The P1 versus P2 versus P3 comparison is no longer valid today, as Microsoft has already settled that question. Since the Power BI Premium P-SKUs are retired, business owners need to compare Microsoft Fabric capacity, which is the key point of discussion going forward.
Businesses still relying on P1, P2, and P3 plans need to change their approach and switch ahead. It’s a planning deadline for any organization whose analytics estate still sits on per-capacity Premium.
Companies that keep sizing P-SKUs are budgeting for a product line that has a pre-decided end date and, once reached, there will be no formal support provided by Microsoft.
Continuing on the same plan also means these businesses are putting AI readiness at risk, as Copilot, AI agents, and unified data workloads all assume you are on the new capacity model.
Why the P1, P2, and P3 Comparison is No Longer Valid?
P-SKUs were built to do one job: to provide Power BI reporting capabilities at scale. But today, Fabric F-SKUs host reporting, data engineering, data warehousing, real-time analytics, and AI workloads from a single pool of compute.
Microsoft made the decision to move the capacity model because the workload changed.
Existing agreements run to their terms, so some teams feel no urgency, but that is the trap you need to come out of.
- Version Lock Sets: When a P-SKU environment keeps on working, it does not give you access to the new capabilities that are available on the Fabric side.
- Copilot and AI agents Don’t Retrofit: AI-enabled agents and systems depend on Microsoft Fabric to operate. P-SKUs cannot be trusted to run the current tenant settings and data, as it’s not well organized to be trusted.
- Renewal Pressure: Waiting for the agreement to expire turns a planned migration into a rushed one, which is susceptible to errors and usually with the least favorable commercial position.
- Governance Gaps Increase: Every year that passes puts pressure on the retiring model to provide better reports, datasets, and workspaces that someone must eventually migrate and validate.
For CIOs, businesses that are still working on P-SKUs, it represents a mounting technical debt with a known maturity date. For CFOs, on the other hand, it’s a growing expense that can get even steeper as the decision to switch is delayed.
The New Industry Standard | Fabric F-SKUs
| Legacy Premimun | Fabric Equivalent |
|---|---|
| P1 | F64 |
| P2 | F128 |
| P3 | F256 |
| P4 | F512 |
| P5 | F1024 |
F64 replaces P1 and is the point where enterprise-scale Power BI consumption is supported on Fabric capacity. F64 is the only plan we will be talking about in detail; for all the other SKUs, F2128 to F1024, only the compute power increases.
For instance, F128 provides 128 CUs, F256 provides 256 CUs, and so on.
The shift from P-SKU to F-SKU is significant, as the former was only a reporting feature, but the latter provides;
- Unified Data
- Compute Power
- AI Capacity.
Your dataflows, lakehouses, warehouses, notebooks, real-time pipelines, and Copilot experiences all draw from the same pool. That changes three things for businesses;
- Who owns the cost
- How you forecast it
- How you govern it
The F-SKUs also deliver flexibility Premium Power BI plans never offered. F-SKUs can be scaled and paused, and reserved pricing is available for steady workloads. That flexibility rewards organizations that understand their actual consumption and can plan accordingly to save costs and compute power.
Evaluating licensing costs without considering the workloads is a mistake, as a lower SKU misinforms you if the workloads you are running are inefficient, and a higher SKU is only justifiable if it can consolidate all the tools you are paying for under one subscription.
This is where DynaSUM Cost & License Optimization service starts. Our experts will review your commercial licensing against actual technical and business usage to find out;
- Which workspaces are active
- Which datasets nobody opens
- Which users hold licenses they do not need
- Which workloads drive capacity spikes.
With this information, we right-size the commercial model to match. The result is a licensing decision made on evidence rather than on the closest equivalent SKU.
The Hidden Cost of a Poor Architecture
Adding capacity to a broken architecture is a waste of money, as the compatibility issues won’t let you utilize the platform to its complete potential.
Consider what actually consumes capacity:
- Redundant Refreshes: Multiple datasets pull the same source data on overlapping schedules, consuming more computer power for the same task.
- Unoptimized Pipelines: Transformations run in the wrong layer, reprocessing full tables when incremental loads would do.
- Sprawling Semantic Models: Duplicated logic across departments forces the same calculations to run repeatedly.
- Ungoverned Workspaces: Abandoned reports keep refreshing long after anyone stopped reading them.
Each of these burns capacity regardless of whether you run F64 or F256, and that’s why it’s better to move them to a larger SKU, where they simply burn more.
On top of the latest SKU models, a sound architecture further makes things easier and more streamlined. Consolidated data models, incremental loading, a clean medallion structure, and workspace governance reduce the compute your workloads demand.
Lower demand means a smaller SKU, or the same SKU with headroom for AI workloads you have not yet deployed, which means both operational and capacity costs will reduce simultaneously.
DynaSUM Data & AI Operations service helps you figure out these nuances and build an architecture while choosing the best plan for your requirements. We monitor capacity consumption, tune the workloads that drive it, and keep the architecture from drifting back into waste.
