Power BI is  Microsoft’s cloud-based business analytics platform and is one of the most popular business intelligence platforms in the world -  it is affordable, and works well with familiar products like Microsoft Excel and Teams.

Power BI offers different licensing plans to choose between including a free plan and a Pro license. However, when should you go for the paid versions? 

In this guide, we break down the differences, price and features between Power BI Pro vs Free so you can make a confident decision moving forward. 

What Is Power BI Pro?

Source: Lits Services

Power BI Pro is Microsoft’s first tier of paid Power BI version - this is ideal for individual users and for small teams who need to create, share and collaborate on reports and dashboards. 

Pricing

Power BI pro plan costs $14/user/month and it is on a per user basis meaning you have to pay for each user in your team who wants to use Power BI Pro. Power BI Pro enables collaboration and sharing capabilities. It’s essential for businesses and teams who want to distribute reports and dashboards across the organization. 

Key Features of Power BI Pro:

• Use Power BI Desktop app to connect to a wide array of data sources, create interactive reports with rich visualizations, filters, slicers and custom measures and columns. 

• Refresh the report up to 8 times per day

• Share report with other Power BI Pro users in your team

Now let us take a look at the free version of Power BI and its limitations. 

Power BI Free version and its differences

Power BI Free version is the perfect option for anyone just getting started with Power BI for personal use, learning the tool and building simple reports with basic visualization of data. The free version also comes with Power BI Desktop where you can connect to different data sources, build visualizations and publish reports to their personal workspace in Power BI Service. 

However, with the free version of Power BI, you cannot share reports or dashboards with others which makes collaboration within a team impossible. Moreover, data refreshes are manual and cannot be automated. 

Let’s take a look side by side on the differences between 

Which One Should You Choose? 

Power BI free version is a great option for new learners such as students to get a taste of Power BI and how it works. You can connect to data sources and create test reports to be able to add Power BI to your CV - which can be a great addition to your skill sets.  

However, for any business or teams of multiple people, Power BI Pro is a must given you need to collaborate and publish reports with other stakeholders and users. This is where paid versions of Power BI come in. 

Pro tip: Microsoft offers a free trial for the Pro plan so it might be best to first try it out first before committing. 

For more on related topics such as Power BI Pro vs Premium, please visit our site and explore further into the ins and out of Power BI. 

FAQs

Is Power BI Pro worth it? 

Yes, but it depends on your use case. It is a must for collaboration and sharing of reports.

Can I share Power BI Reports without a Pro License?

No Power BI Free plan does not support sharing reports. Pro License is required to share and collaborate Power BI reports. 

How do I upgrade from free plan to Pro?

You can upgrade directly from the Power BI Service. Microsoft also offers a free trial of Pro for 60 days.