Pricing of Microsoft Fabric and Power BI Embedded: What You Need to Know
When you deliver embedded analytics with Microsoft technology, understanding the cost implications is crucial. The options can be hard to navigate, but Microsoft Fabric and Power BI Embedded both offer flexible pricing models that suit different company needs.
This guide breaks down the key aspects of their pricing, walks through practical examples, explains how to choose the right option for your situation, and shows how Embedsy can help you keep your usage — and your bill — under control.
Overview of Microsoft Fabric and Power BI Embedded Pricing
Pricing for Microsoft Fabric and Power BI Embedded is designed to be highly flexible, making it accessible to organizations of every size and need. Below are the primary components of their pricing structure:
Pay-as-you-go
Microsoft Fabric and Power BI Embedded both offer models that align billing with actual usage, though they operate differently.
Power BI Embedded Per-Second Billing Model
Power BI Embedded operates on a straightforward per usage time billing model, allowing you to pay only for the exact usage time. This is particularly beneficial for businesses with fluctuating demand, ensuring that you’re not overpaying for idle resources. You can always pause the capacity and are not charged during this time.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/power-bi-embedded/Microsoft Fabric Capacity Units (CUs) Billing Model
Microsoft Fabric uses Capacity Units (CUs) for billing. The billing is based on the amount of capacity you reserve and is only billed, if the capacity is running. Fabric includes OneLake, which is a single place to store all data. OneLake is billed per TB of data that is stored.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/microsoft-fabric/Reserved Capacity Options
For organizations with predictable workloads, reserved capacity provides a cost-effective solution with stable pricing. By committing to a specific level of resources for a set period, businesses unlock significant discounts compared to pay-as-you-go rates — and committing annually deepens those savings further.
Beyond the lower rate, reserved capacity offers financial predictability and protects you from overpaying for resources you don't use. It's an attractive option for companies that expect steady, ongoing demand for their analytics.
Comparing F and A SKUs
Understanding the difference between F SKUs and A SKUs is crucial for optimizing your Power BI Embedded implementation. A SKUs (Power BI Embedded) are purpose-built for embedding Power BI content: they're purchased through Azure, billed by the hour, and can be paused when nobody is using them — a solid fit if embedding reports is all you need.
F SKUs for Microsoft Fabric
F SKUs (Microsoft Fabric) offer a broader scope. On top of supporting Power BI Embedded, they unlock the full suite of Microsoft Fabric capabilities — advanced data integration, storage, and analytics — which can be invaluable for organizations that need a comprehensive data and analytics platform rather than embedding alone.
Recommendation for Most Use Cases
For most use cases, F SKUs are the better choice thanks to their greater flexibility and functionality. Choosing an F SKU gives you the ability to embed Power BI reports and unlocks the full potential of Microsoft Fabric — making it the smarter pick for any business that foresees needing more than embedded analytics alone.
How to Choose the Right Option
Assess Your Usage Needs
When deciding between pay-as-you-go and reserved capacity, it's essential to consider how frequently and intensively you will use the analytics tools.
If your application has variable usage, starting with a pay-as-you-go model can be a cost-effective way to identify the right capacity for your needs. This approach allows you to monitor usage patterns and then transition to a reserved capacity once you have a clearer understanding of your consistent usage. Locking in an annual commitment at that point can offer significant savings by securing a discounted rate.
Scalability
All SKUs offered by Microsoft Fabric and Power BI Embedded are designed with scalability in mind.
This means you can easily scale your resources up or down based on your evolving needs. Whether you're starting with a smaller capacity and expect to grow, or you anticipate fluctuating demand, the built-in flexibility across all SKUs ensures that you can adjust your infrastructure without significant disruptions.
How the Embedsy Portal minimizes your costs
The Embedsy Portal includes functionality that automatically starts the capacity when a user logs in and pauses it when no one is using the portal. This ensures that capacity only runs when needed, reducing unnecessary costs. Moreover, the portal allows you to schedule specific on/off times for the capacity, ensuring that scheduled refreshes run smoothly without incurring additional costs from idle resources.
Key Takeaway
There are many options to weigh, and picking the right one can be tricky — but there's a good fit for every scenario; it just has to be found. Bringing in someone who has navigated this before is well worth it, because the wrong choice can quietly rack up unnecessary costs. Embedding Power BI reports into custom portals is core to what the Embedsy Portal does, so these are questions we work through regularly. We've seen a wide range of scenarios and know how to approach the decision. Reach out any time to discuss how we can help you find the right capacity for your organization.
