Most of the reports on my website use “Publish to Web,” which is a simple but unsecured method of sharing Power BI reports. Because of this, it’s only suitable for open data or demonstration reports with dummy data. In contrast, this example uses Power BI Embedded, which is a secure way to embed data analytics into websites or applications.
Power BI Embedded allows businesses to integrate interactive reports and dashboards directly into their platforms, with full control over the design and user experience. This makes it feel like the reports are a natural part of your website or app.
This page shows a securely embedded Power BI report with Row-Level Security (RLS), meaning each user only sees the data they’re allowed to access. For example, a salesperson might see data for their country only, while a manager can view data from all countries. The setup uses the “embed for your customers” model (also called “app owns data”). In this model, your website manages authentication behind the scenes. Users don’t need a Power BI account and may not even realize Power BI is being used—it just looks like part of your site. A key benefit is that users don’t need Power BI Pro licenses. Since your website handles login and access, this can lower licensing costs and make the experience simpler for users.
To try it out, just “log in” by picking a dummy username. For this demo, no password is required. I’ve simplified the login process by skipping real security steps (like passwords and multi-factor authentication) to make the demonstration easier to follow.
This embedded Power BI report can be viewed in full-screen mode—just click the button. You can also print the report using the print button. The embedding web page allows control of report bookmarks as well. For example, you can uncheck the box to hide the red “Row-Level Security” note.
It’s possible to embed not just the entire report but individual visualizations. For example, this bar chart is also embedded, and Row-Level Security applies here as well—different users see different data.
It’s possible to export the data—just click the button.
Power BI Embedded is supported by Fabric Trial (free), Fabric F2 (the least expensive paid capacity), and higher capacity tiers (F, A, EM, P). The required capacity tier depends on the complexity of the semantic models, user activity, and other factors.
Power BI Embedded requires a broad set of skills for implementation, including standard Power BI report development, security configuration in Power BI and Azure, as well as web development (secure authentication, Power BI JavaScript API). This means higher development costs but with the benefits of lower licensing costs (per user) and a better user experience integrated into your website or application.
This example is based on a WordPress plugin (PHP, JavaScript) that I developed specifically for my WordPress-powered website. It uses Fabric Trial capacity and may stop working once the trial period ends.
While the demo report above is static (dummy data), the currency exchange report is refreshed daily (it queries data from the Fixer.io API). This is not the most efficient way to show currency exchange rates on a website, just a demonstration of how your data can become a part of your website or application. This embedded Power BI report highlights your country’s currency in yellow and shows it at the top of the list (assuming you’re not using a VPN and your country and currency was detected correctly by AI generated script). It would make more sense to filter the table by base currency, but there is only base currency = “EUR” data in the semantic model, so it’s an example of highlighting instead of filtering.
Change the default highlighting by clicking the “Voice Filter” button and saying a country name.
This button merges Open AI API with Power BI embedded API.
P.S. The widget with currency exchange rates in the sidebar is an embedded Power BI Table visual.