The 40% price hike on Pro makes the $10 gap to Premium Per User surprisingly small.
Microsoft updated Power BI licensing in April 2025, with further changes noted for 2026.
The gap between Pro and Premium Per User now defines your AI capabilities.
- Does it handle large data models?
- Is advanced AI included in the base tier?
- What is the true monthly cost per user?
🟠A TIER
Power BI Pro (Microsoft)
- $14 per user per month, paid yearly.
- Model memory limit is 1 GB.
- Includes publishing and collaboration. Power BI Premium Per User (Microsoft)
- $24 per user per month, paid yearly.
- Model memory limit is 100 GB.
- Adds advanced AI, dataflows, and datamarts.
🟡 B TIER
Power BI Desktop (Microsoft)
- Free for individual report building.
- Sharing requires a paid license.
- No advanced AI or large model support.
What this means for your team:
- Upgrade to PPU if you need models over 1 GB or advanced AI.
- Check if Microsoft 365 E5 already includes Pro to save $14 per user.
- Consider Fabric capacity if you need unlimited free viewers.
Audit your current BI spend against the April 2026 price hikes today.
P.S. Fabric F-SKUs cost $263 to $5,257 monthly but enable unlimited free viewers.
Originally shared on LinkedIn.
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Top comments (1)
Good summary of the tier gap. The number I'd add to the audit is how many of your seats are viewers who open a dashboard twice a month. At $14 per user per month that's usually where half the bill goes, and it's the group a per-seat license fits worst.
Before moving anyone to PPU, it's worth pulling the actual usage log per user for the last 90 days. The list of "needs a license" is usually a lot shorter than the list of "was given one in 2023".