Goodbye SQL Server Reporting Services and Hello Power BI Report Server

• SQL Server 2025 is replacing Reporting Services with Power BI Report Server.
• Power BI Report Server provides essentially the same functionality but is updated more frequently.
• Licensing rules are basically the same, and there is no need to panic or upgrade immediately.
• Existing Power BI Report Server customers should relicense using lower-cost Standard edition where possible.

SQL Server 2025 (released in Nov. 2025) will not include Reporting Services (SSRS), its long-standing reporting tool. Instead, Microsoft is swapping it for Power BI Report Server (PBIRS), which supports the same functionality plus the ability to host Power BI reports, although it does have different update requirements that IT admins will need to adopt to maintain support. Fortunately, Microsoft resisted the temptation to increase revenue with this change and kept licensing requirements relatively the same; however, customers should relicense existing PBIRS deployments using lower-cost SQL Server 2025 Standard edition licenses if feasible. There is no reason for customers to panic or even upgrade immediately, as the previous SSRS 2022 version is supported until Jan. 2033.

Comparing SSRS and Power BI Report Server

SQL Server Reporting Services technology is available in two server products that can be installed on-premises or on cloud-hosted VMs:

• SQL Server Reporting Services – the traditional server-based product
• Power BI Report Server – introduced in 2017 to support using Power BI reports on-premises.

They are essentially the same product and even use the same installation routine. The major differences are that Power BI Report Server has the unique ability to host Power BI reports (.PBIX files) and is updated on a quarterly basis.

Why Is This Change Happening?

Microsoft’s position is that because PBIRS is a superset of SSRS, providing access to Power BI technology and with more frequent updates, PBIRS is an overall better choice for customers.

In reality, Microsoft is playing the long game and has two goals in mind:

New Power BI customers. First, Microsoft wants to encourage more customers to use Power BI reporting technology by having it readily available on-premises, and perhaps those customers will want to adopt one of the paid Power BI cloud services.

Decrease support footprint. Second, Microsoft wants to decrease its maintenance and support requirements. By consolidating reporting technologies into a single product that uses a Modern Lifecycle Policy, the company will eventually end the need to support multiple SSRS versions that are cycling through Mainstream and Extended support life cycles.

Risks and Changes When Using PBIRS On-Premises

There is minimal risk to using PBIRS on-premises as a replacement for SSRS. In fact, many customers who use Power BI cloud services also deploy PBIRS on-premises because of dual-use licensing benefits. PBIRS can host SSRS RDL-based reports without change, and Microsoft continues to invest in the technology on-premises and in the cloud.

Additionally, there is no requirement to use Power BI reports, and despite the name, PBIRS does not need to contact the Power BI service, so customers can deploy PBIRS on-premises the same as they would SSRS with the same level of isolation and control.

There are, however, some minor risks and internal changes:

Missing out on new functionality. Starting with SQL Server 2025, all new RDL-based reporting features and updates will be added to PBIRS exclusively. This change means customers who want or need those new features will need to upgrade to PBIRS. However, RDL reporting is mature, and it is unlikely that Microsoft will add significant on-premises features. The company is more likely to continue enhancing the Power BI cloud-only functionality.

Prepare for more frequent updates. The most notable change will be for administrators, who will need to apply PBIRS quarterly updates to maintain support, compared with SQL Server which releases optional cumulative updates (CUs). This change will also impact testing and validation processes.

Licensing Changes

Minor changes to Power BI Report Server licensing, which came into effect when SQL Server 2025 was released, are beneficial to all customers except those using SQL Server Express.

Both Enterprise and Standard editions are options. Starting with SQL Server 2025, PBIRS can be licensed with either SQL Server 2025 Enterprise or Standard edition, and it no longer requires Software Assurance. This can result in a substantial upfront and ongoing cost savings, although using Standard addition has limitations compared to Enterprise edition, such as virtualization. The new options are only available when using SQL Server 2025, when licensing with SQL Server 2022 and earlier versions, PBIRS still requires licensing with SQL Server Enterprise edition core licenses with active Software Assurance.

Express edition. Starting with SQL Server 2025, Express edition will no longer have rights to reporting technology. Previously, it could be used to license SSRS with a limited set of features. Unfortunately, with the consolidation into PBIRS, Microsoft has decided that Express customers will need to upgrade to Standard edition to run reports.

Resources

SQL Server 2025 is discussed in the Directions blog post “SQL Server: The Polymath of Databases?” and report “SQL Server 2025 Gets Engine and AI Updates.”

SQL Server is summarized in the Directions kit “SQL Server.”

Microsoft details are at “Reporting Services consolidation FAQ” (Microsoft).