How is Fabric licensed?

Microsoft Fabric is licensed using a capacity-based (SaaS) model, meaning you pay for a pool of computing resources across Fabric workloads. Instead of purchasing separate tools or licences for each feature, you pay for a shared pool of cloud computing resources that can be shared across Fabric workloads.

Costs are based on two main components:

• The amount of compute capacity you provision.
• The amount of data you store.

Capacities are available in different sizes, known as SKUs (e.g., F2, F4, F8). Higher SKUs provide greater performance and scale.

One of the key advantages of this model is simplified billing. Rather than managing multiple tools and vendors, compute capacity and storage are consolidated within the Fabric platform.

Storage in Fabric is provided through OneLake, Microsoft’s unified data lake, and is billed based on data stored and usage.

Power BI licensing still plays a role. Report creators require Power BI Pro (or Premium Per User). If your organisation is using a Fabric F64 or above capacity, users can view reports without needing individual Pro licenses. Where a Fabric capacity is lower than F64, viewers will also require Power BI Pro or Premium Per User licenses.

You can access the latest Fabric pricing and a price calculator on the Microsoft website here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/microsoft-fabric/