Power BI backup comparison: what works, what does not
Teams often rely on a mix of recycle bin behavior, exports, deployment pipelines, and governance processes. These help, but they are not the same as an independent backup with restore points and recovery workflows.
What you should be comparing
A backup approach should answer four questions: (1) Is it independent from the service? (2) Does it create restore points over time? (3) Can you restore quickly and correctly? (4) Does it support audit and retention requirements?
Feature comparison
The table below summarizes typical capabilities. Exact behavior can differ by tenant settings and service changes, so treat it as a practical evaluation guide.
How to choose
If your analytics assets are business-critical, treat recovery as an operational requirement. Independent backups complement governance, source control, and deployment processes by providing restore points and an auditable history.
Comparison table
| Option | Independent copies | Version history | Restore workflow | Audit & retention | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manual exports (PBIX/other) | Partial | Manual | Manual | Limited | Small teams, ad-hoc needs |
| Recycle bin / soft delete | No | No | Limited | Limited | Short-term accidental deletes |
| Deployment pipelines | No | No (deployment tool) | Rollback via redeploy | Limited | Controlled promotion between environments |
| Source control (where applicable) | Yes | Yes | Developer-driven | Good | Code-centric artifacts and change tracking |
| Active Backup for Power BI | Yes | Yes | Designed for recovery | Strong | Enterprise continuity, compliance, and operational recovery |
Next step: see how it works or review frequently asked questions.