Featured in our buying guides
See how Microsoft Power BI stacks up against the best options for a specific kind of business.
Skip to content
See all Microsoft Power BI alternatives
FindThatSoftwareSoftware catalog
Data & Analytics
Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft's business intelligence platform for data modelling, dashboards, and reporting.
✓ Source-checked profile2 sources cited
FindThatSoftware verdictEditorial ruling
A strong choice for organizations in the Microsoft ecosystem that want powerful data modelling and dashboards at reasonable per-user cost. The DAX modelling language has a learning curve, and full governance features sit in pricier tiers. Verify per-user vs capacity (Premium) pricing for your scale.
FindThatSoftware has source-checked this listing and keeps 2 public sources visible for buyer verification.
Should you use Microsoft Power BI?
Use it if microsoft/Excel-centric organizations. Avoid it if companies where hundreds of staff only read dashboards, because paid Pro seats for every viewer overtake the cost of an F64 capacity reservation.
Spec sheet
- Starting price
- ₹1,165/mo₹1,165/user/mo sticker
- Free plan
- Available
- Free trial
- Available
- Status
- Source checked 29 Jul 2026
- Source trail
- 2 public sources
Work at Microsoft Power BI?
Claim this listing to verify your details, correct pricing, and reach Indian buyers comparing tools right now.
Claim this listing →In short
Microsoft Power BI is a developer & data / data & analytics for Indian buyers. It costs about ₹1,165/mo before GST, billed in rupees. It issues an India GST invoice, so you can claim input credit. FindThatSoftware rates it best for microsoft/Excel-centric organizations, and a poor fit if companies where hundreds of staff only read dashboards, because paid Pro seats for every viewer overtake the cost of an F64 capacity reservation.
The trade-off, weighed
What you gain, and what you give up.
The case for
- Microsoft bills Power BI in rupees in India at 1,165 per user per month for Pro paid yearly, with GST stated separately.
- Power BI Desktop is free to install, so an analyst builds and tests reports on a laptop before anyone buys a licence.
- Pro is included in Microsoft 365 E5, so organisations already on E5 pay nothing extra to publish and share reports.
The catch
- Every person who opens a report needs a paid Pro licence unless you buy Fabric capacity at F64 or above, which changes the maths at scale.
- F64 capacity runs around 8,400 dollars a month pay-as-you-go and about 5,000 a month on a one year reservation, so free viewing is not free.
- The free tier cannot share reports with anyone, so any real deployment starts at Pro pricing rather than at zero.
- Premium Per User costs 1,995 rupees per user per month in India, nearly double Pro, and it remains a per-seat step rather than a capacity purchase.
True India price
Registered business, per month
₹1,165
Microsoft Power BI is billed in rupees at ₹1,165/mo, so there is no forex markup. A registered business reclaims GST, so that is roughly the cost (₹13,980/yr). Without reclaim, add 18% for about ₹1,375 a month.
- Sticker price
- ₹1,165/mo
- GST
- 18%, reclaimable if registered
- Registered per month
- ₹1,165
- Registered per year
- ₹13,980
- If you can't reclaim GST
- ₹1,375
- Try first
- Has a free plan, so you can start without a card.
- Watch for
- India pricing: Free account; Pro from ₹1,165/user/mo; Premium Per User is a higher tier (billed yearly). Embedded/Fabric capacity is usage-based or contact-sales.
Indicative, not a bill. The exchange rate is a single mid-market reference, not a live feed, and GST-registered businesses may reclaim input credit. Confirm current pricing on the vendor site.
Full India pricing breakdownIndia readiness
How well Microsoft Power BI fits an Indian business operationally, from the verified pricing and company facts we hold.
- ✓GST invoice
Issues a GST-compliant invoice, so a registered business can reclaim input tax.
- ✓Bills in INR
Priced in rupees, so there is no forex conversion or card markup on top.
- ✗India HQ
Headquartered outside India, so check support hours and India-specific features.
Paying for more than Microsoft Power BI? See your whole stack's real India cost and where you could switch to save.
Audit my stackOverview
What is Microsoft Power BI?
Power BI is Microsoft's BI platform for connecting to data sources, modelling data, and building interactive dashboards and reports. It integrates tightly with Excel, Azure, and Microsoft 365, and is widely used from SMBs to enterprises.
Best for
- Microsoft/Excel-centric organizations
- Teams needing serious data modelling
- Businesses scaling from SMB to enterprise BI
Who should avoid it
- Companies where hundreds of staff only read dashboards, because paid Pro seats for every viewer overtake the cost of an F64 capacity reservation.
- Teams with no Microsoft footprint, because the licensing only gets cheap once you already pay for Microsoft 365 E5 or Fabric capacity.
What Microsoft Power BI does
What we verified about Microsoft Power BI
Read from Microsoft Power BI’s own pages. Each line is a finding and what it was based on, so you can check any of it yourself.
