You can publish SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports to Power BI using Power BI Report Server — an on-premises server that hosts both paginated RDL reports and interactive Power BI reports in one portal. This guide covers Power BI Report Server setup, report publishing steps, and how to migrate SSRS reports to Power BI Service paginated reports.
Key Facts
- Power BI Report Server is the on-premises host for both SSRS (paginated .rdl) and Power BI Desktop (.pbix) reports.
- Power BI Service also supports paginated reports (paginated .rdl files) for organizations moving fully to the cloud.
- Paginated reports use the same RDL format as SSRS — existing reports migrate with minimal modification.
- Power BI Report Server requires a SQL Server Enterprise SA or Power BI Premium license to run.
- EPC Group: 29 years of Microsoft consulting, 1,500+ Power BI deployments, Microsoft Solutions Partner (core designations).
How To Publish Reports Using Ssrs In Power BI
How to Publish SSRS Reports in Power BI
You can publish SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports to Power BI using Power BI Report Server — an on-premises server that hosts both paginated RDL reports and interactive Power BI reports in one portal. This guide covers Power BI Report Server setup, report publishing steps, and how to migrate SSRS reports to Power BI Service paginated reports.
Key facts
- Power BI Report Server is the on-premises host for both SSRS (paginated .rdl) and Power BI Desktop (.pbix) reports.
- Power BI Service also supports paginated reports (paginated .rdl files) for organizations moving fully to the cloud.
- Paginated reports use the same RDL format as SSRS — existing reports migrate with minimal modification.
- Power BI Report Server requires a SQL Server Enterprise SA or Power BI Premium license to run.
- EPC Group: 29 years of Microsoft consulting, 1,500+ Power BI deployments, Microsoft Solutions Partner (core designations).
Option 1 — Publish to Power BI Report Server (on-premises)
Power BI Report Server lets you host SSRS and Power BI reports from a single on-premises web portal. Use this option if your organization cannot move data to the cloud.
Install Power BI Report Server
- Download Power BI Report Server from Microsoft's download center (free for SQL Server Enterprise SA or Power BI Premium licensees).
- Run the installer on a Windows Server 2016 or later machine. Minimum: 4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM for production.
- Connect Report Server to a SQL Server database (the ReportServer database stores all report metadata).
- Configure the web portal URL (e.g.,
https://reports.yourcompany.com/reports). - Set up a service account with least-privilege access and configure SSL certificates.
Publish an SSRS (.rdl) report
- Open the .rdl file in SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) or Report Builder.
- Right-click the project in SSDT → Properties. Set the Target Server URL to your Report Server URL.
- Right-click the project → Deploy. The report uploads to the Report Server web portal.
- Open the portal URL in a browser. Navigate to the report folder and confirm the report appears.
Publish a Power BI Desktop (.pbix) report
- Open the report in Power BI Desktop (Report Server edition) — download this separately from the standard Desktop.
- Go to File → Publish → Publish to Power BI Report Server.
- Enter your Report Server URL and sign in. The report uploads to the portal.
Option 2 — Migrate SSRS reports to Power BI Service (cloud)
Organizations moving fully to the cloud can publish paginated reports directly to the Power BI Service. This requires a Power BI Premium or Fabric capacity workspace.
Migrate an RDL report to Power BI Service
- Open the .rdl file in Power BI Report Builder (the cloud-compatible report editor).
- Update the data source connection strings to point to cloud sources (Azure SQL, Synapse, etc.).
- Go to File → Publish to Power BI Service.
- Select a Premium or Fabric workspace — paginated reports cannot publish to Pro-only workspaces.
- Confirm the upload and view the report in the Power BI Service portal.
When to use paginated vs interactive Power BI reports
| Scenario | Recommended report type |
|---|---|
| Pixel-perfect financial statements, invoices | Paginated (RDL) |
| Regulatory filings requiring exact formatting | Paginated (RDL) |
| Long tabular output (1,000+ rows, multi-page) | Paginated (RDL) |
| Interactive dashboards with drill-through | Power BI Desktop (.pbix) |
| Self-service analytics for business users | Power BI Desktop (.pbix) |
| Embedded analytics in apps | Power BI Desktop (.pbix) or paginated |
Licensing requirements
- Power BI Report Server — requires SQL Server Enterprise with Software Assurance, OR a Power BI Premium P-SKU or Premium Per User (PPU) license.
