What is Power BI Embedded?
Power BI Embedded is a Microsoft service for developers to integrate dashboards and interactive Power BI reports into their applications, Power BI Embedded in website, or custom solutions.
Unlike Power BI Desktop or Power BI Service, which are intended for end-users, Power BI Embedded is designed for developers to embed Power BI content seamlessly within their applications, providing data visualization capabilities to their users without requiring them to have a Power BI account.
Table of contents
Key Takeaways
- Power BI Embedded allows developers to integrate Power BI reports into custom applications.
- It requires an Azure subscription, Power BI Pro licenses, and a good understanding of REST APIs.
- You can use it for internal or external use cases, providing interactive, data-driven insights.
- Ensure proper security and customization to create a seamless user experience.
- Assess the pricing and usage to manage costs effectively.
Requirements, Features, and Pricing
Requirements:
As a pre-requisite, you need to have one of the following
- You need an Azure AD tenant to use Embedded.
- To create and publish reports, you’ll need a Power BI Pro license.
Features:
Features | Description |
---|---|
Embedding Capabilities | It enables you to apply Power BI Embedded report, Power BI Embedded in SharePoint, dashboards, and tiles into your applications using APIs. |
Customization | Developers can customize the look and feel of embedded reports to match the branding of their applications. You can also customize the brand colors to the Power BI visuals, provide control to users to edit or create new dashboards, turn on the Q&A for user assistance, and further customize the analytical options for your users. |
Interactive Reports | Users can interact with the Embedded report, such as filtering, slicing, and drilling down. |
REST APIs | Embedded provides REST APIs to manage and control your embedded content programmatically. |
Easy Deployment | Power BI embedded allows you to make easy and secure deployments with Javascript SDKs and data privacy through row-level security and wizards. |
Scalability | Embedded can scale automatically to handle varying loads. |
Pricing:
The pricing of Embedded is based on what node type you choose and how many nodes you deploy. The tables below provide a comprehensive combination of node types that differ based on the number of V-cores and RAM.
Node Type | Virtual Cores | Memory | Price |
---|---|---|---|
A1 | 1 | 3 GB RAM | $1.0081/hour |
A2 | 2 | 5 GB RAM | $2.0081/hour |
A3 | 4 | 10 GB RAM | $4.0242/hour |
A4 | 8 | 25 GB RAM | $8.0565/hour |
A5 | 16 | 50 GB RAM | $16.121/hour |
A6 | 32 | 100 GB RAM | $32.2506/hour |
A7 | 64 | 200 GB RAM | N/A |
A8 | 128 | 400 GB RAM | N/A |
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How to use Power BI Embedded?
To use Power BI Embedded, follow these general steps:
Step 1: Set up an Azure AD tenant. You can sign up for an Azure account in case you don’t have one.
Step 2: Create a Power BI workspace using the Power BI service. It is required to organize your reports and datasets and publish any content you want to embed into this workspace.
Step 3: Publish the Power BI reports and dashboards you want to embed. Make sure these reports are configured as you want them to appear in your application.
Step 4: Register your application in Azure AD using the Power BI embedded analytics set up tool to access these embedded reports securely.
Step 5: Obtain an embed token using the Power BI REST API to allow your users to view the embedded content.
Step 6: Use the Power BI JavaScript API, depending on the platform (web, mobile, desktop, etc.). to embed the report into your application. Include the Power BI JavaScript library and use the powerbi.embed namespace to embed the report.
Step 7: Use Azure AD to authenticate users and control their access to the embedded Power BI reports.
Microsoft offers Embedded Playground to help developers get started with embedding Power BI content. It offers a user-friendly interface for generating code samples configuring settings for Embedded reports and dashboards, and understanding how to embed Power BI content in your applications.
You may refer to the latest documentation on Power BI Embedded and Azure for detailed manuals on using it.
Examples
In this section, we will look at some of the examples of using Embedded.
Example #1 – Using Power BI Embedded for Your Organization
In this example, we will learn how to use Power BI Embedded for your Organization.
Some of the pre-requisites involve:
- A Power BI report published to a workspace in the Power BI service
- Azure AD
- .NET 5.0 Core 5 SDK and Model View Controller app
- An IDE (Integrated Development Environment) to support the development
Follow the instructions outlined below:
Step 1: Configure your Azure AD application to enable the integration of your web app with Power BI. You can create an Azure AD app if you don’t have one.
Step 2: For supporting the embedding of your Power BI report, a lot of parameters are required, which include Domain, Tenant ID, Client ID, Client Secret, Workspace ID, and Report ID.
Step 3: Add the required NuGet packages, i.e., Microsoft.Identity.Web, and Microsoft.PowerBI.API to your app using the IDE.
Step 4: Create or modify files in configuration to enable server-side authentication. The configuration tables are provided below.
