How to share Power BI reports with external users: a complete guide
Sharing Power BI reports within your organisation is straightforward. Sharing them with people outside your organisation, clients, partners, suppliers or external stakeholders, is a different story. There are multiple options, each with its own trade-offs in terms of cost, complexity and user experience. This guide explains every option available and helps you decide which one is right for your situation.
Why external sharing is more complicated than it looks
The Power BI Service is built around the Microsoft identity ecosystem. By default, sharing a report means sharing it with someone who has a Microsoft account and either a Power BI licence or access to a Premium or Fabric capacity. For colleagues within your organisation, this is usually straightforward. For external users, the assumptions break down quickly.
Your clients do not have accounts in your Azure Active Directory. Your suppliers do not have Power BI licences. And even if they did, navigating the Power BI Service interface is not always an experience you want to put in front of a client who is used to something more polished.
The result is that many organisations default to the path of least resistance: exporting the report to PDF and emailing it. It works, but it sacrifices everything that makes Power BI valuable. The report is static, immediately out of date, and the recipient cannot interact with the data.
There is a better way. Several of them, in fact.
Option 1: Azure Active Directory B2B guest access
Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory B2B (Business-to-Business) feature allows you to invite external users as guests in your tenant. Once set up as a guest, an external user can access Power BI workspaces and reports as if they were an internal user, subject to the licences and permissions you assign.
For the external user to view reports in a Premium or Fabric workspace, they do not need their own Power BI licence, the host organisation’s capacity covers their access. For Pro workspaces, the external user needs either a Pro licence of their own or a guest Pro licence assigned by the host organisation.
When it works well: B2B guest access is a solid option for a small number of trusted external collaborators who need ongoing, deep access to your Power BI environment. Think of a long-term consulting partner or an external auditor who works closely with your team.
When it falls short: managing guest accounts at scale is administratively intensive. Every external user requires an invitation, account setup and ongoing access management. For organisations sharing with dozens or hundreds of external contacts, it quickly becomes unmanageable. Additionally, the user experience for guests navigating the Power BI Service is the same as for internal users, which is not always appropriate for a client-facing context.
Option 2: Publish to web
Power BI’s “Publish to web” feature generates a public embed code that anyone can use to view a report, without any login or authentication. The report is effectively public on the internet.
When it works well: for genuinely public data, such as a publicly available report on open data or a marketing dashboard intended for anyone to see, Publish to web is simple and effective.
When it falls short: because the report is public, it cannot contain any confidential or sensitive data. Row-Level Security does not apply. There is no way to restrict who sees what. For the vast majority of business reporting use cases, Publish to web is simply not appropriate.
Option 3: Embedding in a website or portal
For organisations with development resources, Power BI Embedded allows reports to be integrated into a custom web application via the Power BI REST API. The external user accesses the report through your application, which handles authentication and generates embed tokens behind the scenes.
When it works well: if you are building a product where Power BI reporting is a core feature, or if you need a fully custom user experience that is deeply integrated with your own application, Embedded is the most flexible option.
When it falls short: it requires significant development effort to set up and maintain. Azure infrastructure, token management, front-end development and ongoing API maintenance all add up. For organisations that simply want to share reports with clients, the complexity and cost of a custom embedded solution are difficult to justify.
Option 4: A dedicated sharing portal
The most practical option for most organisations is a dedicated platform designed specifically for external report sharing. This is where Webdashboard provides the clearest value.
Webdashboard sits on top of your existing Power BI environment and provides a secure, branded portal that your external users can access with a simple login. There is no Microsoft account required, no Power BI licence needed, and no unfamiliar interface to navigate. Your clients see a portal in your organisation’s branding, with exactly the reports they are authorised to view and nothing else.
Setting it up takes hours, not weeks. You connect Webdashboard to your Power BI workspace, assign reports to users or groups, and the portal is live. Row-Level Security defined in your semantic model carries through automatically, so the data governance you have built in Power BI applies equally to your external users.
When it works well: for any organisation that regularly shares Power BI reports with clients, partners or other external stakeholders. It is particularly well suited to organisations that want a professional, branded experience for their external users without the overhead of custom development.
When it falls short: if you need deep integration with a custom application, or if your external users need to build their own reports rather than just view them, a dedicated sharing portal may not cover all your requirements.
Choosing the right option for your organisation
The right approach depends on the volume of external users, the sensitivity of the data, the experience you want to deliver and the resources you have available to manage it.
With a small number of trusted collaborators with deep access needs, B2B guest access is workable. For public, non-sensitive data, Publish to web is simple. For organisations building a custom product with embedded analytics, Power BI Embedded is the right foundation.
With the majority of organisations that need to share reports professionally, securely and at scale with external users, a dedicated sharing solution like Webdashboard is the most practical and cost-effective answer. It removes the licensing complexity, eliminates the administrative overhead and delivers an experience that reflects well on your organisation every time a client logs in.
Webdashboard makes external Power BI report sharing simple, secure and professional. No Microsoft licences required for your external users. Learn more at Trial – Webdashboard.