- Power BI Service paginated reports — requires a Power BI Premium Per User (PPU) license ($20/user/month) or a Premium capacity workspace.
- Power BI Desktop (Report Server edition) — free download, but must match your Report Server version. Do not use the standard Power BI Desktop to publish to Report Server.
Frequently asked questions
Can I publish SSRS reports directly to the Power BI Service without Report Server?
Yes. Open the .rdl file in Power BI Report Builder, update data source connections to cloud sources, and publish directly to a Premium or Fabric workspace in the Power BI Service.
Does Power BI Report Server support all SSRS features?
Mostly yes. Power BI Report Server supports the full RDL 2016 specification including subreports, parameters, drillthrough, and data-driven subscriptions. Mobile reports and some legacy chart types from SSRS 2008 are not supported.
How often does Power BI Report Server update?
Microsoft releases Power BI Report Server updates approximately three times per year, in January, May, and September. Report Server always lags behind the cloud Power BI Service by several months in feature availability.
What is the difference between Power BI Report Server and Power BI Service?
Report Server is on-premises. You install, manage, and update it yourself. Power BI Service is Microsoft's cloud-hosted SaaS platform — no infrastructure to manage. Power BI Service gets new features faster and supports more visualization types.
Can I use the same data sources in SSRS and Power BI?
Yes. Both platforms connect to SQL Server, Oracle, Analysis Services, Azure SQL, and many other sources. In Power BI Report Server, you configure shared data sources in the portal. In Power BI Service, you configure gateway connections for on-premises sources or direct cloud connections for Azure sources.
Get help migrating SSRS to Power BI
EPC Group has migrated hundreds of SSRS report estates to Power BI for Fortune 500 and regulated-industry clients. Call (888) 381-9725 or request a 30-minute discovery call.
Why Organizations Choose EPC Group
EPC Group is a Houston-based Microsoft consulting firm with 29 years of enterprise implementation experience and over 10,000 successful deployments across Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, SharePoint, Azure, Microsoft 365, and Copilot. We serve organizations across all industries including Fortune 500, federal agencies, healthcare, financial services, government, manufacturing, energy, education, retail, technology, and global enterprises.
What sets EPC Group apart is our governance-first approach. Every engagement begins with a security and compliance assessment. Our team of senior architects brings hands-on delivery experience across HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, and CMMC environments. We own outcomes, not hours.
- Fixed-fee accelerators with predictable pricing and defined deliverables
- Senior architect engagement on every project, not rotating juniors
- Compliance-native delivery for regulated industries
- End-to-end coverage from strategy through 24/7 managed services
- 11,000+ enterprise engagements refined into repeatable, risk-controlled patterns
Call (888) 381-9725 or email contact@epcgroup.net for a free assessment.
Power BI Strategy: 2026 Considerations for How To Publish Reports Using Ssrs In Power BI
Power BI Copilot grounds itself on the semantic model, NOT the underlying source data. That means Copilot answers are only as accurate as the DAX measure definitions, the field metadata (display folders, descriptions, hierarchies), and the synonyms taxonomy. In practice, the difference between a Copilot deployment that drives 32% time-savings and one users abandon within 90 days is whether the semantic model was Copilot-prepared.
Power BI capacity sizing in 2026 starts with the F-SKU economics: F2 ($263/mo) covers small workloads with up to 4 GB of memory and roughly 30 reports, F4 ($526/mo) handles a typical mid-market deployment with semantic-model refresh windows under 10 minutes, and F64 ($5,257/mo) is the sweet spot for enterprises consuming Power BI alongside Microsoft Fabric data engineering, lakehouse storage, and real-time intelligence. Capacity right-sizing should be revisited every 90 days because Microsoft adjusts F-SKU memory allocations, paginated report performance, and Direct Lake mode availability with each major service update.
Decision factors EPC Group evaluates
- Row-level security via service principal authentication
- Capacity sizing decision (F2/F4/F64+) tied to peak concurrent users and refresh window
- Copilot grounding quality assessment of semantic-model metadata
- Direct Lake mode adoption for Fabric-resident semantic models
- License optimization audit (Pro vs Premium Per User vs F-SKU)
EPC Group covers this topic across the relevant engagement portfolio. Reach the firm at contact@epcgroup.net for a 30-minute architect conversation.