Prepare your Data for AI | Real Value Provider for F64 Capacity
The F64 capacity planner is not just about reporting, but it’s more about whether your existing structure can support AI systems.
Copilot in Fabric helps teams build data pipelines, write queries, generate reports, and ask questions of their data in natural language, but it only performs as well as the data underneath.
Fragmented sources, inconsistent definitions, and undocumented models produce confident but wrong answers.
So the F64 decision comes down to three questions:
- Is your data unified?
- Fabric’s single data lake foundation removes the copy-and-reconcile cycle between systems.
- Is it governed?
- AI needs lineage, permissions, and definitions that a human can audit.
- Is it connected to operations?
- Insight that never reaches a transaction is a dashboard, not a business improvement.
That third question is where DynaSUM creates a difference for your business. We connect operational business systems directly to analytics and AI use cases, spanning Dynamics 365 Finance, Supply Chain, and Customer Engagement as well as your Power Platform applications.
The outcomes include;
- CFO sees consolidated multi-entity financials without waiting for a manual roll-up.
- COO sees supply chain exceptions while there is still time to act.
- CIO gets one governed platform rather than a patchwork of integrations.
How DynaSum Approach Delivers Power BI Solutions with Optimized F-SKU Plans
We treat the move from P-SKUs to Fabric as four connected phases, not a lift-and-shift.
- Assess
We run a Health & Performance review of your current P-SKU environment covering five key elements;
- Capacity utilization
- Refresh behavior
- Model design
- Workspace sprawl
- Security posture
This ensures you receive a factual baseline instead of an opinion to begin your work on F-SKUs.
- Optimize
We execute a Cost & License Optimization strategy before implementing and deploying any solution. Our engineers;
- Retire what is unused
- Consolidate what is duplicated
- Match licenses to real usage.
- Migrate
Our Data & Cloud Engineering team handles the transition from Power BI SKUs to Fabric and works on;
- Architecture design
- Pipeline rebuilds
- Semantic model migration
- Validation
- Cutover planning
The target is an architecture built for AI, not a copy of the old one.
- Manage
Our Data & AI Operations service takes over after go-live. We monitor capacity, manage cost, maintain reliability, and extend the platform as new AI use cases arrive.
Because DynaSUM combines technology transformation with finance, accounting, and BPO operations, we deliver the platform and also operate the processes that run on it.
For finance leaders, that means the team that builds your reporting foundation understands the close, the consolidation, and the controls it must support.
To Sum It Up
Sizing Fabric capacity by matching a P-SKU to its nearest F-SKU is guesswork with a purchase order attached. Without proper alignment with your current organizational goals, structure, AI readiness, and team expertise, you cannot plan a transition.
Your real requirement depends on workload behavior, architecture quality, and the AI ambitions you intend to fund.
Start with evidence:
- AI Readiness Assessment: Find out whether your data, governance, and architecture can support Copilot and AI agents, and what needs fixing first.
- Technology Assessment: Get a clear view of your current Microsoft estate, licensing exposure, and migration path.
Contact DynaSUM to schedule your assessment and walk into your next renewal with a capacity plan built on usage, not assumptions.
FAQs
- Are Power BI Premium P-SKUs really retired?
Microsoft has removed P-SKUs from its standard purchase flows starting from July 1st, 2024. These SKUs are retired in favor of Fabric capacity. Since these SKUs are at end-of-life support now, you need to confirm the timing for their availability as per your agreement and then determine their specific position with your licensing contact. You can also contact DynaSUM before your next renewal.
- Which Fabric SKU replaces P1?
F64 is the equivalent of P-SKU P1. Larger Premium SKUs map upwards and only provide additional compute power: P2 to F128, P3 to F256, and so on. Equivalence on paper does not mean the right size for your workloads, which is why usage analysis should come first. At DynaSUM, we first analyze your workload and then determine which F-SKU is relevant to your requirements.
- Can I just buy the matching F-SKU and move my workloads over?
You can follow this approach, but you might carry more inefficiency with you if transitioning without a plan. Moving the workload without proper planning means facing redundant refreshes, bloated models, and unused workspaces that will consume capacity on Fabric just as they did on Premium. However, if you optimize before moving, it will help control expenses and also reduce the bloat.
- What does F64 unlock for AI?
F64 gives you a Premium-equivalent foundation on Fabric, including the unified data platform that Copilot in Fabric and AI agents rely on. Copilot availability also depends on tenant settings, region, and capacity configuration, so we validate these during assessment.
- How does Fabric capacity pricing differ from Premium?
Fabric capacity offers more flexibility than Premium SKUs, and it is better in other ways, as you can scale it, pause it, and commit to reserved pricing for stable workloads. That flexibility rewards organizations that know their consumption patterns, which is why DynaSum’s Cost & License Optimization reviews licensing against actual usage.
- Does DynaSUM only migrate the platform, or can you run it afterward?
We handle assessment, optimization, and migration, then provide ongoing Data & AI Operations to ensure your platforms and tools run as intended without increasing the overhead and compute power. On the other hand, our finance, accounting, and BPO capabilities also mean we can operate the business processes that depend on your data platform.