File | Use |
---|---|
Startup.cs | Initialize the Microsoft.Identity.Web authentication service |
appsettings.json | Authentication details |
PowerBiServiceApi.cs | Get Azure AD token and embed metadata |
HomeController.cs | Pass the data as a model to the view |
Step 5: Develop your application’s client-side and implement by creating or amending the following configuration tables.
File | Use |
---|---|
embed.js | Contains the client-side JavaScript code |
Embed.cshtml | Contains the app’s document object model), and a DIV for embedding the report |
Step 6: Run your application and then deploy your embedded app to the production environment.
Example #2 – Using Power BI Embedded for your Customers
In this example, we will learn how to use Power BI Embedded for your customers.
Some of the pre-requisites involve:
- Power BI Pro or Premium Per User (PPU) license
- A Power BI report published to a workspace in the Power BI service
- Azure Active Directory tenant and app
- .NET 5.0 Core 5 SDK and Model View Controller app
- An IDE (Integrated Development Environment) to support the development
Follow the instructions outlined below:
Step 1: Configure your Azure AD application to enable the integration of your web app with Power BI to support embedding the Power BI reports, dashboards, etc. You can create an Azure AD app in case you don’t have one. Service principal to create Azure AD app and allow your app’s service principal to work with Power BI contents.
Step 2: Create the list of parameters as mentioned below:
- Domain, Tenant Id, Client ID, Client Secret, Workspace Id, and Report ID.
Step 3: Add the required NuGet packages, i.e., Microsoft.Identity.Web, and Microsoft.PowerBI.Api using IDE.
Step 4: Create or modify files in configuration to enable server-side authentication. Similar changes to the configuration tables, as outlined in Example 1 (Step 4), would also be required here.
Step 5: Develop your application’s client-side and implement by creating or amending the following configuration tables.
File | Use |
---|---|
embed.js | Contains the client-side JavaScript code |
Embed.cshtml | Contains your app’s document object model (DOM) and a DIV for embedding the report |
Step 6: Run your application and then deploy your embedded app to the production environment.
Example #3
In this example, we will learn how to embed Q&A into an application that your users can ask and receive while creating a Power BI visualization.
You can set up Q&A using either interactive or result-only modes. While with interactive mode, you allow users to type questions and get the results published in a visual, with the result-only mode, you display a list of questions to your users that they can choose from. To set up Q&A, follow the instructions below:
Step 1: As a first step, set the list of questions if you are using the result-only mode. You could use a list of frequently asked questions and embed them using the javascript SDK. The sample snippet is highlighted below:

Step 2: If you are using interactive mode, you can notify the app with a data change event every time the user keys in the query. You can use visually rendered events for your app using the javascript SDK. Sample code snippets include:

Step 3: Once you have embedded the questions, the next step is to create an embed token from the underlying dataset for Q&A.
Important Things to Note
- Ensure you understand the licensing requirements for Power BI Pro and Azure to avoid unexpected costs.
- Implement security measures to protect your embedded reports and data, especially if you’re embedding in customer-facing applications.
- Monitor the usage and performance of your embedded reports using Azure and Power BI monitoring tools.
- Customize the appearance and behavior of embedded reports to match your application’s design and user experience.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Cost: Embedded can be expensive, as it is priced based on the number of render and render session (interactive) API calls.
• Technical Knowledge: Developing and integrating Embedded requires a good understanding of the Power BI REST API and Azure services.
• Data Source Restrictions: Your data sources may be subject to limitations, such as the need for a dedicated cloud-based data source, as Power BI Embedded may not work with on-premises or hybrid data sources.
• Scale Considerations: Planning for scalability is essential.
• Customization: While you can customize the look and feel of embedded reports, there are limitations to the level of customization you can achieve compared to building a fully custom reporting solution.
Whether Power BI Embedded is cost-effective depends on your usage. It can be cost-effective for applications with a moderate to high user base, provided you manage your resource utilization efficiently. However, for smaller projects, the cost may outweigh the benefits.
• Power BI Embedded allows you to integrate Power BI reports and dashboards seamlessly within your applications, providing a consistent user experience.
• It leverages Power BI’s strong data visualization capabilities, allowing you to create compelling and interactive reports without starting from scratch.
• Embedded inherits the security features of Power BI, ensuring that your embedded reports and dashboards are protected.
• You can scale your resources as your application grows, making it suitable for applications with changing demands.
The key differences between Power BI Embedded and Power BI Service include:
• Power BI Service
• It is a cloud-based platform for creating, sharing, and collaborating on reports and dashboards.
• It’s primarily for self-service business intelligence, where users create and consume reports within the Power BI web interface.
• Power BI Embedded
• It is designed for developers to integrate Power BI reports and dashboards into custom applications.
• It allows for a more tailored and integrated experience for users, but it requires development effort and has different pricing models.
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