Features we confirmed17
- Onelake storage
- OneLake storage included with Fabric capacity
- Custom dashboards
- Creates rich interactive reports with visual analytics
- Embedded analytics
- Power BI Embedded builds customer-facing reports in your app
- Advanced AI features
- Advanced AI listed as a Premium-tier capability
- Copilot in fabric
- Copilot in Fabric appears in the plan feature table
- Data encryption
- Data security and encryption is a plan feature row
- Dataflows
- Advanced dataflows listed as a Premium feature
- Datamarts
- Advanced datamarts listed as a Premium feature
- Data modelling
- Positioned for connecting sources and modelling data
- Dax calculations
- DAX modelling language is the calculation layer
- Desktop report authoring
- Power BI Desktop is the free report authoring experience
- Large model support
- Model memory limit rises from 1 GB to 100 GB on Premium
- On premises report server
- Power BI Report Server listed as a distinct product
- Report sharing
- Publishing and sharing reports requires a Pro licence
- Scheduled dataset refresh
- 8 refreshes a day on Pro, 48 on Premium Per User
- White label embedding
- Embedded lets you brand Power BI reports as your own
- Xmla endpoint
- XMLA endpoint read/write is a Premium-tier feature
What people use it for3
- Replace spreadsheets
- Integrates tightly with Excel for analyst workflows
- Embed analytics in your product
- Power BI Embedded targets customer-facing analytics
- Build executive dashboards
- BI platform sold for dashboards and reporting
Works with8
- Power automate
- Sits alongside Power Automate in the Power Platform
- Power apps
- Sits alongside Power Apps in the Power Platform nav
- Microsoft excel
- Power BI integrates tightly with Excel per our research
- Microsoft azure
- Integrates with Azure and is MACC-eligible
- Microsoft 365
- Pro is bundled inside Microsoft 365 E5 licences
- Dataverse
- Dataverse listed in the Power BI platform navigation
- Copilot studio
- Copilot Studio listed in the Power Platform product nav
- Microsoft fabric
- Power BI is licensed as part of Microsoft Fabric capacities
Terms, compliance and how you buy20
- Steep learning curve
- DAX modelling language carries a real learning curve
- India toll free sales line
- India page lists a (000) 8000 404 454 sales number
- GST extra
- India pricing page states GST extra as applicable
- Academic nonprofit pricing
- Page notes academic, government and nonprofit pricing available
- Annual commitment pricing
- Quoted rates are user per month paid yearly
- Bundled in e5
- Pro is included in Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5
- Capacity pricing alternative
- Fabric capacity reservation or pay-as-you-go replaces per-seat viewing
- Capacity reservation discount
- Annual Fabric purchase saves 40.5 percent over pay-as-you-go
- China operated separately
- Power BI in China is operated by 21Vianet
- Complex licensing tiers
- Pro, PPU, Embedded, Premium capacity and Fabric SKUs coexist
- F64 threshold for free viewing
- Free consumption applies only at F64 and P1 and above
- Free desktop authoring
- Power BI Desktop is a free download for building reports
- Free tier cannot share
- Free account must upgrade to Pro or Premium to share reports
- INR billed
- India page quotes ₹1,165 and ₹1,995 per user monthly
- Microsoft ecosystem native
- Licensing gets cheap only with existing Microsoft footprint
- Per seat pricing
- Pro and Premium Per User are per-user monthly licences
- Self service purchase
- Pro and Premium Per User buyable with a credit card
- Storage cap per licence
- Pro gives 10 GB per licence against 100 TB on capacity
- Viewers need paid licence
- Every report reader needs Pro unless you buy F64 capacity
- Windows only desktop app
- Power BI Desktop authoring runs on Windows only
Compare Microsoft Power BI
Use these pages when you already know the tool name but need a plain-English decision against real alternatives.
Similar tools to Microsoft Power BI
Compare practical options in the same category by price, fit, and caveats.
Pricing caveat and source trail
Pricing and free-plan claims can change. FindThatSoftware keeps source URLs visible so users can verify before buying.
India pricing: Free account; Pro from ₹1,165/user/mo; Premium Per User is a higher tier (billed yearly). Embedded/Fabric capacity is usage-based or contact-sales.
Power BI pricinghttps://www.microsoft.com/power-platform/products/power-bi/pricingPower BIhttps://www.microsoft.com/power-platform/products/power-bi
Verified against the sources above. How we research & rate software →
Does Microsoft Power BI give a GST invoice in India?
Microsoft Power BI issues an India GST invoice, so a GST-registered business can claim input tax credit on it directly.
Is Microsoft Power BI good for Indian small businesses?
Microsoft Power BI is worth evaluating for Indian buyers, but the final fit depends on pricing limits, support, integrations, and setup effort.
Does Microsoft Power BI have a free plan?
Microsoft Power BI lists a free plan, but check the official pricing page for current usage limits before choosing it.
The dispatchFree · no noise
Track tools like this
Microsoft Power BI and its category keep shifting: prices, new options, India-fit. Get the all-in India cost of new tools and the changes worth knowing, monthly. No spam.