Use of Icon Map requires a license. In January 2026 we revamped our licensing model based on feedback, consolidating and simplifying our usage-based licensing and introducing a developer license enabling free use of Icon Map in Power BI Desktop for up to 6 months.

License Options

This blog aims to take an in-depth look at the options available:

Developer License

The developer license is valid for up to 6 months, and can be used in Power BI Desktop and in edit-mode within the Power BI Service. We believe this should give you sufficient time to evaluate Icon Map and build out a sophisticated proof of value using all of Icon Map's capabilities. You can contact us for support during this process and we'll do our best to get you going. If you need to test out your report in the Power BI Service, you can request a 2 week trial which additionally enables use of Icon Map in read-only mode in the Power BI Service.

You can sign up for a free developer license either within the visual itself, or from within our new customer portal on our website. You'll then receive a license key that you paste into a setting in the visual's format pane. If this becomes a burden, we have a tool within the customer portal that enables you to add the key to a Power BI theme file, so it's automatically applied.

Per-User License

The Per-User licenses enable unlimited use of Icon Map within Power BI Desktop and the Power BI Service. Each user editing or viewing a report requires a license purchasing allocating to them. Licenses are purchased from Microsoft via the Microsoft AppSource Commercial Marketplace. Per-user licenses can be purchased via credit card, and customers may be able to request to be pay via invoice from Microsoft.

License Management

Licenses are managed entirely within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Licenses are allocated using the Microsoft 365 Admin Portal (non-administrators are automatically given restricted access to manage their Power BI visuals after purchase). Licenses can be assigned using Microsoft Entra groups, reducing the admin burden.

Unsupported Environments

Microsoft do not support per-user licenses in the following environments: Power BI Embedded, Publish to Web (unauthenticated public facing reports), Power BI Report Server or Government or Regional Clouds (eg GCC). For these environments you will need to use one of our other license options.

Bundle Pricing

User licenses require Icon Map PRO and Icon Map SLICER to be licensed separately. We offer a discounted bundle for annual purchases for 25 or more users. Please get in touch to have this enabled in your tenant.

For more information please see our getting started guide

Usage-Based License

Usage-Based licenses allow the use of Icon Map across an unlimited number of reports, and by an unlimited number of users. Usage-based licenses provide a set number of credits to be consumed each month. Each load of new data on the map (initial report load and cross-filtering/highlighting from other visuals) uses a credit. We consolidate multiple operations within a short amount of time, to mitigate against the scenario of a map consuming multiple credits in a single operation. Unused credits do not roll-over to the following month. Usage-based licenses are available in a number of tiers, with higher tiers offering a discounted price per credit.

Credits can be consumed in a number of ways as Icon Map's services are expanded:

• Map data load in Power BI Desktop / Service / Power BI Embedded / Power BI Report server: 1 credit
• Map load in Publish to Web : 1/2 credit
• Use of CORS proxy for OAuth2 and WMS per load : 1/2 credit (coming to Icon Map Pro in February 2026)
• Icon Map Catalog : Coming to Icon Map in March, using layers from the Icon Map Catalog may consume additional credits, further details will follow.

Usage-Based Licensing is ideal for scenarios where you have large numbers of users, who infrequently view reports, or where you need a model where the price reflects the value that users gain from a report - start small and grow as demand increases.

Licenses are purchased from within the customer portal in the Icon Map website using our payment provider Paddle, who act as the merchant of record. We support payment by credit-card, or by invoice (on-request).

Annual Buffer

If you purchase a usage-based license on an annual basis, we provide a month's worth of extra credits per year that you can use to burst over your monthly allowance. If you exceed your monthly allowance, these credits are consumed before exceeding your plan.

Supported Environments

Usage-Based licenses use a license key entered into each instance of Icon Map, validated on report initialization. This means we are able to support Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, Publish to Web, Power BI Report Service, Government and Regional Clouds and Power BI Embedded.

We are not able to support usage-based licensing in on-premise air-gapped Power BI Report Server environments. Please get in touch with us if your environment in air-gapped.

Real-Time Reports

Where reports use Power BI's auto page refresh option to periodically refresh the visuals on a report, this can consume large numbers of transactions. We can provide a real-time add-on for specific Power BI reports to support this scenario - please get in touch.

Report Developers

We recommend that report developers purchase user-licenses so that report development activities do not burn credits once your 6 month developer license has expired.

Fabric Capacity / Enterprise Licensing / Public Sector / Not For Profit

Capacity-based licenses provide unlimited usage of Icon Map for all users and all reports deployed to a specific Microsoft Fabric capacity. Pricing is a fixed cost based on the size of the Fabric capacity - please get in touch for further details.

Supported Environments

Capacity licenses can be used for the Power BI Service, Power BI Embedded, Publish to Web, Government and Regional Clouds. Capacity based licenses are also suitable for reports using Power BI's auto-page refresh functionality.

Other Scenarios

If you would like to license a whole organization, are a public sector organization, a not for profit organization, or have a specific scenario that doesn't fit into our other license models, please do get in touch with our sales team who will be pleased to explore options with you.

Summary

Developers can build reports with Icon Map included for free for up to 6 months. Per-User licenses are suited for internal reports viewed via the Power BI Service, and for report developers building and maintaining reports. Usage-based licenses are priced on how much a map is used - ideal for proving the value of a report. Capacity and enterprise licenses provide a fixed-cost model for unlimited usage within an environment.

For further details, please visit the pricing page on the Icon Map website. Any questions - please get in touch with us and we'd be please to help explore your scenario.