Microsoft has announced an update that redefines access to artificial intelligence: Copilot and other AI resources are now available for all Microsoft Fabric capabilities, from the most basic level (Pro, Trial, PPU, P1, F2) for organizations with an F64 or P1 capability where Copilot Capacity has been enabled.
Microsoft has introduced the concept of “Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC)” to expand access to GenAI within Fabric, as well as to make it easier to manage and leverage AI resources within the organization.
This means that you can use Copilot throughout your company for just over 50€, as long as your company has an F64 license.
A major step towards the democratization of enterprise artificial intelligence, in line with Microsoft's commitment to make AI capabilities available to all Fabric users.
In this article we explore in detail what subscription/licensing modalities or levels enable the use of Copilot, how AI capabilities are enabled, what requirements to consider, what are the possible limitations, how it affects pricing, and what impact it has on related services such as Power BI Embedded.
Microsoft's progressive release of AI capabilities through Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC), announced to be deployed over “the next few weeks” is in direct response to requests from the user community.
Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) is a configurable option in Microsoft Fabric capabilities —F64 or P1 needed— to allow users to access Copilot from workspaces associated with lower capacities and licenses.
Instead of each workspace using the resources of its primary capability to run Copilot, companies can now redirect all AI-related loads to a particular Copilot capability, thus optimizing resource consumption and centralizing the execution of these intelligent processes.
This has several advantages:
In large organizations with multiple departments or users, there may be a wide variety of workspaces without dedicated capacity. If all these users start using Copilot, consumption can become unpredictable.
Designating a Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) allows you to:
To begin, a Microsoft Fabric administrator must enable Copilot at organization level. Doing so will allow users across the company to access AI features within the platform.
Next, the Fabric admin needs to authorize capacity admins to assign a specific capacity as a Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC). This step is essential to centralize Copilot usage in one managed environment.
Once the FCC is designated, the capacity admin can then assign specific users or groups to use that capacity for Copilot operations — no matter which workspace they're working in.
Example: Let’s say your team is working in a workspace that runs on an F2 capacity, but you don’t want their Copilot activity to consume F2 resources. In this case, you can:
Operational Advantages:
Until recently, Copilot was only available in select capacities and required high-tier licenses such as Power BI Premium P1 or Fabric F64 (64 capacity units), excluding smaller SKUs and capacities used exclusively for embedding.
However, with the latest update, Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) is now supported starting from F2, the most basic tier among Microsoft Fabric’s paid capacities.
This means that organizations with multiple capacities — and at least one with Copilot enabled in Power BI — can now use Copilot in any Power BI report, provided it’s linked to a capacity with Copilot support:
Now, all Power BI users can access Copilot through the most basic Fabric capacity (F2), as long as an admin enables a Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) and gives them access.
As Microsoft stated in their official announcement:
“Customers with F2 and above can now use Copilot and AI capabilities to automate workflows, generate insights, and make impactful decisions.”
This marks a major shift in how organizations access generative AI within the platform. It enables broader adoption of GenAI tools across teams, empowering more users to create, explore, and analyze data using natural language—through Copilot and its integrations with tools like Power BI, Data Factory, and Data Science.
The expanded availability of Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) does not change Microsoft Fabric’s pricing model, but it significantly lowers the barrier to entry for enterprise-grade artificial intelligence.
