Power BI Report Server (PBIRS) was first introduced in May 2017. Based on SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), it brings the ability to work with Power BI reports completely on premises in addition to all the other capabilities of SSRS. Given this, it would be reasonable to conclude that PBIRS was the next version of, or a replacement for SSRS, but that is not the case. I have heard people state that SSRS is “going away”, but this is simply not the case. SSRS is still a core part of the Microsoft BI stack. So, what are the differences between the two platforms? The differences boil down to features, licensing, and update cadence.
Features
Early builds of SSRS 2017 (V.Next at the time) contained the ability to render Power BI (Interactive) reports in addition to the “classic” RDL (Paginated) reports that SSRS is well known for and the recently added RSMOBILE (Mobile) report types. However, when PBIRS was introduced, SSRS lost that capability, and from a feature standpoint, it really was the only difference between the two. The recent introduction of the Excel report type (Analytical) to PBIRS has further differentiated the two products.
From a features standpoint, the differences between the two products are straightforward. PBIRS is a superset of SSRS. It contains everything that SSRS has, and it ads the ability to render both Interactive (PBIX) and Analytical (XLSX) reports.
Licensing
Licensing is where things get a little more involved. SSRS was always included on the SQL Server installation media, but with SQL Server 2017, this is no longer the case, it’s a separate download (the RC version of SSRS 2017 is currently available for download here). However, the license for SSRS is still tied to your version of SQL Server. Therefore, if you have a license for Standard mode SQL Server, you will be able to use the Standard mode features of SSRS, Enterprise unlocks the Enterprise features, etc. As of the 2017 version, there is also no longer an Integrated mode of SSRS, it’s Native Mode only.
Power BI Report Server is licensed in one of two ways. Purchasing Power BI Premium capacity gives you a license to run the same number of cores as you have in the capacity. This ONLY applies to Premium P SKUs, not any others such as EM. The other way that it can be licensed is by purchasing SQL Server Enterprise Edition + Software Assurance.
Release cadence
Just as with licensing, the timing of releases of SSRS is also tied to that of SQL Server. Whenever a new version of SQL Server is released, a new version of SSRS will be as well. This is not the case for PBIRS. Since PBIRS is considered a standalone product this makes sense, and the constant pace of change in the Power BI service itself necessitates a more frequent update cadence.
As an example, PBIRS first came into General Availability (GA) in June 2017, and as of this writing (Sept 2017) is already in preview for its next release, whereas SSRS 2017 hasn’t yet gone to GA.
How to choose
The choice between which platform to use will likely be straightforward and likely driven by requirements. If your organization only uses paginated reports on premises, you may find that SSRS is a more cost-effective option. If, on the other hand you have the need to render interactive or analytical reports on premises, or you already have SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance, then PBIRS will likely be your best choice. There are no circumstances that I can think of where both products will be advisable, if you have PBIRS, you have everything that SSRS offers and more.
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Thanks for your analytic 🙂
“SSRS was always included on the SQL Server installation media, but with SQL Server 2017, this is no longer the case, it’s a separate download”
That is no longer the case.
I installed SQL server 2017 yesterday, and SSRS is NOT part of the installation media.
SSRS has it’s own installation media.
And this makes sense then You can choose between SSRS and PBIRS.
So is it still SSRS 2017 can’t render PowerBI reports anymore? can you have SSRS 2017 and PowerBI RS on the same server?
I have tried to install both SSRS 2017 & Power BI RS. But the URL’s working only SSRS. i have uninstalled SSRS and then the Power BI RS worked.
I have an existing licensed SQL Server Standard Edt. I want to introduce SSRS. I know that from a license perspective there would be no additional licenses necessary when I run SSRS on the same SQL Server.
But do I have to buy additional licenses when I would run SQLServerReportingServices.exe on a separate WebServer which connects to the existing database server? So I would like to run the Report Server Web Component not on the SQL server.
@Thomas H.:
Yes, running SSRS on a separate server requires a seperate full SQL Server license.
Also, SSRS needs 2 databases which need to run in an SQL Server instance – which you only find on the SQL Server.
To connect to my data in Power BI Report Server do I need to use the Power BI Gateway or can I use a 32-bit ODBC connection?
My source is an old Oracle 32-bit connection and PBI Gateway only supports 64-bit connections, so if that is true voor PBIRS it would make it unusable for that type of connection.
Thanks for your article. Any thought on PBIRS vs PBI.COM? How do they fit together? If we want an enterprise BI solution, with Power bi reports, and paginated reports, what should be orientation ? We can’t publish paginated reports on cloud (not yet), but Microsoft recommendations seems to be so cloud driven that promoting PBIRS in our organisation seems a different path only for those alergic to cloud…
Are we sure this sentence is true :
“From a features standpoint, the differences between the two products are straightforward. PBIRS is a superset of SSRS. It contains everything that SSRS has, and it ads the ability to render both Interactive (PBIX) and Analytical (XLSX) reports”
I read somewhere that Report Server doesn’t have the capabilities of SSRS in terms of subscriptions to reports.
Can someone confirm please ?
[…] Power BI now also has the capability to render analytical reports. It has now come to a point where Power BI can do almost everything SSRS can and then […]
You say ‘if you have PBIRS, you have everything that SSRS offers and more’, however, there is no way to create filestore subscriptions and the only type of report that can be generated by subscription is Excel files.
You also have a price inhibiting cost if you want to import SSRS-style paginated reports and run those in PowerBI ??
“if you have PBIRS, you have everything that SSRS offers and more.” I do not think this statement is entirely true. PBIRS outputs reports in pbix format. There is no way to host pbix in a report viewer as you do with SSRS RDL reports. Being able to render it in a report viewer and handling authentication on the server side is critical in any externally facing web application. Implementing security in PBIRS in this use case is still a big mess on PBIRS. Any idea if Microsoft has a plan to implement report viewer support for pbix format?
No – I stand by the statement. SSRS does not contain ANY features pertaining to PBIX. PBIRS is truly inclusive of all things PBIRS. As for the report viewer control, I wouldn’t make any big investments in it, and I doubt very much that much will be done to change the situation. Investment in new on-premises features has all but dried up. Tney will continue to support on prem, and even bring new features where major investment is not necessary. This is based on recent statements made by the executive team for Power BI.