Updated: July 8, 2024 (November 1, 2022)

  Analyst Report

Choosing Power BI: Part 4. Clients and Sharing

My Atlas / Analyst Reports

2,190 wordsTime to read: 11 min
Andrew Snodgrass by
Andrew Snodgrass

Andrew analyzes and writes about Microsoft's data management, business intelligence, and machine learning solutions, as well as aspects of licensing... more

(NOTE: The options for choosing Power BI platforms were substantially changed with the introduction of Fabric in early 2024. Please view the updated “Choosing Power BI in a Fabric Centric World: A Guide for New and Existing Customers” that was released in July 2024.)

  • Choosing the right mix of Power BI clients, sharing options, and platforms is key to ensuring users have the right access to reports.
  • Organizations can reduce cost on back-end platforms if they are willing to give up some features and take on additional work.

Multiple Power BI clients and sharing options help consumers access hosted reports and perform self-service analysis; however, organizations deciding how to share Power BI content face trade-offs. Only the online Power BI portal has all the features, but it can only be used with a few of the cloud back-end platforms. All other clients and sharing methods deliver a subset of features, and some require specialized programming to display reports. However, for scenarios that only require a subset of features, customers can significantly reduce cost if they are willing to take on additional work and management.

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