I would like to purchase a powerbi fabric account and I need some assistance

Question

I would like to purchase a powerbi account that will allow me to share dashboards with people outside my organization and will allow me to utilize features in the fabric capacity. I do not want my end users to have to purchase any additional licenses to be able to view and contribute to powerbi workspaces.

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Answer 1

Hi @Joey Frost,

You’re on the right track with using Microsoft Fabric capacity. Just to add a bit of clarity: if your external users only need to view dashboards, comment, or apply filters, a free Power BI license works fine when the content is hosted in Fabric capacity. But if they need to edit datasets, create new reports, or publish content, they’ll still need a Pro license.

It’s a good approach to start with the appropriate F SKU for your workspace so you can scale resources as needed without forcing extra licenses on your users.

Hope this helps you plan your setup more smoothly!

Answer 2

Hello @Joey Frost

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A Forum. 

 

Based on your description, you’d like to share dashboards with people outside your organization and use features available in Microsoft Fabric, without requiring your end users to purchase additional licenses. 

To achieve this, you will need to use Microsoft Fabric capacity rather than a per-user license. When your workspaces are assigned to a Fabric capacity, you can share content with external users or internal users who have a free Power BI license, and they will be able to view and interact with the dashboards without needing a Pro or Premium Per User license. 

Fabric uses a capacity-based licensing model (F SKUs) instead of per-user licensing. This means you purchase a pool of compute resources that can be scaled up or down as needed.

 

Important clarification: If your external users only need to view dashboards, apply filters, and add comments, a free Power BI license is sufficient when the content is hosted in a Fabric capacity.   However, if they need to edit datasets, create new reports, or publish content in your workspaces, those users will still require a Power BI Pro license. Fabric capacity covers free consumption, not free creation. 

For your reference: Understand Microsoft Fabric Licenses - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn 

 

I hope this information helps you make the right decision. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to update me. I’ll be happy to assist you further. 

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Answer 3

To purchase a Power BI Fabric account that allows you to share dashboards with external users and utilize features in the Fabric capacity, you will need to consider the following:

1. Licensing Requirements: To share content with users outside your organization, you will need to ensure that the external users have the proper licensing in place to view the shared content. This typically involves using Microsoft Entra Business-to-business (B2B) capabilities to invite external users as guests.
2. Fabric Capacity: You will need to purchase an F SKU (Fabric SKU) to utilize the features in Fabric. This will allow you to create and share Power BI content without requiring your end users to purchase additional licenses, provided you have the appropriate capacity.
3. Free Users: If you have Fabric capacity (F64 or larger), users with a free license can view Power BI content as long as they have the viewer role. However, for smaller F SKUs, users will need a Pro or Premium Per User (PPU) license to view Power BI content outside of their personal workspace.
4. Purchase Options: You can start with the Microsoft Fabric pricing page to understand the costs and options available for purchasing Fabric capacity.

By ensuring you have the correct licenses and capacity, you can effectively share dashboards with external users without requiring them to purchase additional licenses.

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References:

• Understand Microsoft Fabric licenses
• Power BI Premium transition to Microsoft Fabric