Power BI pricing in 2026

Updated 19 October 2026 · prices taken directly from Power BI’s own pricing page and verified on 19 October 2026. No affiliate links. Vendors change pricing — check the source before you buy.

Quick answer

Power BI has a free account, then Pro at $14 per user a month and Premium Per User at $24 per user a month, both paid yearly. Pro is also included in Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5. Power BI Embedded, for putting reports inside your own app, is priced by usage. The cost that surprises teams is that sharing needs a paid licence on both sides: the person publishing and the people viewing.

Power BI plans and prices

PlanPriceWhat it is for
Free$0Build reports in Power BI Desktop; no sharing with others
Pro$14/user/month, paid yearlyPublish and share reports; included in Microsoft 365 E5 / Office 365 E5
Premium Per User$24/user/month, paid yearlyEverything in Pro plus larger models and more frequent refreshes
EmbeddedVariableCustomer-facing reports inside your own application
The bit that catches people out: Viewers need a licence too

A free account can build reports but not share them. To share, the publisher needs Pro and so does everyone who opens the report, unless the content sits in a Fabric or Premium capacity workspace, which is a separate purchase. Microsoft also offers Premium Per User as a $14 a month add-on for people who already have Pro or an E5 licence.

What Power BI actually costs in practice

ScenarioPlanPer year
5 people who all build and view5 × Pro$840
5 report builders and 20 colleagues who only view25 × Pro (viewers need it too)$4,200
3 analysts who need larger models, viewing each other's work3 × Premium Per User$864

List prices from the vendor’s pricing page on 19 October 2026; taxes excluded. Discounts and contract terms can change the final figure.

Where Power BI is genuinely the right choice

If your company already runs on Microsoft 365, has someone comfortable with DAX and data modelling, and needs governed, organisation-wide reporting, Power BI is excellent value and the obvious choice. For many E5 customers Pro is already paid for.

Power BI vs DataHub Pro on price

ToolPriceBillingUsersNotes
DataHub Pro$19.99/seat a month ($199/seat a year)Free plan, no cardPer seat, no per-source feesWorks from your Excel/CSV files and live sources; Word/PowerPoint reports
Power BI Free$0Desktop onlyPer userCannot share
Power BI Pro$14/user a monthPaid yearlyPer user, viewers includedWindows desktop app for building
Power BI Premium Per User$24/user a monthPaid yearlyPer userLarger models, faster refresh

DataHub Pro is a different shape of product: it works from the spreadsheets you already have and from live sources, computes every figure server-side so the output is auditable, and charges per seat, with no per-source or per-client fees. Where Power BI is the stronger tool, the section above says so.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Power BI cost per month?

Power BI Pro is $14 per user a month and Premium Per User is $24 per user a month, both paid yearly, according to Microsoft's pricing page (checked 19 October 2026). There is also a free account and usage-based Power BI Embedded.

Is Power BI free?

Partly. The free account lets you build reports in Power BI Desktop, but sharing them with colleagues needs a paid licence (Pro or Premium Per User) for the publisher and the viewers, unless the content is in a capacity workspace.

Do people who only view reports need a Power BI licence?

Yes, in most set-ups. Viewers of shared reports need Pro (or Premium Per User for content in a Premium Per User workspace) unless the content is hosted in a Fabric or Premium capacity, which is bought separately.

Is Power BI Pro included in Microsoft 365?

It is included in Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5. Other Microsoft 365 plans do not include it.

What is a cheaper alternative to Power BI for a small team?

If your data is in spreadsheets and you need dashboards and reports rather than a modelling platform, DataHub Pro is $19.99 per seat a month with a free plan and works in the browser on any computer. It is not a replacement for Power BI's semantic models or row-level security across a large company.

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Compare: DataHub Pro vs power bi · Best power bi alternatives · Power bi alternative for mac · More pricing: Databox pricing · Geckoboard pricing · Looker Studio pricing · BI pricing index

Work out your actual costOur free BI pricing calculator encodes each vendor’s real rules — per-viewer licences, per-source fees and per-project billing — and shows the annual cost for your team.
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We track what 30 plans across 12 vendors actually cost a team of 5 and a team of 25 over twelve months — normalised across per-seat, per-editor, per-client and per-source pricing. Updated monthly, free CSV and JSON, CC BY 4.0. 77% of paid plans change rank between the two team sizes.

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