"license"
6 TopicsPBRS licensing (Server+CAL vs Per-Core) and implementation advice for an on-prem deployment
Hi all, My organization is planning a Power BI implementation for a department of around 40 people. Because we work with highly confidential data, we're not comfortable hosting anything in the cloud, so the standard Power BI + cloud setup is off the table. We're therefore looking at Power BI Report Server (PBIRS) as our on-premises option, and I have a few questions I'm hoping the community can weigh in on. 1. Licensing route and edition My understanding is that with SQL Server 2025, PBIRS rights are now included with any paid edition (Standard or Enterprise) and no longer require Software Assurance — a change from older versions, which needed Enterprise + SA. If that's correct, Standard edition looks like the most budget-friendly route for us versus the Fabric F64+ path. Can anyone confirm this is accurate, and flag any practical limitations of running PBIRS on Standard rather than Enterprise (e.g. virtualization or failover rights) that we should factor in? 2. Server + CAL vs. Per-Core This is the main thing I'd like to hear real-world experience on. For those of you running PBIRS: Which licensing model did you choose, and why? If you went with Per-Core, what core count did you settle on? The minimum is 4 cores per OSE — in practice, is 4 cores enough for a department of our size, or does it tend to underperform? For roughly 40 users, did Server + CAL end up cheaper, or did Per-Core make more sense? 3. Implementation and hidden costs Finally, I'd appreciate any general advice on implementing PBIRS — gotchas a new user should know going in, and especially any additional or unexpected costs to budget for. One thing I've seen mentioned is that a Power BI Pro license is still required to publish reports to the server regardless of the SQL licensing route — I'd love confirmation on how that works in practice and whether every report author needs one. Thanks in advance for sharing your experience!Solved1.1KViews0likes3CommentsQuestion about licenses - What do we need to acquire
Good morning. I am a developer for an IT company that works in healthcare. We're working on a project that shares Power BI Dashboards (reports) to doctors and nurses with date from their hospitals. Currently, we have installed a virtual machine (OS: Windows Server) with Power BI Report Server + SQL Server + Power BI Desktop, this machine is then accessible via VPN by the hospitals that want to view our reports. This machine is completely offline and all comunications is through internal VPNs (intranets). Our Power BI Report Server was working on evaluation edition, but now it has expired. We are trying to be compliant using the correct licenses but we're having trouble understanding what licenses we need. for Power BI Report Server, we thought we could use our SQL Server Core Edition product key, but it doesnt work: seems we may need an additional tier (Software Assurance) to be able to use it for Power BI Report Server. So for now we're trying to understand if/how to upgrade to the "Software Assurance" tier. for Power BI itself, we are having trouble understanding if we need a power bi PRO/Premium license or not. We do not share reports in the cloud, we just upload them in this machine via Power BI Desktop and users that connect via vpn to our Report Server login page can see them. Also, do know that we have created a Custom Login page for Power BI Report Server, thanks to this github project. I am thinking we might NOT need a pro license with such use of Power BI, but i'd like confermation on this. What's the best course of action here?Solved1.7KViews0likes4CommentsON PREMISE REPORTING SERVER LICENCING
Hi We need to self manage our data instance. basically it cannot be a public cloud. so I beleive we will need power BI report server. we already have SQL server enterprise and our EDW is clickhouse Our user base is : 4/5 report developers, 5 business analyst or ops who will schedule the reports with different parameters and distribution emails 25 / 30 internal report consumers on company domain 100 + external report consumers with external emails Questions what licenses do we need ? can reports be shared with external users without a licence. the email address needs to be setup in the reports distribution790Views0likes2CommentsIs "Pro License for PowerBI Cloud" is enough to do the Tenant setting changes?
Hello All, Is "Pro License for PowerBI Cloud" is enough to do the below changes? Which type of license is Required to do chnages? For Power BI, Admin Portal in PowerBI Service --> Tenant settings, enable to Allow service principals to use Power BI APIs and security groups? Thank you.Solved513Views0likes1Comment