The following table outlines Fabric's main capabilities, their size, estimated monthly cost, estimated monthly cost adapted to working hours and the availability of Copilot and AI capabilities:
| Fabric SKU | CUs | Estimated Monthly Price (EUR) | Workday-Adjusted Monthly Price (8h/day, 5d/week) | Copilot & AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F2 | 2 | ~€244.40 | ~€58.20 | ✅ Yes |
| F4 | 4 | ~€488.80 | ~€116.30 | ✅ Yes |
| F8 | 8 | ~€977.60 | ~€232.70 | ✅ Yes |
| F16 | 16 | ~€1,955.30 | ~€465.30 | ✅ Yes |
| F32 | 32 | ~€3,910.60 | ~€930.70 | ✅ Yes |
| F64 | 64 | ~€7,821.90 | ~€1,861.30 | ✅ Yes (previous requirement) |
| F128 | 128 | ~€15,643.80 | ~€3,722.60 | ✅ Yes |
| F2048 | 2048 | ~€250,170.00 | ~€59,560.00 | ✅ Yes |
*Notes: The column “Estimated monthly price (EUR)” reflects the estimated monthly cost under the pay-as-you-go model in euros, considering the continuous use of the service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, throughout the month. This is the full cost for permanent availability of capacity (CUs). In contrast, the column “Adjusted monthly price (8h/day, 5d/week)” shows the estimated monthly cost if the Microsoft Fabric capacity is used only during typical working days (8h/day, 5 days/week), which is equivalent to about 173 hours of use per month (8h × 5 days × 4.33 weeks). Given that a full month has 720 hours (24h × 30 days), this usage pattern represents approximately 23.8% of the total monthly time.
| Fabric SKU | CUs | Estimated Monthly Price (USD) | Workday-Adjusted Monthly Price (8h/day, 5d/week) | Copilot & AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F2 | 2 | ~$262.80 | ~$62.50 | ✅ Yes |
| F4 | 4 | ~$525.60 | ~$125.00 | ✅ Yes |
| F8 | 8 | ~$1,051.20 | ~$250.00 | ✅ Yes |
| F16 | 16 | ~$2,102.40 | ~$500.00 | ✅ Yes |
| F32 | 32 | ~$4,204.80 | ~$1,000.00 | ✅ Yes |
| F64 | 64 | ~$8,409.60 | ~$2,000.00 | ✅ Yes (previous requirement) |
| F128 | 128 | ~$16,819.20 | ~$4,000.00 | ✅ Yes |
| F2048 | 2048 | ~$269,000.00 | ~$64,000.00 | ✅ Yes |
*Notes: The “Estimated monthly price (USD)” column reflects the estimated monthly cost under the pay-as-you-go model in dollars, considering the continuous use of the service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, throughout the month. This is the full cost for permanent availability of capacity (CUs). In contrast, the column “Adjusted monthly price (8h/day, 5d/week)” shows the estimated monthly cost if Microsoft Fabric capacity is used only during typical working days (8h/day, 5 days/week), which is equivalent to about 173 hours of usage per month (8h × 5 days × 4.33 weeks). Given that a full month has 720 hours (24h × 30 days), this usage pattern represents approximately 23.8% of the total monthly time.
Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) does not only save on licensing costs but also improves operational efficiency. It helps:
This translates into a stronger ROI through faster, more data-driven decision-making.
Microsoft Fabric uses a capacity-based licensing model. You pay for the capacity tier (e.g., F2, F4, F64), regardless of the number of users or features accessed. Every paid SKU — including Pro, Trial, PPU, and F2 — includes Copilot at no additional cost.
Example:
- F2: 2 CUs → ~$262/month
- F64: 64 CUs → ~$8,400/month
- F2048: 2048 CUs → ~$269,000/month
The pay-as-you-go model lets you scale capacity temporarily to meet demand. For example, you can increase capacity during hackathons, data-intensive campaigns, peak project phases and scale back afterward to control costs.
💡 Tip: Use the official Microsoft Fabric SKU Calculator to get accurate cost estimates tailored to your specific use case.
Activating a Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) in Microsoft Fabric is a relatively straightforward process, but it does require meeting a few technical, licensing, and configuration prerequisites.
Below is a step-by-step explanation of what you need to get started with Copilot and generative AI capabilities in your environment.
To enable Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC), your capacity must be hosted in a region where Copilot is available.
“Allow data sent to Azure OpenAI to be processed outside of the capacity's geographic region.”
