Microsoft Fabric Licensing (2025)

Fabric is the new operating system for analytics. This guide decodes SKUs, costs, what’s new, what’s deprecated, and how to migrate Datamarts → Fabric Warehouse.

TL;DR: Old P-SKUs are retiring; F-SKUs power all Fabric workloads. Creators still need Pro/PPU.
On F64+, Free users (Viewer role) can open Power BI content. Datamarts retire October 2025—migrate to Fabric Data Warehouse.
Pricing for Pro/PPU increased (effective April 1, 2025). Fabric offers PAYG (pause/resume) or Reserved.

What’s New vs What’s Deprecated

What’s New (Fabric era)

F-SKUs run all workloads (BI, Warehouse, Engineering, Data Science, AI)
F64+ allows Free users (Viewer role) to view Power BI content
Copilot/AI across experiences; OneLake unified storage
Pause/Resume, scale up/down; PAYG or Reserved billing
Managed Private Endpoints, Trusted Workspace Access
Spark autoscale & job queueing; Azure-native governance

Deprecated / Retiring

Power BI Premium per Capacity (P-SKUs) → replaced by F-SKUs
Power BI Datamarts retire Oct 2025 → migrate to Warehouse
Power BI Desktop 32-bit deprecated (Aug 2025)
Legacy real-time streaming (use Fabric real-time)
Dual-use PBIRS rights with Premium are no longer included

What is an SKU in Fabric (and what are CUs)?

SKU is your plan (think: engine size). In Fabric, SKUs are “F-tiers” (F2, F4, F8, …, F64, …, F2048) and are measured in Capacity Units (CUs).
More CUs = more parallel jobs, higher concurrency, faster refreshes. One capacity powers everything—Power BI, Warehouse, Spark/Notebooks, Dataflows, Real-Time, AI.

PAYG: bill-by-the-minute (1-min minimum). You can pause capacity at nights/weekends.
Reserved: commit for longer, get discounts; predictable cost curve.
Viewer Breakpoint: On F64+, Free users (Viewer role) can open Power BI content. Below F64, viewers still need Pro/PPU.
Storage (OneLake) is billed separately (like ADLS). Compute is your F-SKU.

Licensing & Costs

Per-User

Power BI Pro: $14/user/mo (from Apr 1, 2025). Required for creators to publish/share.
Premium Per User (PPU): $24/user/mo (from Apr 1, 2025). Larger models, AI, paginated reports.
Creators need Pro/PPU even when using Fabric capacity.

Capacity (F-SKUs)

Options: F2, F4, F8, F16, F32, F64, F128, … F2048
PAYG (minute billing) or Reserved (discounts)
OneLake storage is separate; compute is your F-SKU
F64+ unlocks Free viewers (Viewer role)

A–Z Licensing Cheat Sheet

A. SKU — Plan = capacity tier (F2…F2048), measured in CUs

B. Pro — $14/user/mo; creators

C. PPU — $24/user/mo; bigger models, AI, paginated

D. F-SKUs — Capacity for all Fabric workloads; scale/pause

E. Billing — PAYG (1-min min) or Reserved (discounts)

F. Free viewers — Allowed on F64+ (Viewer role)

G. OneLake — Storage billed separately

H. Copilot — AI assistance across workloads

I. P-SKUs — Retiring; move to F-SKUs

J. Datamarts — Retire Oct 2025 → Warehouse

Migrate Power BI Datamarts → Fabric Data Warehouse (Step-by-Step)

Inventory: List every Datamart, owner, data sources, refresh, RLS, and downstream reports/dashboards.
Capacity Plan: Choose F-SKU (F16+ typical; F64+ if you want Free viewers at scale).
Create Warehouse: Provision a Fabric Data Warehouse in your capacity, assign workspace to capacity.
Export Schema: Export Datamart schema as Power Query template.
Load via Dataflow Gen2: Rebuild pipelines into the Warehouse (same creds/parameters as Datamart).
Reconnect Reports: Update connections & gateways for datasets and apps.
Validate: Row counts, DAX measures, visuals, refresh logs, RLS.
Cutover & Clean-up: Switch users to new app; retire/decommission Datamarts before Oct 2025.

Choose F32 if…

Viewer count is modest (≈ ≤200–250)
Most users are creators (they need Pro/PPU anyway)
You’re optimizing for lower monthly run rate

Choose F64 if…

You have hundreds of report consumers (≥ 250–300)
You want Free viewers (no Pro/PPU for read-only users)
You’re rolling out BI at enterprise scale

Fabric F32 vs F64 — Which One Should You Buy?

Feature	F32	F64
Capacity Units (CUs)	32 CUs	64 CUs
Viewer Licensing	All viewers need Pro/PPU	Free viewers (Viewer role) — no Pro/PPU required
Approx. Monthly Cost*	~$4,200	~$8,500
Best For	Mid-size teams, < 250 viewers	Large orgs, 300+ viewers
Break-Even (vs Pro seats)	—	≈ 250 viewers (at $14 Pro)

* Region & billing model vary. Use Azure Pricing Calculator for exact totals. Consider PAYG (pause/resume) vs Reserved.

Break-even math (quick):

      If Pro = $14/user/month, and you have N read-only viewers:

      F32 total ≈ F32 cost + (N × $14)

      F64 total ≈ F64 cost + $0 (free viewers)

      F64 becomes cheaper when  N ≥ (F64 − F32) / 14  ≈ 307 viewers (with the ~$4.3k vs ~$8.5k example).

      Adjust with your actual regional prices and any PPU users.

Strategy (Pick Your Lane)

Small Team

Few creators + few viewers → Pro or PPU is simplest and cheapest.

Growing Org

Dozens of creators + many viewers → F16/F32 capacity; creators keep Pro/PPU.

Enterprise Broadcast

Hundreds/thousands of viewers → F64+ to unlock Free viewers (Viewer role).