specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans
provider: Power Query
providerId: power-query
generated: '2026-08-29'
method: searched
source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi/pricing
docs: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/microsoft-fabric/
created: '2026-05-04'
modified: '2026-08-29'
provenance_note: >-
  Replaces the 2026-05-04 bulk-sweep scaffold, which invented a
  free/professional/enterprise API-request-quota model with TBD prices. Power
  Query is not sold or metered as an API. It is a capability inside Power BI and
  Microsoft Fabric, and it is licensed the way those products are licensed:
  per-user seats for Power BI, and reserved or pay-as-you-go capacity units for
  Fabric. Prices below were read from Microsoft's own pricing pages on
  2026-08-29.
tags:
  - Business Intelligence
  - Data Integration
  - Microsoft Fabric
  - Power BI
  - Pricing
description: >-
  Power Query itself is free and has no meter. It ships inside Excel, Power BI
  Desktop and the Fabric web experience at no charge, and its language toolchain
  and connector SDK are MIT-licensed on GitHub. What costs money is the service
  that RUNS a Power Query mashup on a schedule or through the REST API: a Power
  BI per-user license, or Fabric capacity. There is no API request quota, no
  per-call price and no overage rate on this surface.
billing_model: seat-and-capacity
metered_by_api_call: false
plans:
  - id: power-query-embedded-free
    name: Power Query (in Excel / Power BI Desktop)
    type: free
    price: '0.00'
    currency: USD
    description: >-
      The Power Query editor, the M engine and 300+ connectors are included at no
      cost in Excel and Power BI Desktop. No account or capacity required.
    elements:
      - name: Power Query editor
      - name: M formula language
      - name: Built-in connectors
      - name: Power Query SDK for VS Code
  - id: power-bi-free
    name: Power BI Free account
    type: freemium
    price: '0.00'
    currency: USD
    billing_period: n/a
    url: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi/landing/free-account
    description: >-
      Included in the Microsoft Fabric free account. Create rich, interactive
      reports; no credit card required. Cannot share reports — upgrade to Pro or
      Premium to publish.
    elements:
      - name: Included in Microsoft Fabric free account
      - name: No credit card required
      - name: Trial capacity on any Fabric tool
  - id: power-bi-pro
    name: Power BI Pro
    type: paid
    price: '14.00'
    currency: USD
    unit: user/month
    billing_period: yearly
    description: >-
      Access Power BI reports shared with you and publish your own. Included in
      Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5.
    elements:
      - name: Publish and share Power BI reports
      - name: Included in Microsoft 365 E5 / Office 365 E5
  - id: power-bi-premium-per-user
    name: Power BI Premium Per User
    type: paid
    price: '24.00'
    currency: USD
    unit: user/month
    billing_period: yearly
    description: >-
      Everything in Pro plus enterprise-scale features for data professionals.
    elements:
      - name: All Power BI Pro features
      - name: Larger model sizes
      - name: More frequent refreshes
  - id: power-bi-embedded
    name: Power BI Embedded
    type: usage
    price: variable
    currency: USD
    description: >-
      Customer-facing reports, dashboards and analytics embedded in your own
      application. Priced on capacity; contact sales or see the Azure pricing page.
  - id: fabric-capacity
    name: Microsoft Fabric Capacity (F SKUs)
    type: capacity
    price: variable
    currency: USD
    url: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/microsoft-fabric/
    description: >-
      The plan that actually governs the Power Query REST surface. A single pool
      of Capacity Units serves every Fabric workload, including dataflow refresh
      and query execution. Available pay-as-you-go or on a 1- or 3-year
      reservation.
    skus:
      - {sku: F2, capacity_units: 2}
      - {sku: F4, capacity_units: 4}
      - {sku: F8, capacity_units: 8}
      - {sku: F16, capacity_units: 16}
      - {sku: F32, capacity_units: 32}
      - {sku: F64, capacity_units: 64}
      - {sku: F128, capacity_units: 128}
      - {sku: F256, capacity_units: 256}
      - {sku: F512, capacity_units: 512}
      - {sku: F1024, capacity_units: 1024}
      - {sku: F2048, capacity_units: 2048}
      - {sku: F4096, capacity_units: 4096}
      - {sku: F8192, capacity_units: 8192}
    price_note: >-
      Per-SKU dollar figures are rendered client-side and vary by region and
      currency; the static page served to this pipeline on 2026-08-29 returned
      "$-" for every cell. The SKU/CU ladder above is what the page states
      unconditionally. No price is invented here.
plan_count: 6
notes:
  - >-
    Creating a dataflow through the REST API requires the workspace to be on a
    supported Fabric capacity — the API reference states this as a limitation on
    Items_CreateDataflow.
  - >-
    Rate limits are NOT a function of the plan. Fabric's Unified Quota is
    enforced per identity at 200 calls/minute per API category regardless of SKU.
    See rate-limits/power-query-rate-limits.yml.
evidence:
  - url: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi/pricing
    status: 200
  - url: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/microsoft-fabric/
    status: 200
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com
    url: https://apievangelist.com