Get a starting size in under a minute.
Answer five questions. The estimate follows the same rules we use on scoping calls, and you can change any answer to see what moves the number.
- Pay as you go, always on
- £1,850
- Pay as you go, on your schedule
- £770
- One-year reservation
- £1,100
- Lowest for your answers
- £770 a month
Indicative only: Microsoft's UK South list prices, checked October 2026 and rounded, excluding OneLake storage (around £18 per terabyte a month). A scoping call gives you a firm answer.
The Fabric sizes most organisations choose from.
Every size runs the same Fabric features. A bigger size gives you more compute, more concurrent work and higher limits for very large data models.
| Size | Pay as you go | One-year reservation | Typical fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| F2 2 CU | ~£230 a month | ~£140 a month | Proofs of concept, and small teams with overnight loads |
| F4 4 CU | ~£465 a month | ~£275 a month | Small production platforms with up to 5 report users |
| F8 8 CU | ~£925 a month | ~£550 a month | Daytime use, notebook development or regular Copilot use |
| F16 16 CU | ~£1,850 a month | ~£1,100 a month | Our usual starting point for 6 to 20 report users |
| F32 32 CU | ~£3,700 a month | ~£2,200 a month | 20 to 50 report users, or heavier transformation work |
| F64 64 CU | ~£7,410 a month | ~£4,400 a month | 50+ users, free-licence viewers, or tables over 300 million rows |
F128 and above suit very large or multi-workspace estates. F64 is the equivalent of the old Power BI Premium P1.
Four things decide which size you need.
Report viewers and licences
Below F64, everyone who views a Power BI report needs a Pro licence. From F64, people with a free Fabric licence can view reports too. Moving up to F64 only to save on licences pays off once you have a few hundred viewers.
Data volume
Below F64, Direct Lake models handle up to 300 million rows per table. If one of your tables is bigger than that, plan for F64, which handles 1.5 billion.
When the work runs
Overnight loads are background jobs, which Fabric spreads across 24 hours, so a busy batch window rarely needs a bigger size. Heavy daytime reporting and notebook work count straight away.
Development and Copilot
Interactive notebook development and regular Copilot use need headroom. On F2 and F4, a handful of heavy Copilot prompts can compete with your overnight loads, so we suggest F8 or above if Copilot matters to you.
Three ways to pay less for the same capacity.
Pause it when nobody needs it
Compute stops while the capacity is paused, so running it 10 hours a day costs around 40% of always-on. Pausing cancels anything still running, so schedule it after your loads finish. Storage is still billed.
Reserve it for a year
A one-year reservation takes roughly 40% off pay-as-you-go. You pay for it whether the capacity is running or paused, so it suits always-on capacity and doesn't combine with pausing.
Start small and resize
You can move up or down a size at any time without moving your data. Start where the estimator suggests, watch the Capacity Metrics app for a month, then adjust.
What happens if you go over your capacity?
Fabric lets you borrow ahead for short peaks, then smooths the usage out over the following minutes and hours. Sustained overuse is throttled in stages: interactive work is delayed first, then refused, and background jobs are refused last. If you see throttling, it's time to resize or move work to quieter hours.
The Fabric Accelerator runs identically on every size.
From F2 to the largest enterprise capacities, with no feature compromise at the small end. We size your capacity during scoping, as part of our Microsoft Fabric consultancy.
Fabric capacity, answered.
Can we start on F2 and move up later?
Yes. Resizing is quick and doesn't move your data. Many organisations start small, check usage in the Capacity Metrics app for a few weeks, then settle on a size.
Do we need F64 for Power BI?
No. Power BI works on every size. F64 is where viewers with a free licence can see reports without a Pro licence, and where Direct Lake handles tables above 300 million rows.
How do F sizes relate to Power BI Premium?
F sizes are how Microsoft now sells Fabric and Power BI capacity, billed through Azure. Microsoft is retiring the old Power BI Premium capacity sizes, and F64 is the equivalent of P1.
Does pausing lose our data?
No. Pausing stops compute only. Your data stays in OneLake, which is billed separately at around £18 per terabyte a month. Anything running at the moment you pause is cancelled, so schedule the pause after your loads finish.
Is the estimate a quote?
No. It's an indicative starting point based on UK list prices. On a scoping call we look at your sources, data volumes and usage, and give you a firm recommendation.
Sources: Microsoft Learn, Plan your capacity size, Microsoft Fabric licences, Direct Lake overview and The Fabric throttling policy. Prices are indicative UK pay-as-you-go list prices, scaled from F2 and rounded. For current rates, see Azure pricing or Microsoft's Fabric SKU Estimator.
Want a firm answer for your data?
Tell us about your sources, data volumes and who needs the reports. We'll recommend a size and show you what it costs to run.
A client partner first.