Business intelligence and data visualization have become essential tools in today's data-driven business environment. As organizations seek to harness the power of their data, Power BI has emerged as a leading solution. Power BI enables users to create interactive reports and dashboards, offering a wealth of insights that can drive better decision-making. This article will introduce Power BI and discuss key differences between Power BI Embedded and Power BI Premium.

Power BI: A Brief Overview

Power BI is a collection of software services, applications, and connectors that work in tandem to transform raw data into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. It allows users to connect to a variety of data sources, clean and model the data, and create interactive reports and dashboards that can be shared across the organization. Power BI consists of three main components:

When it comes to embedding your Power BI reports into a custom app, a portal, or an internal application. There are three options available:

1- Publish to Web

This method allows you to create a public, shareable link to your report, which can then be embedded into your application using an iframe. While this method is simple to implement, it does not offer any security or access control. It is best suited for scenarios where the data is not sensitive and can be shared publicly. Note that Publish to Web option makes your reports publicly available to unauthenticated users.

2- Using REST API

This method enables developers to securely embed Power BI reports, dashboards, and other visuals into their applications, providing end-users with interactive data insights without leaving the application.

3- Power BI Embedded Service

Power BI Embedded is a Microsoft Azure-based service that enables developers to integrate Power BI's interactive data visualization capabilities into their applications. This powerful service. This method involves integrating Power BI reports into your application using the Power BI API and JavaScript SDK. Power BI Embedded offers a secure, customizable, and interactive experience for your users. It is best suited for scenarios where you need granular control over data access and the ability to tailor the report's appearance to match your application's design.

Power BI Embedded vs. Power BI Premium

What is Power BI Embedded

Power BI Embedded is designed for app developers who want to add Power BI features to their apps. It is a pay-as-you-go service that charges based on usage, making it cost-effective for businesses with fluctuating needs. Power BI Embedded provides easy integration, customization, and scalability. Some key features of Power BI Embedded include:

What is Power BI Premium

Power BI Premium is geared towards large organizations with extensive data needs and performance demands. It offers more capacity, better security, advanced data modeling, and unlimited sharing. Power BI Premium has a fixed monthly or annual subscription pricing model, making it more predictable and suitable for organizations with consistent data and user requirements. Power BI Premium provides enhanced capabilities, including:

Which Power BI option is right for you?

As a Power BI developer, making a decision on which approach to use, requires evaluating the following:

Scenario	Power BI Embedded	Power BI Premium
User Base	Ideal for app developers and businesses wanting to integrate Power BI features into their custom applications.	Best suited for large organizations with extensive data needs, performance demands, and a wide user base requiring access to reports and dashboards.
Integration	Seamlessly integrates Power BI visuals into custom applications, providing a consistent user experience.	Not specifically designed for integration into custom applications but can be used within the organization's internal systems such as Microsoft Teams and SharePoint.
Customization	Allows developers to customize the appearance of reports and dashboards to match the design of their applications.	Offers customization of reports and dashboards, but not specifically focused on embedding within external applications.
Scalability	Can easily scale to handle increased workloads and user bases as the application grows.	Provides dedicated cloud capacity or on-premises resources to scale for large-scale data needs and performance requirements.
Pricing Model	Pay-as-you-go pricing model, charging based on actual usage, making it cost-effective for businesses with fluctuating needs.	Fixed monthly or annual subscription pricing, making it more predictable and suitable for organizations with consistent data and user requirements.
Capacity	Shared cloud capacity, which may have limitations in performance during peak times.	Dedicated cloud capacity or on-premises resources for faster data processing and optimal performance.
Security	Offers standard security features provided by the Azure platform.	Enhanced security options, including the ability to deploy on-premises using Power BI Report Server, for stricter data control and compliance requirements.
Data Modeling	Supports standard data modeling features available in Power BI.	Advanced data modeling features, including larger data models, incremental refreshes, and advanced data transformation capabilities.
Sharing	Primarily focused on sharing reports and dashboards within embedded applications. Best suited for external users,	Allows unlimited sharing of reports and dashboards with users within the organization, with partners and Azure AD guests.

What is the difference between Power BI embedded and Premium SKUs