Difference Between Power BI vs Power BI Embedded
Power BI is a business analytics solution that can be scaled up to support self-service and enterprise business intelligence capabilities whereas Power BI Embedded allows the application developers to embed the constituent parts of Power BI into the existing applications across the internal system of the user organization. Power BI by itself is not ideal when it comes to embedded analytics and Power BI Embedded is preferred. Power BI’s analytics tools utilize effective analytics and bridge the gap between organizational data and decision-making while firms may leverage the advanced analytics expertise of Power BI Embedded that helps embed Power BI visualizations into their apps, branding them as Power BI apps and providing control of the visuals.
Table of contents
Differences
Some of the key differences between Power BI and Power BI Embedded include:
- Target Users
- Power BI is primarily designed for business users and analysts who want to create interactive reports and dashboards using a user-friendly interface. It is suitable for organizations that want to analyze and visualize their data for decision-making purposes.
- Power BI Embedded is designed for developers who want to embed Power BI reports and dashboards into custom applications. It is intended for ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) and developers who want to integrate analytics capabilities seamlessly into their applications.
- Deployment Options
- Power BI reports, and dashboards are deployed to the Power BI service, which is a cloud-based platform provided by Microsoft. Users can access reports through web browsers or mobile apps.
- Power BI Embedded allows developers to embed Power BI reports and dashboards directly into custom applications. It provides APIs and libraries for integrating Power BI content into applications, whether they are hosted in the cloud or on-premises.
- Integration:
- Power BI is integrated with various Microsoft services and products, such as Azure, Dynamics 365, and Excel. It also supports a wide range of data connectors for different data sources.
- Power BI Embedded is designed for integration into custom applications. It provides REST APIs and client libraries for different programming languages, allowing developers to embed reports seamlessly into their applications.
- Licensing
- Power BI comes with different options such as Power BI Desktop, Power BI Pro, and Power BI Premium.
- Power BI Embedded comes with licensing options depending on the combination of node type, cores, and Memory.
- Scalability:
- Power BI is designed to scale based on user subscriptions. Power BI Premium offers dedicated cloud capacity to handle larger workloads.
- Power BI Embedded allows developers to scale their embedded analytics by choosing the appropriate capacity level based on their application’s requirements.
- Customization Capabilities
- Power BI offers customization capabilities for reports, dashboards, and visualization. However, they are limited compared to Power BI Embedded.
- Power BI Embedded offers extensive customization options for developers where the reports can be custom-tailored and embedded into user applications.
What is Power BI?
Power BI is a business analytics service developed by Microsoft. It provides interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities with an interface simple enough for end users to create their reports and dashboards. Power BI can be used for data exploration, sharing insights across an organization, and making data-driven decisions.
Key components and features of Power BI include:
| Components | Description |
|---|---|
| Power BI Desktop | Desktop application to enable users to create interactive reports, dashboards, and data visualization by connecting with different data sources |
| Power BI Service | A cloud-based service where you can publish, share, and collaborate on Power BI reports and dashboards. |
| Power BI Mobile | Application to support data visualization for mobile and tablet devices in Android, Windows, and iOS platforms on the go. |
| Power BI Gateway | Supports data connectivity on-premises data sources and can facilitate data transfer between on-premises data and the Power BI service |
| Power Query | A data connectivity and preparation tool that allows users to connect, transform, and load data from various sources into Power BI. |
| Power Pivot | A data modeling tool that allows users to create data models for analysis. It supports the creation of relationships between tables and the creation of calculated columns and measures. |
| DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) | A formula language used in Power for creating custom calculations in Power Pivot tables and Power BI reports |
| Power BI Report Server | Allows the deployment and distribution of Power BI reports within the organization’s infrastructure |
Features of Power BI
Key features of the Power BI include:
- Data connectivity to a wide range of sources.
- Data modeling and transformation capabilities.
- Rich visualization options.
- Sharing and collaboration features.
- Integration with other Microsoft services like Azure, Excel, and more
Pricing of Power BI
Power BI comes with different licensing and pricing options, as highlighted below:
- Power BI Desktop – Free to use
- Power BI Pro – The pricing starts at $10 per user/month
- Power BI Premium – Pricing starts at $20 per user/month
- Power BI Premium Per Capacity – Pricing starts at $4.995 Per Month for P1 SKU
- Power BI Report Server – Included in Power BI Premium
What is Power BI Embedded?
