Power BI pricing for small businesses: licences, setup and connectors

Power BI pricing: the short answer

Power BI itself is cheap: creating reports in Power BI Desktop is free, and anyone who wants to share or view reports needs a licence of €12.10 per user per month. That is the price of Power BI Pro with annual billing, excluding VAT, as Microsoft listed it on 25 October 2026. This article is written for businesses in the Netherlands and Belgium that want to know what Power BI costs in practice.

Most of the costs are not in the licences but in what has to happen around them: a connection to your accounting or ERP package, a data model that combines the figures correctly, and someone who maintains the reports. Microsoft does not list those costs; they depend on your packages and on who does the work. So we keep the published prices and the rest separate.

Power BI licences

The prices of Pro and Premium Per User come from Microsoft's pricing page; Microsoft states there that they exclude VAT. That page lists Fabric capacity as 'variable'. We calculated the F64 amounts from Microsoft's Azure price list for the West Europe region: €0.1936 per capacity unit per hour, or €1,008.45 per unit per year with a reservation, with 64 units and 730 hours per month. Microsoft also mentions academic, government and non-profit prices, without amounts.

Who needs which licence?

• Makers: the people who build and publish reports need Pro, or Premium Per User if the models are large or need to refresh more than 8 times a day.
• Viewers: anyone who only views reports also needs a Pro licence in Power BI, unless the reports are on a Fabric capacity of F64 or larger. That is the main difference from tools where viewers are free.
• Premium Per User: if you choose this for the makers, all viewers of that workspace need Premium Per User too. For a small business, Pro is therefore usually the logical choice.
• Microsoft 365: according to Microsoft, Power BI Pro is included in Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5. If you use another Microsoft 365 subscription, check whether Power BI is included.

Costs not included in the licence

• Connecting your packages: Power BI reads Excel, SharePoint, SQL databases and many other sources with standard connectors. For accounting and ERP packages such as Exact Online, AFAS and Twinfield, which many Dutch businesses use, you often need a connector from another supplier or your own connection through the package's API. Such a connector usually costs a monthly subscription. You can compare packages that do this in the reporting software category.
• The data model: the figures from your accounting, CRM and time tracking have to be linked, with fixed definitions of revenue and margin, for example. That is most of the work in a Power BI project. If you do it yourself, it mainly costs time; if you hire a specialist, you pay by the hour or per project.
• Maintenance: reports have to keep up when your accounts change, for example with a new chart of accounts or a new package. Expect a fixed amount of time each month, internal or external.
• Skills: whoever builds reports has to learn Power Query and DAX (Power BI's formula language). Microsoft offers free material for this, but it takes hours.

We give no amounts for these costs: connector suppliers and consultants set their price per package or per assignment. Ask for a quote with a fixed number of reports and sources, so you can compare quotes.

Worked examples

We only calculate with Microsoft's licence prices with annual billing, excluding VAT. Connectors, the data model and maintenance come on top.

A Fabric capacity of F64 makes viewers free, but costs about €5,378 per month with a reservation. Only at about 450 users is that cheaper than giving everyone a Pro licence. For small businesses, Pro per user is therefore almost always the cheapest route.

Power BI, Data Studio or Zoho Analytics?

Two other tools from our comparison charge differently, especially for viewers:

• Looker Studio, which Google now calls Data Studio again on its own site, is free, including for people who view reports. According to Google, the paid version Data Studio Pro costs $9 per user per project per month and adds management and support for teams. It works most easily with Google sources such as Google Analytics, Google Ads and Google Sheets.
• Zoho Analytics charges per plan: Basic €30 per month for 2 users, Standard €60 for 5 users, or 20% less with annual billing. Viewers cost €100 per month per 25 (€80 with annual billing). VAT is added. There is also a free plan for 2 users and 10,000 rows. Source: Zoho's pricing page.

For one maker and ten viewers, Data Studio is free, Zoho Analytics Basic with 25 viewers costs €104 per month with annual billing and Power BI Pro €133.10. Power BI often wins on the data model, the link with Excel and Microsoft 365 and the number of people who already know it. You can compare all tools in the BI software category.

Frequently asked questions about Power BI pricing

What does Power BI cost per month?

On 25 October 2026, Power BI Pro cost €12.10 per user per month and Premium Per User €20.80, both with annual billing and excluding VAT. Power BI Desktop is free.

Can Power BI be used for free?

You can create reports for free with Power BI Desktop and a free account. Sharing reports with colleagues is not possible without a paid licence: both the person who publishes and the person who views then need Pro.

Do viewers need a Power BI licence?

Yes, unless the reports are on a Microsoft Fabric capacity of F64 or larger. With Premium Per User, viewers need Premium Per User themselves too.

What does a connection between Power BI and my accounting cost?

That depends on your package. For many accounting and ERP packages you need a connector from another supplier, which usually costs a monthly subscription, or your own connection through the package's API. Ask for a quote for your packages.