Power BI – Differences between Power BI personal Gateway and Data Management Gateway

In Power BI, a gateway is a software component that enables secure and seamless data connectivity between Power BI and on-premises data sources. A gateway acts as a bridge between the cloud-based Power BI service and on-premises data sources, allowing you to use Power BI to access and visualize data that is stored on-premises. We may need to use a gateway in Power BI if we want to access on-premises data sources from Power BI or if we want to use Power BI to create live connections to on-premises data sources. Some common scenarios where a gateway may be required include:

• When we want to use Power BI to access and visualize data that is stored in an on-premises database or data warehouse.
• When we want to use Power BI to create real-time dashboards and reports that are powered by on-premises data.
• When we want to use Power BI to schedule automatic data to refresh for on-premises data sources.

A gateway is required in Power BI when you want to access or visualize on-premises data sources from the Power BI service. It allows you to securely and seamlessly connect to on-premises data sources and use Power BI to access and visualize the data.

Types of Gateway in Power BI

Personal Gateway

Power BI personal gateway is a tool that enables users to refresh their on-premises data in Power BI. It connects to a variety of data sources and allows users to schedule automatic data to refresh in the Power BI service. This is useful when you want to keep your Power BI reports and dashboards up-to-date with the latest data from your on-premises data sources.

Data Management Gateway

Data Management Gateway (previously known as On-Premises Data Gateway) is a tool that allows users to connect to on-premises data sources and perform data integration, ETL (extract, transform, and load), and data mashup. It can be used with Power BI, Power Automate (previously known as Microsoft Flow), Azure Logic Apps, and other services that require access to on-premises data.

Differences between Power BI Personal Gateway and Data Management Gateway

Below is the table consisting of the key differences between the Power BI personal gateway and data management gateway:

Aspects	Personal Gateway	Data Management Gateway
Usage	Intended for personal use and also used to refresh on-premises data in Power BI	Designed for enterprise-level integration scenarios and can be used for data integration, ETL, and data mashup in addition to data refresh
Connection Type	Support connection to on-premises data sources	Support connection to both on-premises data sources and cloud-based data sources.
Data Sources	Can connect to a variety of data sources, including SQL Server, Oracle, Excel, and more	Can connect to a wider range of data sources, including on-premises databases, file systems, and cloud-based data sources.
Data Refresh	Allow users to refresh their on-premises data in Power BI	Data Management Gateway allows users to refresh their on-premises data and also allows users to schedule data to refresh and configure data refresh settings, such as the frequency and duration of the refresh in Power BI
Integration capabilities	No support for advanced integration capabilities.	Offers more advanced integration capabilities, including support for data integration, ETL, and data mashup
Deployment Options	Can be installed on a local machine or on a server in your organization.	Can be installed on a local machine or on a server in your organization and can also be installed in the cloud, using Azure Integration Runtime.
Accessibility	Power BI personal gateway can only be used by the user who installed it.	Data Management Gateway can be accessed by multiple users within an organization.
Performance	Power BI personal gateway slows down especially when dealing with large volumes of data	Data Management Gateway is generally faster and more efficient
Cost	Power BI personal gateway is free to use	Data Management Gateway is a paid service, with pricing based on the number of connections and data transfer.
Management and maintenance	Power BI personal gateway does not have capabilities for monitoring, diagnostics, and maintenance.	Data Management Gateway has more advanced management and maintenance capabilities, including support for monitoring, diagnostics, and maintenance.
Scalability	Less scalable compared to Data Management Gateway	Data Management Gateway is more scalable.

Steps to Install Personal Mode

The points given below are the steps required to install personal mode:

• Go to the Microsoft Download Center and click the “Download” button for the Power BI On-Premises Data Gateway (Personal Mode).

• Run the downloaded installer file. Follow the prompts to complete the installation. This may include accepting the terms of the license agreement and specifying the installation location.
  

• When the installation is complete, the Power BI On-Premises Data Gateway (Personal Mode) will be installed on your computer. To start the gateway, go to the Start menu and look for the “On-Premises Data Gateway (Personal Mode)” entry. Click on this entry to start the gateway. When the gateway starts, it will open a web browser window and display a sign-in page. Sign in with your Microsoft account to complete the setup process.

• Once the setup process is complete, the Power BI On-Premises Data Gateway (Personal Mode) will be fully functional and you can use it to connect to on-premises data sources from Power BI.

Conclusion

Both Power BI personal gateway and Data Management Gateway can be installed on a local machine or on a server in your organization. They provide secure connectivity between the cloud and on-premises data sources, using either DirectQuery or scheduled refresh. However, Power BI personal gateway is intended for personal use, while Data Management Gateway is designed for enterprise-level integration scenarios.