to deprecate them, it would be communicated well in advance, as these features impact regulated and enterprise workloads.

    So at this point, the podcast comment sounds more like speculation, not a confirmed direction.

    Why people think they might be deprecated

    There are a few reasons this rumor keeps circulating:

    1) Low adoption in enterprise reports

    Many organizations avoid R/Python visuals because:

    They require local runtimes

    They are harder to govern

    They are not interactive in the same way as native visuals

    They don’t scale well for self-service users

    This doesn’t mean they are going away — just that they are niche.

    2) Strategic focus on other analytics experiences

    Microsoft is clearly investing more in:

    Native Power BI visuals

    Deneb (Vega-Lite)

    Power BI + Fabric integration

    Notebooks and Spark for Python/R analytics

    Copilot-assisted insights

    That makes R/Python visuals feel less “front and center”, but not deprecated.

    3) Python and R have moved “upstream”

    Today, Python and R are often used:

    In Fabric notebooks

    In data prep and feature engineering

    For advanced analytics feeding the model, not rendering visuals directly

    So the usage pattern has shifted, not disappeared.

    Should you invest time in R / Python visuals?
    When it does make sense

    Highly customized statistical charts

    Scientific / academic visualizations

    Prototyping complex visuals quickly

    Advanced analytics that native visuals can’t express

    When it doesn’t make sense

    Executive dashboards

    Highly interactive reports

    Large-scale enterprise distribution

    Performance-sensitive visuals

    Practical recommendation

    If your goal is core Power BI reporting, you’ll get more long-term value from:

    DAX

    Semantic modeling

    Native visuals

    Deneb (for advanced visuals)

    If your goal is advanced analytics or data science, Python and R are still very relevant — just often outside the visual layer.

    Bottom line

    No, Python and R visuals are not being deprecated (as of today).

    ⚠ They are niche and not the strategic focus for mainstream BI visuals.

    Learning them is safe if you have a specific use case, but they shouldn’t be your primary visualization strategy.

    If this clarification was helpful, please consider giving Kudos 👍 and marking this reply as the Accepted Answer ✔ so others can benefit from the context as well.