So is Power BI effectively free for the next 12 Months

[andrewhann]

Following the recent e-mail:

"If you’re interested in an extended Power BI Pro trial that will run from 1 June 2017, to 31 May 2018, simply sign in as normal on or after 1 June 2017, and get going. Contact us to learn more about Power BI Pro."

Does this mean that Power Bi Pro is effectively free for all users for the next 12 months..?

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@andrewhann Provided you meet the eligibility requirements.

Official excerpt:

Extended Power BI Pro trial terms and conditions

• General purpose: The free 12-month extended Power BI Pro trial offer (the “Offer”) is available to existing qualified users of the free Power BI service, in order to address changes to the service effective June 1 related to the ability to distribute and receive content. Eligible users will receive the Offer beginning June 1, 2017 and ending May 31, 2018.
• Eligibility: Users who registered for the free Power BI service on or before May 2, 2017 and have signed into the service at least once between May 2, 2016 and May 2, 2017 are eligible for the Offer.
• Exclusions: Power BI Pro and Power BI Pro trial users are not eligible for the Offer.
• Term: The Offer will begin on June 1, 2017 and end on May 31, 2018. Acceptance can occur at any time during the 12-month period, though the offer will terminate on May 31, 2018 for all users regardless of when they accepted the Offer.

[tadawID]

If understand correctly in ~3 weeks time (starting 1st of June 2017) I will not be able to share my dashboards any longer, since I am existing Trial Pro user. Only those who registered for free version recently will have an option to try Pro trial till the end of May 2018, right? It seems to me a little bit thankless. We (existing Pro trial users) have been 'beta testers' for few months already and have not been offered the extension 😕 [till the time my company decides to go with Premium, I might be switching to other tools instead]

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@tadawID Not true. Nothing in the the FAQ states that your Pro Trial will terminate. In fact it recommends to sign up for a 60 day trial if you aren't eligible:

"

• What should I do if I’m not eligible for the extended Power BI Pro trial?

Sign up for a standard 60-day Power BI Pro trial."

I'm sure extensions of that 60 day trial are viewed on a case by case bases, but you shouldn't have any issues if you are planning on rolling out a Pro solution and it's just a matter of timing. If you don't plan on buying the license though, I would expect your trial to end. (Not MSFT, but based on the changes it appears they will be more stringent).

[tadawID]

Thanks for this clarification! I have been able to use extended trial after all (some misunderstending in trying to decrypt communication from Microsoft 🙂 Now I have switched to Power BI Pro from official distribution.