Power BI Embedded is a service offered by Microsoft that allows developers or other users to embed various Power BI elements. These include items such as reports, dashboards, or other visualizations in a web application, web portal, or other custom solutions. Power BI Embedded is primarily designed for developers to provide them seamless experiences in embedding their applications to Power BI without any requirement of having a Power BI account. It is beneficial from both developers and end users’ perspectives as end users get to access engaging data visualization experience to drive business decisions, whereas developers can integrate reporting, dashboards, or data analytics in their app using Power BI and brand it as their own Power BI.
Power BI Embedded provides easy integration with full API support, loads of features, an automated authentication process, and support for hosting reports in apps or web pages. In terms of features, most of the offerings are similar to Power BI Premium and offer solutions for external users. Power BI Embedded provides easy integration with full API support, loads of features, an automated authentication process, and support for hosting reports in apps or web pages. In terms of features, most of the offerings are similar to Power BI Premium and offer solutions for external users.
Features of Power BI Embedded
Key features of Power BI Embedded are outlined below:
- Supports embedding interactive reports and dashboards into user-created apps
- Offers customization of the look and feel of the embedded reports and brand colors to match the branding of the application. Additionally, it provides controls to users for any changes to dashboards and NLP features, such as turning on the Q&A and other analytics for your end users.
- Enables user interaction through filters, slicers, and drill-down capabilities, thereby supporting rich and interactive reports for your users
- Integration to REST APIs for managing and controlling the embedded contents
- Easy and secure deployment with Javascript SDKs and robust data privacy through row-level security
- Supports scalability of the apps during the peak or varying loads automatically
Pricing of Power BI Embedded
Power BI Embedded pricing depends on multiple parameters including node type and the number of cores you intend to deploy. The below table matrix provides a view of the price range as per the combination of node type, cores, and Memory you need for your apps
| 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 |
Comparative Table
There are several similarities and differences between Power BI and Power BI Embedded. This section captures the key differences between these versions in a comparative table below:
| Category | Power BI | Power BI Embedded |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of the tool | Power BI is a data visualization tool | Power BI Embedded is an Azure service for embedding Power BI. |
| Usage of the tool | Power BI is used for creating, sharing, and collaborating on BI | Power BI Embedded is used for integrating/Embedding Power BI into custom apps. |
| Accessing the tool | Power BI can be accessed through a Desktop as well as a web browser depending on the suite of application. | Embedded within custom applications. |
| End Users of the tool | Power BI is primarily used by Business users, analysts, and decision-makers based on the data insights. | Power BI Embedded is primarily used by developers, application integrators, and Independent software vendors (ISVs). |
| Tool licensing requirements | Power BI Desktop is free to use. However, for the advanced features, you need to purchase either Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium licenses. | Power BI Embedded requires an Azure subscription with separate pricing that is complex and based on multiple factors. |
| Ease of Deployment | Power BI supports both On-premises and cloud-based (Power BI Service server) | Power BI Embedded works with Azure which is a cloud-based app |
| Application Authentication | Power BI users can access the Power BI Pro, Premium, or Power BI Service through a Power BI account | Embedding Power BI reports into custom applications often involves using Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) and the Power BI Embedded capacity for authentication |
| Deployment and data refresh | Deployment and data refresh are managed through the Power BI service. | Deployment is managed within the hosting applications, and data refresh is controlled within the embedded application |
Similarities
Despite a lot of differences between Power BI and Power BI Embedded, there are some similarities between these tools that can help you make informed decisions.
Some of the key similarities are highlighted below.
- Power BI Service Integration
- Both Power BI and Power BI Embedded leverage Power BI service for reporting and analytics. It means that reports and dashboards can be created using the Power BI Desktop and then published to the Power BI service for sharing and collaboration.
- Power BI Desktop
- Both Power BI and Power BI Embedded use Power BI Desktop as the primary tool for creating and designing reports and dashboards. Power BI Desktop provides a user-friendly interface for connecting to data sources, transforming data, and building visualizations
- Power Query and Data Transformation
- Power BI and Power BI Embedded share the Power Query technology for data transformation and shaping. Power Query allows users to clean, transform, and reshape data before it is used in visualizations.
- Row-Level Security (RLS)
- Both Power BI and Power BI Embedded support Row-Level Security (RLS), which allows you to control data access at the row level based on user roles and filters. This is useful for ensuring that users only see the data relevant to their roles or responsibilities
While some similarities exist between Power BI and Power BI Embedded, it’s critical to understand the key differences between Power BI and Power BI Embedded. Power BI is a self-service business intelligence tool for creating interactive reports and dashboards, while Power BI Embedded is a developer tool that enables users to embed Power BI reports and dashboards into custom applications. Power BI Embedded is often used when you want to integrate Power BI functionality into your application, providing a seamless analytics experience for end-users without requiring them to have a separate Power BI account.
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