Introduction to enabling and disabling self-service sign-up and purchasing

Billing administrators can determine whether to enable or disable self-service sign-up. As a Billing administrator, you also determine whether users in your organization can make self-service purchases to get their own license.

Turning off self-service sign-up keeps users from exploring Power BI for data visualization and analysis. If you block individual sign-up, you may want to get Fabric (Free) licenses for your organization and assign them to all users.

Turning off self-service purchase keeps users from performing actions that require a paid license. These actions include sharing, exporting, and creating workspaces for collaboration.

This article is an overview of self-service in Power BI. To learn how to enable and disable self-service, see Instructions for enabling and disabling self-service sign-up and purchasing of licenses and subscriptions.

Note

If you acquired Power BI through a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), the settings might be disabled to block users from signing up individually. Your CSP can act as the admin for your organization, requiring that you contact them to help you change this setting.

When to use self-service sign-up and purchase

Use self-service when

• Your large and decentralized organization (work or school) gives individuals the flexibility to try or purchase SaaS (Software as a service) licenses for their own use.
• Your one-person or small organization purchases only one or a few Power BI Pro licenses.
• Individuals want to try Power BI and become proficient before purchasing a subscription for the entire organization.
• Current users with a free license want to create and share content and upgrade to a 60-day trial of the paid features of Power BI.
• Current users with a free license want to start a free trial of a Fabric capacity.

Disable self-service when

• Your organization has procurement processes that meet compliance, regulatory, security, and governance needs. Ensure that all licenses are approved and managed according to defined processes.
• Your organization has requirements for new Power BI Pro or Premium Per User licensees, such as mandatory training or user acknowledgment of data protection policies.
• Your organization prohibits use of Fabric or the Power BI service due to data privacy or other concerns and needs to closely control the assignment of Fabric (Free) licenses.
• You want to ensure that all Power BI Pro or Premium Per User licenses fall under an enterprise agreement that takes advantage of a negotiated or discounted licensing rate.
• Current users with a Fabric (Free) license are prompted to try or directly purchase a Fabric Pro license. Your organization might not want these users to upgrade because of security, privacy, or expense.

Related content

How-to instructions for enabling and disabling self-service sign-up and purchasing of licenses and subscriptions.