One of the most common questions I get when setting up Power BI with Business Central is: do I need a paid Power BI license? The short answer is yes. But let me explain exactly why, and what happens if you do not have one.
There Are Two Ways Power BI Works with Business Central
The first way is the general embedded experience: Power BI reports that appear directly inside Business Central pages. You build those reports yourself in Power BI and publish them to a workspace. Business Central then displays them inline.
The second way is the Microsoft Power BI Apps for Business Central. These are ready-made report apps published by Microsoft, covering Finance, Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, Manufacturing, Projects, Sustainability, Subscription Billing, and Inventory Valuation. You install them from Microsoft Marketplace and connect them to your Business Central environment.
Both approaches require a paid Power BI license. The free license that comes with Business Central is not sufficient for either of them in a real working environment.
What the Free Power BI License Actually Gives You
Every Business Central user automatically gets a free Power BI license. It sounds like a good starting point, but the limitations kick in quickly.
With the free license you get a personal workspace. That is a private area where you can build and view your own reports. Nothing more. You cannot share a report with a colleague. You cannot open a report that someone else has shared with you. You have no access to shared workspaces. And you are limited to one data refresh per day, which is not enough for operational reporting in most organizations.
The free license is useful if you want to explore Power BI on your own. The moment you involve another person, or want to see reports inside Business Central, it stops working.
Why You Need Power BI Pro
Power BI Pro is required for all of the following:
- Viewing Power BI reports embedded in Business Central pages
- Installing the Microsoft Power BI Apps for Business Central from Marketplace
- Refreshing the data in a Power BI report or app
- Sharing a report with someone else
- Opening a report that someone has shared with you
That last point is easy to overlook. It is not just the person who shares the report who needs Pro. The person receiving access needs Pro as well. Both sides of a share require a paid license.
In practice, this means every person in your organization who interacts with Power BI reports in any way needs a Power BI Pro license.
Is There an Alternative to Power BI Pro?
Yes, but it is aimed at larger organizations. Microsoft Fabric capacity or Power BI Premium capacity can replace the need for individual Pro licenses for report viewers. With capacity in place, users can view reports without each person needing their own Pro license.
This can be more cost-effective when you have many users who only need to view reports and not create or manage them. That said, capacity licensing involves a fixed monthly cost regardless of the number of users, so it only makes financial sense at a certain scale.
Summary
| What you want to do | Free license | Power BI Pro (or capacity) |
|---|---|---|
| View your own reports in your personal workspace | Yes | Not required |
| View Power BI reports inside Business Central | No | Required |
| Install the Microsoft Power BI Apps for Business Central | No | Required |
| Refresh report data (more than once a day) | No | Required |
| Share a report with a colleague | No | Required |
| Open a report someone shared with you | No | Required (unless hosted in capacity) |
Conclusion: Power BI Pro Is the Minimum for Everyone
The free Power BI license gives you a personal workspace with one refresh per day and no sharing in any direction. That is not how Power BI is meant to be used in a business context.
Power BI Pro is the minimum license for anyone who wants to use Power BI as it is intended: viewing reports inside Business Central, sharing reports with colleagues, opening reports shared with them, installing the Microsoft Power BI Apps, and keeping data up to date with regular refreshes. Every one of those actions requires Pro.
==> For Business Central projects, this is not a license you evaluate at the end of a rollout. It is a requirement you include from the start, for every user who will interact with Power BI in any capacity.
Personally, I think Microsoft should just include Power BI Pro in the Business Central license and stop pretending the two products are optional companions. Until that day arrives: the cost is real, Pro is not optional, and any customer who pushes back about €14 per user per month for their reporting probably has bigger problems than their Power BI license.
Further Reading
- Power BI Apps for Business Central FAQ (Microsoft Learn)
- Enabling Power BI integration with Business Central (Microsoft Learn)
- Install Power BI apps for Business Central (Microsoft Learn)
- Licensing the Power BI service for users in your organization (Microsoft Learn)
- Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide (Microsoft)
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