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Power BI Report vs Paginated Report: What’s the Difference?

Power BI Report vs Paginated Report: What’s the Difference?



📊 Power BI Report (PBIX)


✅ Best for:


  • Interactive dashboards
  • Data exploration & visual storytelling
  • End-user drill-downs, slicers, and filters
  • Regular business users and analysts

🔹 Key Features:


  • Built in Power BI Desktop (.pbix file)
  • Highly visual: cards, charts, maps, gauges, etc.
  • Supports Import, DirectQuery, and Live Connections
  • Built for web and mobile interactivity
  • Easy to publish to Power BI Service and share
  • Great for self-service BI and performance dashboards

🔴 Limitations:


  • Limited control over print layout/export formatting
  • Can't generate pixel-perfect invoices or multi-page reports easily

🧾 Paginated Report (.RDL)


✅ Best for:


  • Pixel-perfect reporting (like invoices, forms, statements)
  • Printable or export-heavy reports (PDF, Excel, CSV)
  • Operational reports with long tables, repeating rows, headers, footers
  • Scenarios where layout and formatting must be exact

🔹 Key Features:


  • Built using Power BI Report Builder (.rdl file)
  • Designed for multi-page, printable output
  • Supports parameters and dynamic queries
  • Ideal for SSRS-style reporting
  • Can query large datasets with minimal interactivity
  • Great for financial reports, paginated tables, formal reports

🔴 Limitations:


  • Not meant for rich, interactive visualizations
  • Requires Premium Per User (PPU) or Premium capacity to publish/view in Power BI Service
  • Not ideal for dashboards or quick visual insights

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