Power BI Embedded pricing by SKU
A capacity is the only thing Power BI Embedded bills for. You pick a size, and you pay for the hours it runs. Every size below is sold as a Microsoft Fabric F SKU, and from F8 up there is a Power BI Embedded A SKU with the same compute. The table shows what each costs for a full month of 730 hours.
| Fabric SKU | A SKU | Largest model | A SKU, pay as you go | F SKU, pay as you go | F SKU, 1-year reservation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F2 | None | 3 GB | Not sold | $263 | $156 |
| F4 | None | 3 GB | Not sold | $526 | $313 |
| F8 | A1 | 3 GB | $736 | $1,051 | $625 |
| F16 | A2 | 5 GB | $1,466 | $2,102 | $1,251 |
| F32 | A3 | 10 GB | $2,938 | $4,205 | $2,501 |
| F64 | A4 | 25 GB | $5,881 | $8,410 | $5,003 |
| F128 | A5 | 50 GB | $11,768 | $16,819 | $10,005 |
| F256 | A6 | 100 GB | $23,543 | $33,638 | $20,011 |
Prices are Microsoft's list prices for East US in US dollars, rounded to the dollar and verified on November 11, 2026. Prices vary by region. "Largest model" is the memory limit for one semantic model on that size.
A SKU or F SKU: which costs less
Running all month: reserve an F SKU
A 1-year Fabric reservation is the lowest price at every size when the capacity never pauses. F8 reserved is about $625 a month, against $736 for A1 and $1,051 for F8 pay as you go. The reservation is a commitment: it is billed whether the capacity runs or not.
Running part of the day: an A SKU
Hour for hour, an A SKU costs less than the pay-as-you-go F SKU of the same size. If your app is only used in business hours and you pause the capacity overnight and at weekends, the A SKU usually beats the reservation too. Set the hours and days in the calculator to see where the line falls for your size.
Smaller than A1: only an F SKU
F2 and F4 have no A SKU of the same size. They are the cheapest way to put a small embedded report into production, at about $156 and $313 a month reserved. Both limit a semantic model to 3 GB.
Staff viewers at scale: F64
F64 is the first size where people inside your organization can view content with a free Power BI license. Below it, and on every A SKU, each staff viewer needs Power BI Pro. At $14 per user, a few hundred viewers cost more than the step up to F64, which is about $5,003 a month reserved.
Who needs a Power BI license
- Customers using your app. None. With embed for your customers (app owns data), your application signs in to Power BI with a service principal and your users never see a Power BI sign-in.
- Your own staff. With embed for your organization (user owns data), each viewer signs in with Microsoft Entra ID and needs Power BI Pro or Premium Per User, unless the capacity is F64 or larger.
- Report authors. Anyone who publishes reports to the workspace needs Power BI Pro or Premium Per User, in both cases.
What this calculator leaves out
- How much capacity your reports need. The model memory limit sets the smallest size that can load your data. Whether that size keeps up depends on how many people use the reports at once and how heavy the queries are, and only a load test answers that.
- Autoscale and overage. A capacity that is too small throttles reports or, with autoscale turned on, bills extra.
- Storage, gateways and refresh. OneLake storage, an on-premises data gateway and the databases your reports read are billed separately.
- Discounts. Enterprise agreements, Azure credits and partner pricing all change the list price.
- The work of embedding. Sign-in, row-level security so each customer sees only their own data, and the pages that host the reports are built once, in your application.
Embedding Power BI in a custom app
Craftware builds Power BI Embedded into custom web apps and customer portals on Azure: service principal sign-in, row-level security for each customer, and a capacity that pauses when nobody is using it. It is part of our custom software development work, and reports that read from Dynamics 365 or Business Central sit alongside our Dynamics 365 work. We work directly with you, remotely.
Questions and answers
How much does Power BI Embedded cost per month?
At East US list prices, the smallest Power BI Embedded capacity, A1, costs about $736 a month if it never pauses. A Fabric F2 capacity, which can also serve embedded reports, costs about $263 a month pay as you go, or $156 a month on a 1-year reservation.
Is an A SKU or an F SKU cheaper for embedding?
It depends on how many hours the capacity runs. Hour for hour, an A SKU costs less than the pay-as-you-go F SKU of the same size: A1 is about $736 a month and F8 about $1,051. A 1-year F SKU reservation is cheaper than both when the capacity runs all month, at about $625 for F8.
Do my customers need a Power BI license to view embedded reports?
No. When you embed for your customers (app owns data), your application signs in to Power BI and the people using it need no Power BI license. You pay for the capacity, plus a Pro license for each person who publishes reports.
Do employees need Power BI Pro to view embedded reports?
On a capacity smaller than F64, and on any A SKU, yes: each viewer needs Power BI Pro ($14 per user per month) or Premium Per User. From F64 up, viewers with a free Power BI license can open the content.
Can I pause Power BI Embedded to save money?
Yes. A SKUs and pay-as-you-go F SKUs are billed while they run, and you can pause them from the Azure portal or on a schedule. Embedded reports do not load while the capacity is paused. A reservation is billed whether the capacity runs or not, which is why it only wins when the capacity runs most of the month. At F64, about $5,003 a month reserved against $8,410 pay as you go.
Does this calculator send what I enter anywhere?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you pick is sent anywhere or stored.
Sources
Every price and limit on this page comes from Microsoft. Prices last verified November 11, 2026.