This requirement exists because Copilot relies on Azure OpenAI, which may process data outside the tenant’s region.
⚠️ Important: FCC is not available in sovereign clouds such as Azure Government or Azure China 21Vianet, due to limited GPU availability and compliance restrictions.
Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) is only available in environments with a paid Microsoft Fabric capacity.
FCC access can be managed from the Microsoft Fabric Admin Portal, under the tenant settings.
Admins have the ability to:
This allows for granular control over how AI resources are distributed across the organization.
Have an active paid capacity (F2 or higher)
Make sure your region supports Copilot
Review and adjust privacy settings in the admin portal
Assign the right user permissions
Allow up to 24 hours for changes in capacity to take effect
The AI features enabled through Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) span multiple workloads and are designed to accelerate the productivity of analysts, data scientists, data engineers, and business users — without requiring advanced programming skills.
Below, we explore the main AI capabilities included with Copilot in Microsoft Fabric.
Power BI Copilot is one of the most visible and impactful use cases of Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC). It enables a wide range of AI-driven capabilities, including:
These features democratize data analysis, empowering non-technical users to build clear, functional dashboards in just minutes.
Copilot also simplifies the design and execution of data transformation workflows in Data Factory:
Example: “Extract the day from a timestamp column and filter records from the last month.”
For SQL environments and tabular analysis, Copilot offers a natural and intuitive experience:
Example: “Show total sales by region for the last quarter.”
Copilot integrates with Kusto Query Language (KQL) to query streaming and telemetry data:
Ideal for operations, monitoring, and rapid response to live events.
An advanced capability that complements FCC:
Example: “What were the three largest expenses this year and how do they compare to last year?”
These agents leverage Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Foundry, enabling natural and powerful interaction with enterprise data.
Beyond specific workloads, Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) empowers teams to:
The philosophy behind FCC is simple: you no longer need to code to analyze and understand your data—you just need to ask.
The expansion of Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) marks a major advancement for the Microsoft Fabric ecosystem. However, before moving toward widespread adoption, it’s essential to understand its technical, regulatory, and operational limitations.
Recommendation: Before enabling FCC, review your organization's privacy, data protection and compliance policy.
All Copilot features in Microsoft Fabric are currently in public preview. This means:
Important: While Copilot provides powerful assistance, it's essential to manually review and validate any generated code, summaries, or results before using them in production environments.
Recommendation: In multilingual environments, it is advisable to prioritize English usage to ensure greater accuracy and consistency in results.
Recommendation: Use Copilot Capacity to route AI workloads to a dedicated instance, minimizing interference with essential data processes.
Tip: Make sure your capacity is properly sized to handle the anticipated demand for AI across your organization.
Important: If your organization uses Power BI Embedded to serve external clients, you will need to purchase an additional F capacity if your internal teams wish to leverage Copilot functionalities.
abric administrators have several governance tools to manage Copilot usage:
Microsoft enforces its Responsible AI policy, which ensures:
Recommendation: Establish an internal policy outlining who can use FCC, how it should be used, and under what conditions — especially if your organization operates in a regulated industry.
The introduction of Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) marks a turning point in the accessibility of artificial intelligence within the Microsoft Fabric ecosystem. Thanks to this innovation, advanced capabilities like Copilot—previously reserved for high-tier capacities—are now democratized, enabling even organizations with modest setups such as F2 to leverage the power of generative AI.
Beyond its technical significance, FCC presents a strategic opportunity: to centralize Copilot usage, optimize resource consumption, and unlock new natural language–driven analytics scenarios—without requiring advanced programming skills. All of this comes at no additional cost, with a flexible configuration that adapts to the needs of each organization.
In today’s business landscape, where agility, automation, and intelligent analytics are key competitive advantages, enabling a Fabric Copilot Capacity (FCC) becomes a critical decision to boost productivity, reduce operational burden, and foster a more inclusive, data-driven culture.