💁 About this article
This article is part of Fugo’s Power BI knowledge base: a collection of resources answering common Power BI questions. We include notes throughout where Fugo’s integration may be helpful for displaying dashboards on digital signage.
Table of contents
Short answer
There is no free, secure way to share Power BI reports with non-licensed users while keeping them private and automatically refreshed.
If reports need to stay inside the Power BI Service, update on a schedule, and remain restricted to specific users, someone pays for licensing - either per user or via capacity.
Why this question comes up so often
Power BI makes it easy to build dashboards, but much harder to distribute them cheaply.
Many teams assume:
View-only access should be free
A single license can cover many viewers
There must be a workaround for small groups
In reality, Power BI licensing is centered around consumption, not creation. If someone can view a report securely, Microsoft considers that usage of the service.
What Power BI does not allow
Power BI does not provide:
A free “viewer-only” license
A shared login for multiple people
Secure sharing without either licenses or capacity
Workarounds like reusing accounts, rotating trials, or multiplexing logins violate Microsoft’s licensing terms and are not supported.
Legitimate ways to share Power BI with non-licensed users
There are only a few supported options, each with tradeoffs.
1. Publish to web (public access)
Power BI allows reports to be published publicly using a shareable link.
Pros
Free
No viewer licenses required
Cons
Anyone with the link can access the report
Reports are discoverable via search
Not suitable for sensitive or internal data
This option is best limited to public-facing dashboards where data exposure is acceptable.
💡 Learn how here: Publish to web from Power BI
2. Distribute .pbix files
You can share the Power BI Desktop file itself.
Pros
Free
Keeps data private
Cons
No automatic refresh
Multiple versions quickly appear
Requires Power BI Desktop on every machine
No central governance
This behaves more like emailing Excel files than running a BI platform.
💡 Learn how here: Sharing PBIX file with colleagues
3. Power BI Premium or Fabric capacity
Reports hosted in a Premium or Fabric F64+ workspace can be viewed by users with free licenses.
Pros
Secure sharing
Automatic refresh
Centralized management
No per-viewer licensing
Cons
High fixed cost (starting around $5,000/month)
Only makes sense at scale (hundreds of viewers)
For small teams, this is usually overkill.
💡 Learn how here: Collaborate and share Power BI reports and dashboards
4. Power BI Embedded
Power BI Embedded is a developer-focused solution that lets you display Power BI reports inside a custom application (for example, a customer portal or internal web app) without requiring each viewer to have a Power BI license.
Instead of licensing users, you pay for Azure-hosted Power BI capacity, and your application handles authentication and access control.
This is not a sharing feature of the Power BI Service. It’s a separate product designed for application embedding.
Pros
No per-viewer Power BI licenses
Viewers don’t need Power BI accounts
Supports custom authentication and access models
Cons
Requires custom development (embedding, auth, token handling)
Ongoing infrastructure and capacity costs
More complex to maintain than native Power BI sharing
Not free, and often more expensive than Pro licenses for small audiences
Power BI Embedded is typically used by software vendors or product teams, not by internal business teams looking to share dashboards with colleagues.
If your goal is simply to share reports inside your organization, Embedded is the wrong tool.
Options that are often suggested (and why they fall short)
Some approaches come up frequently but don’t solve the core problem:
Sharing via SharePoint without Premium
Still requires licenses unless backed by Premium capacity.
Emailing PDFs or screenshots
Loses interactivity and real-time insight.
Using Power BI Apps alone
Apps don’t bypass licensing - they inherit it.
Self-hosting Report Server
Requires SQL Server licensing with Software Assurance.
These options often shift the problem rather than solving it.
Choosing the right approach
In practice, teams end up in one of these camps:
Small group, internal use → Buy Pro licenses
Public or non-sensitive data → Publish to web
Large audience → Premium capacity
Product or external platform → Embedded
If interactive dashboards are valuable, licensing is part of the cost of doing BI properly.
Summary
There is no free, secure viewer license for Power BI
Automatic refresh + private access always involves licensing
Most “workarounds” trade security, governance, or reliability
The right solution depends on audience size and sensitivity
Understanding these constraints early prevents frustration and rework.
Power BI on digital signage with Fugo
Many teams run into licensing friction when they want Power BI reports visible to large groups - especially on office TVs or shared screens. Digital signage offers a different distribution model: reports are displayed passively, without requiring individual viewer accounts.
Fugo’s Power BI app lets teams show Power BI dashboards on digital signage while respecting Power BI’s permission model. You can try it on a free trial or book a demo to see how teams share dashboards at scale without managing dozens of viewer licenses.