PowerBI Report Server

Power BI Report Server is similar to SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Power BI Report Server is on premises, and hosts paginated reports in addition to the Power BI features. There are several types of reports

• Paginated (standard SSRS type reports)
• Interactive (PowerBI Desktop)
• Mobile
• Analytical (Excel)

PowerBI Pro enables sharing and collaboration with the following features 

• Build dashboards that deliver a 360-degree, real-time view of the business
• Keep data up-to-date automatically, including on-premises sources
• Collaborate on shared data
• Audit and govern how data is accessed and used
• Package content and distribute to users with app

There is increased functionality within PowerBI Pro. A comparison between the free PowerBI desktop edition and Pro version is in the table below. Only Pro users can publish content to app workspaces, consume apps without Premium capacity, share dashboards and subscribe to dashboards and reports. Free users can connect to all data sources using connectivity options such as DirectQuery, live connection and use the data gateway. 

Licensing Power BI Report Server

Power BI Report Server is available in two different license modes: 

• Power BI Premium  
• SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance.

A Power BI Premium license enables creation of a hybrid deployment (cloud and on-premises).

Capacity

The session delivered by Isabelle Van Campenhoudt at SQL Saturday Cambridge shared this useful capacity planning  paper. It is based on the sample Power BI Report Server topology using virtual machines. 

References

Pricing

PowerBI Free vsPro comparison

Comparing PowerBI Report Server and the Power BI service

What is PowerBI Report Server?

Capacity Planning