Pro License & Fabric Capactiy

[CraftyCreator]

Hi everyone,

I am just trying to wrap my head around the connection between PBI licenses and FSKUs. In my understanding:

If I am a Pro license user and I publish a semantic model, which is larger then 1GB in its size, to a e.g. F8 workspace, it won't allow me, as I only have a Pro license. If I want to publish a semantic model larger then 1GB would I need a PPU license? 
Just trying to understand how PBI licenses and Fabric capacities interact with each other.

Thanks already in advance 🙂

[V-yubandi-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @CraftyCreator ,

Thank you, @Greg_Deckler , for the helpful reference and your quick response. To clarify how Power BI licenses and Fabric capacities work together.

1. Pro License Limit: With a Pro license, you can publish semantic models up to 1GB. This limit remains unchanged regardless of your workspace's Fabric capacity.

2. F8 Capacity: An F8 capacity provides 3GB of total memory, but it does not alter the 1GB dataset limit for Pro licenses.

3. Publishing Larger Models:  A PPU (Premium Per User) license allows publishing models larger than 1GB, but only in a PPU workspace. To publish larger models in a Fabric Capacity workspace, an upgrade to F64 or higher is required.

If there is any post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution  to help the other members find it more quickly

[Poojara_D12 · Accepted solution]

Hi @CraftyCreator 

You're trying to understand the relationship between Power BI (PBI) licenses and Fabric SKUs (FSKUs) in terms of publishing larger semantic models. As a Pro license user, you're correct that you are limited by a 1GB dataset size when publishing to a workspace. If the semantic model exceeds 1GB, the Power BI Pro license will not allow you to publish it directly. In this case, you would need to upgrade to a Power BI Premium Per User (PPU) license to publish larger datasets or models. The interaction between PBI licenses and Fabric capacities is important because while a Pro license provides basic functionality and access to shared workspaces, larger and more advanced features like higher dataset sizes or more extensive resources require either a PPU license or a full Power BI Premium capacity (which provides more robust resources for large models, datasets, and enterprise-level features). Essentially, for larger semantic models or more advanced usage scenarios, the PPU or a Premium capacity is required to overcome the 1GB size limitation imposed by the Pro license.

[V-yubandi-msft]

Hi @CraftyCreator ,

We noticed we haven't received a response from you yet, so we wanted to follow up and ensure the solution we provided addressed your issue. If you require any further assistance or have additional questions, please let us know.

Your feedback is valuable to us, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

[V-yubandi-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @CraftyCreator ,

Thank you, @Greg_Deckler , for the helpful reference and your quick response. To clarify how Power BI licenses and Fabric capacities work together.

1. Pro License Limit: With a Pro license, you can publish semantic models up to 1GB. This limit remains unchanged regardless of your workspace's Fabric capacity.

2. F8 Capacity: An F8 capacity provides 3GB of total memory, but it does not alter the 1GB dataset limit for Pro licenses.

3. Publishing Larger Models:  A PPU (Premium Per User) license allows publishing models larger than 1GB, but only in a PPU workspace. To publish larger models in a Fabric Capacity workspace, an upgrade to F64 or higher is required.

If there is any post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution  to help the other members find it more quickly

[CraftyCreator]

Hi @V-yubandi-msft ,

Thank you for your answer. That is what I thought too. But recently my collegues was able to publish a semantic model, which was about 4 GB in size, to Power BI Service. He is using a Pro License and an F2 Capacity. So we turned our Fabric Capacity up and then suddenly he was able to publish the semantic model, even though it was bigger then 1 GB. That is when I am lost. 😄

[V-yubandi-msft]

Hi @CraftyCreator ,

According to Microsoft’s official guidance, a Pro license shouldn’t allow publishing a semantic model larger than 1GB, even with Fabric Capacity. However, since your colleague managed to publish a 4GB model on F2 Capacity, here are a few possible reasons.

1. Fabric Capacity might influence how limits are applied. While it doesn’t change the Pro license limit, increasing it might have affected how Power BI processes large models, potentially allowing it in certain cases.
2. Storage mode could be a factor. If the model is in DirectQuery mode, the size limit might not apply the same way as it does in Import mode. Can you check which mode the dataset is using?
3. Microsoft might have made some updates. As Fabric is constantly evolving, there could have been a recent change that affects how these limits work.

If this seems like a bug, report it to Microsoft Fabric Support. To raise a support ticket for Fabric and Power BI, kindly follow the steps outlined in the following guide: How to create a Fabric and Power BI Support ticket - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

If my response solved your query, please mark it as the Accepted solution to help others find it easily.

And if my answer was helpful, I'd really appreciate a Kudos.

[Greg_Deckler]

@CraftyCreator This used to be dirt simple but now Fabric has complicated it along with everything else. See this: Solved: Size limit per Semantic model - Microsoft Fabric Community