Copilot in Power BI: what it can and can't do for your reports
Easy Insight Team ·
Copilot in Power BI can summarise reports, answer questions about your data, draft report pages and write DAX queries. It can't fix a messy model or apply formatting, and it won't run on a Pro or Premium Per User licence alone: as of September 2026 it needs a paid Fabric F2 or Premium P1 capacity.
What can Copilot in Power BI actually do?
Microsoft groups the features by who uses them (Copilot for Power BI overview, Microsoft Learn, updated August 2026). Several are still in preview, which matters if you plan to rely on one.
| What you want | Copilot feature | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|
| A plain-English summary of the report in front of you | Copilot pane (generally available) | Report readers |
| Answers to questions about your data | Copilot pane, or standalone Copilot (preview) | Report readers |
| The right report found across your organisation | Standalone Copilot (preview) | Report readers |
| Questions answered inside a Power BI app | Copilot in apps (preview) | App users |
| A first draft of a report page | Create and edit a report | Report authors |
| A DAX query written for you | Write DAX queries | Report authors |
| An overview of an unfamiliar semantic model | Summarise the semantic model | Report authors |
| Descriptions for your measures | Measure descriptions | Model authors |
Report creation now covers adding, changing and deleting visuals, with undo (Create and edit reports with Copilot, Microsoft Learn). Our view is that the most useful features are the unglamorous ones: summarising an inherited model, drafting the measure descriptions nobody wrote, and a first-pass DAX query. They are also the easiest to check.
What can't Copilot in Power BI do?
According to Microsoft's documented limitations, it can't:
- use custom visuals, or apply styling and formatting;
- create pages for real-time streaming models or live Analysis Services connections;
- create pages if implicit measures are disabled, or if the model's Q&A setting is off;
- work in Private Link or closed network environments;
- appear in Power BI Desktop builds from January 2025 or earlier (Use Copilot in Power BI Desktop, Microsoft Learn).
Multilingual use isn't officially supported. And on accuracy, Microsoft is blunt: "without preparation, Copilot can misinterpret the data and return generic or inaccurate results." Its behaviour is nondeterministic, so the same question can get different answers.
What licence do you need for Copilot in Power BI?
Several guides ranking for this question get it wrong. As of September 2026, Microsoft's documentation requires a paid Fabric capacity of F2 or higher, or Power BI Premium P1 or higher. Trial capacities aren't supported, and "a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User (PPU) license alone isn't sufficient".
There are two ways to meet it:
- Put the workspace on the capacity. Reports in a workspace assigned to an F2 or larger get Copilot.
- Use a Fabric Copilot capacity. An admin names a capacity (F2 or P1 minimum) and a group of users. Their Copilot usage is then charged there, including from Power BI Desktop and from Pro and PPU workspaces (Fabric Copilot capacity, Microsoft Learn). It must sit in the tenant's home region.
Two traps. New or resized capacity can take up to 24 hours before Copilot recognises it. And an F2 doesn't change who needs a paid licence: below F64, every report viewer still needs Pro or PPU, as our Power BI licensing explainer sets out.
How much does Copilot in Power BI cost to run?
There is no Copilot seat to buy. Requests are metered in tokens and converted into capacity units. As of September 2026, Microsoft charges 100 CU seconds per 1,000 input tokens and 400 per 1,000 output tokens, rates it says are "subject to change at any time" (Copilot in Fabric consumption, Microsoft Learn). Its worked example, 2,000 tokens in and 500 out, costs 400 CU seconds, smoothed over 24 hours as a background operation. DAX queries that Copilot triggers are billed separately.
What that means on the smallest capacity (our arithmetic, not Microsoft's):
- An F2 provides 172,800 CU seconds a day, enough for about 430 requests of that size if it did nothing else.
- An F2 lists at about £226 a month pay-as-you-go or £134 on a one-year reservation in UK South, as of September 2026, per the Azure Retail Prices API.
- At £0.1546 per CU hour, one such request uses under 2p of capacity.
So you pay for the capacity, not the question, and Copilot competes with refreshes for it. Our Fabric pricing guide covers F2 to F64; the pricing estimator handles licences.
Is it safe to switch on for UK business data?
Copilot is on by default in Fabric's tenant settings, but for a UK tenant it stays off until an admin changes one more. Microsoft runs Copilot on Azure OpenAI in the US and the EU Data Boundary, maps the UK to the EU Data Boundary, and tells UK tenants to enable "Data sent to Azure OpenAI can be processed outside your capacity's geographic region, compliance boundary, or national cloud instance" (Overview of Copilot in Fabric, Microsoft Learn). Your requests leave UK regions, so record that in your data protection impact assessment.
Microsoft also states that your data "isn't used to train models", that Copilot uses Azure OpenAI rather than public OpenAI services, and that it "can only access data that the current user has permission to access" (Privacy, security and responsible AI use of Copilot in Fabric). Table contents aren't sent unless you direct it. This isn't legal advice; the DPIA step in our 90-day AI implementation plan applies here.
How do you get useful answers rather than confident wrong ones?
Copilot reads your semantic model, and it can't guess what "Rev_Adj_2" means. Microsoft's Prep data for AI feature (preview) adds an AI data schema to narrow what Copilot looks at, verified answers for common questions, and plain-language AI instructions, all saved on the model (Prepare your data for AI, Microsoft Learn). A prepared model can be marked Approved for Copilot.
Get the basics right first: clear names, a proper date table and a star schema. In our view, Copilot amplifies the model you have. A good one gets faster to use; a bad one gets exposed.
Is Copilot in Power BI worth it for a small business?
Our opinion: if you already run an F capacity, switching Copilot on for report authors is cheap to try. Buying an F2 solely for it only makes sense with a specific job in mind, such as documenting inherited models or drafting DAX without an in-house specialist.
Either way, pilot it like any AI tool: one task, a baseline, a month in parallel. Our AI readiness assessment checks whether the data is ready. If you want the model reviewed before Copilot touches it, that's Power BI work we do; the wider picture is on our AI consultancy page.
Frequently asked questions
Does Power BI Pro include Copilot?
No. As of September 2026, Microsoft says a Pro or Premium Per User licence alone isn't enough. Copilot needs a paid Fabric capacity (F2 or above) or Premium (P1 or above). Pro and PPU users can still use it if an admin sets up a Fabric Copilot capacity to carry their usage.
How much does Copilot in Power BI cost?
There is no per-user Copilot charge. Requests consume capacity units, so the real cost is the capacity. As of September 2026 the smallest, an F2, lists at about £226 a month pay-as-you-go in UK South, or about £134 on a one-year reservation.
Can a UK business use Copilot in Power BI?
Yes, after one admin change. Microsoft processes Copilot requests in the US or the EU Data Boundary, so UK tenants must enable cross-geo data processing. Microsoft says the data isn't used to train models and Copilot only reaches data the user can already access.
Is Copilot in Power BI accurate?
Not reliably enough to use unchecked. Microsoft warns that responses can be inaccurate and that an unprepared semantic model produces generic or wrong answers. Treat summaries and DAX as drafts, and reconcile one figure against a total you already know.
Easy Insight is a UK consultancy for AI, web, apps and data — senior specialists only, no juniors.
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