Microsoft is retiring Power BI Premium capacity licenses (P SKUs), but not every customer faces the same deadline. Each subscription ends when its current agreement term runs out. A company with an active Enterprise Agreement will have more time than one whose Microsoft 365 commitment ends in a few months. But your plan won't be automatically switched to Microsoft Fabric at renewal. Your team has to buy an F SKU and move its workspaces before retiring the old capacity. If that work starts too late, customers will lose access to reports they use every day.
When Will The Power BI Premium P SKU Retire?
You may have seen articles naming a single P SKU deadline for everyone. Microsoft's migration overview says something different: retirement follows each customer's agreement term. Two organizations using the same P1 capacity can have different end dates. Subscription details matter more than the deadline in an industry article. The rules depend on the agreement you have:
- Customers without an Enterprise Agreement: Microsoft no longer sells new P SKUs or lets customers add P capacity under Microsoft 365 commitment billing. Existing capacity ends when the current commitment ends.
- Customers with an active Enterprise Agreement: Existing P capacity can continue, with annual renewals permitted until that agreement ends. Customers whose Enterprise Agreement or Microsoft Cloud Agreement expires cannot extend the P SKU through that expired agreement.
For example, an Enterprise Agreement running into 2027 does not lose its P SKU just because another customer's contract ends in 2026. But the remaining time can be shorter than expected if procurement has already set a renewal date.
What Happens When Your P SKU Expires?
Once the subscription ends, Microsoft follows a set timetable. Your reports don't become unavailable immediately, but you will lose access over time.
What Changes When You Move to a Fabric F SKU?
Most users will be able to open their reports in the usual way after a successful move to a suitable F SKU. The bigger changes happen behind the reports, where administrators manage capacity and pay for it. Changing capacity size can also affect how many people need paid Power BI accounts.
Capacity Billing Moves to Azure
You buy Fabric F SKUs through Azure rather than the Microsoft 365 admin center. The default is pay-as-you-go billing, and Microsoft also sells reservations for teams with steady usage. Prices depend on the Azure region, so your cost estimate needs to use the region where the capacity will run.
You can also pause an F SKU and resume it later, which could cut the bill for a test environment used only during office hours.
P SKU Autoscale Does Not Carry Over
Some Premium teams use Autoscale to handle short periods of heavy demand. Fabric F SKUs do not have that feature. An administrator can change the capacity size through Azure, and Fabric has controls for excess usage. Neither works exactly like the old automatic v-core addition.
If your P SKU regularly needed Autoscale, the closest F SKU match may struggle during busy periods. The Fabric Capacity Metrics app can show how often your old capacity hit those peaks before you choose its replacement.
Smaller F SKUs Change Viewer Licensing
On F64 or larger, users with a Fabric Free license can view shared Power BI content if they have the Viewer role. On F2 through F32, viewers generally need Power BI Pro or Premium Per User licenses instead. A move from P1 to F32 might reduce capacity spending but increase the number of paid users you need.
For a business with many report viewers, those licenses could outweigh the savings. Report authors have their own Pro or PPU requirements, which need a separate place in the budget.
The Move From P SKU to F SKU Is Manual
Buying Fabric capacity does not move your reports to it. Microsoft expects administrators to reassign the workspaces and then check that the content works on the new capacity. The old subscription also remains in place until someone cancels it. A safer migration follows this order:
Some Administration Settings Need to Be Set Up Again
Tenant settings stay with the Power BI tenant, but capacity settings belong to the capacity being replaced. Your new F SKU needs its own capacity administrators and workload settings. Memory limits are one example of a setting that may need attention after the move.
You should check report security separately, although row-level security rules do not simply disappear when a workspace changes capacity. Test with accounts from the groups that rely on those rules, not only administrator accounts. Otherwise, a report may look fine to the migration team while a normal viewer gets the wrong result.
Check Power BI Report Server Before Cancelling
Teams still using Power BI Report Server have another license to consider. After the P SKU move, Microsoft lists a qualifying Fabric capacity reservation or SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance as the available licensing routes. A working Fabric workspace does not settle the Report Server question.
What About AI Features Connected to Power BI?
A capacity migration can also affect reporting tools that sit outside Power BI. If an AI assistant reads your existing semantic models, the reports may move without requiring the assistant to be rebuilt. That depends on how the assistant connects to Power BI, so its connection needs testing after the move.
There is also the question of access: a customer should not get information from an AI answer that they cannot see in the report. Test the same question under different user roles and compare the results with the related Power BI content.
P SKU vs. F SKU: Main Differences
Most users will be able to open their reports in the usual way after a successful move to a suitable F SKU. The bigger changes happen behind the reports.
Frequently Asked Questions
When Will Power BI Premium P SKUs Be Retired?
Each P SKU ends at the close of its current agreement term, with some active Enterprise Agreement customers allowed to renew within that term.
Can I Still Buy or Renew a P SKU?
Microsoft no longer sells new P SKUs. However, you can renew existing capacity annually under an active Enterprise Agreement until that agreement ends. Once an eligible agreement expires, customers cannot keep extending the P SKU through it. Fabric F SKUs replace these capacity subscriptions.
What Happens If I Have Not Migrated When the P SKU Expires?
The capacity continues for 30 days during a grace period. Access is delayed from day 31, and operations are blocked from day 91 onward. Your data remains stored, but you need to move the workspaces to Fabric to regain normal access.
Are Power BI Pro and Premium Per User Going Away Too?
No, the retirement applies to Premium per-capacity licenses from P1 through P5. Power BI Pro and Premium Per User are separate licenses and remain available. You may still need to review viewer licensing if you move to an F SKU smaller than F64.
Which F SKU Should Replace My Current P SKU?
Microsoft's capacity mapping runs from P1 to F64 and continues from P5 to F1024. The actual choice depends on how much of your current capacity you use, especially during busy periods. Check the Fabric Capacity Metrics app before placing an order.