TL;DR
Rayfin, Fabric Apps, Power BI and Power Apps are four Microsoft tools that do four different jobs, so the right choice depends on what needs to be built. Rayfin is an open-source SDK and command-line tool that developers use to define and deploy an app backend in TypeScript. A Fabric App is the managed web app that Rayfin deploys into Microsoft Fabric, and Fabric Apps is still in preview. Power BI is the tool for analytics, reports and dashboards. Power Apps is the low-code platform for forms, approvals and process apps. Most organizations will use more than one of them, with Power BI for reporting and Fabric Apps saved for custom apps on Fabric data.
Key Takeaways Rayfin is the build tool and a Fabric App is what it deploys, so the two names describe one workflow rather than two competing products. Power BI turns governed semantic models into reports, while a Fabric App can put a custom, code-built interface on the same model. Power Apps builds process apps with low-code designers on Dataverse and connectors, and code apps add a developer route. A Fabric App can write to a Fabric SQL database or warehouse, while Power Apps virtual tables sourced from Fabric are read-only. Fabric Apps signs users in through Fabric single sign-on only, which suits internal users more than customers or partners. Fabric Apps is in preview, so a pilot on a governed Fabric foundation is the safer first step. Watch on YouTube
Microsoft Fabric vs. Power BI: What to Use in 2026?
A Kanerika walkthrough of how Power BI and Microsoft Fabric relate, and when each one is the right place to start.
When Reporting Meets App Development Choosing between Rayfin, Fabric Apps, Power BI, and Power Apps starts with a simple question: are you trying to build an application, analyze data, or streamline a business process? Although these Microsoft ecosystem technologies can work together, they serve different purposes.
Rayfin provides a code-first framework for building applications on Microsoft Fabric, Fabric Apps provides the managed environment in which those applications run, Power BI focuses on analytics and reporting, and Power Apps supports low-code business application development.
The right choice depends on your use case, development requirements, and how closely the application needs to integrate with your data platform. This guide compares their capabilities, differences, and ideal use cases to help you choose the right approach.
Quick Comparison: Which Tool Should You Choose? Rayfin: For developers who want to define an app backend in TypeScript and deploy it to Fabric.Fabric Apps: For custom web apps that run inside Fabric and read or write Fabric data.Power BI: For analytics, interactive reports and KPI monitoring.Power Apps: For low-code business apps that handle forms, approvals and workflows.These are starting points, and many solutions combine two or more of them. The sections below cover what each tool does, where it fits and what to check before choosing it.
What Is Rayfin? Microsoft Rayfin is an open-source software development kit (SDK) and command-line interface (CLI) for building application backends on Microsoft Fabric. Microsoft publishes it under the MIT license.
Developers describe each entity as a TypeScript class with TypeScript decorators such as @entity and @role. The Rayfin CLI then compiles those classes into a database schema, GraphQL endpoints, row-level permission policies and a type-safe client.
A minimal product entity takes only a few lines of TypeScript.
import { entity, uuid, text, int } from '@microsoft/rayfin-core';
@entity()
export class Product {
@uuid() id!: string;
@text() name!: string;
@int() price!: number;
}From that one class, the CLI generates the products table, its GraphQL endpoints and a typed RayfinClient. The frontend can then call client.data.products.query(), and TypeScript flags any field that does not exist before the app runs.
Rayfin also ships typed connectors for a lakehouse, a warehouse, a SQL database in Fabric or a Power BI semantic model. A team building a project tracker, for example, can define projects, tasks and access rules once in code instead of hand-building tables, APIs and authorization separately.
Deployment runs through one command, rayfin up, which provisions the backend as a Fabric App. The frontend and business logic still belong to the developer, so Rayfin shortens backend work without producing a finished application.
Key Strengths and Limitations of Rayfin Strengths
Less backend code: One set of TypeScript models produces the schema, APIs, permissions and typed client.Security next to the data: Role policies define who can read or change each record, and type checks catch policy errors at compile time.Access to Fabric data: Connectors reach lakehouses, warehouses, SQL databases and semantic models that are already governed in Fabric.Built for AI-assisted coding: The repository ships plugins for coding agents such as GitHub Copilot, Claude Code and Cursor.Limitations
Requires development skills: Teams need TypeScript, Node.js and application development experience.Tied to Fabric for production: Deployment needs a workspace on Fabric capacity and a tenant setting that an administrator turns on.Early local tooling: The repository marks local development without cloud resources as experimental.Generated code still needs review: Access policies and AI-generated code should be tested like any other application code.Rayfin fits developers who want a code-first route to custom applications on Fabric. It is neither a reporting tool nor a low-code app builder.
What Are Microsoft Fabric Apps? Fabric Apps is a managed application item in Microsoft Fabric for building and hosting custom web apps on Fabric data, and it is built on the Rayfin SDK. When rayfin up deploys a project, Fabric creates the app with child items for a SQL database, authentication and static frontend hosting. Rayfin is the toolkit a developer runs, and the Fabric App is what business users open.
Fabric Apps fills the gap a report cannot. A sales planning team might watch revenue in Power BI but also need a screen to enter forecast adjustments, record assumptions and track who changed what. A Fabric App can provide that screen and keep the changes in Fabric, close to the data the reports already use.
Two starting points cover most projects. One is an app with its own managed SQL database for reading and writing records. The other uses the data app template , which connects to an existing Power BI semantic model and runs DAX queries on behalf of the signed-in user.
Fabric Apps is in preview as of October 2026. A tenant administrator must turn on the workload, the workspace needs Fabric capacity, and the app’s services consume Fabric capacity units like any other workload.
Checklist
Microsoft Fabric Checklist
Assess readiness, plan the implementation and tune workloads before a Fabric Apps pilot or any new workload goes live on Microsoft Fabric.
Get the Checklist → Key Strengths and Limitations of Fabric Apps Strengths
Custom user experiences: Developers control layout and interaction well beyond what a report canvas allows.Managed infrastructure: Fabric handles hosting, networking and scaling for the app.Direct access to Fabric data: Connectors can read and write a Fabric SQL database or warehouse, read a lakehouse SQL analytics endpoint and query a semantic model.Governed access by default: Users sign in with their Fabric identity, and connector requests run with that user’s own permissions.Limitations
Preview status: Commands, features and limits can change before general availability.Capacity, setup and regions: An administrator must turn on the workload, it runs on Fabric capacity and it is not available in every region yet.Internal sign-in only: Deployed apps use Microsoft Entra ID through Fabric single sign-on, and email and password sign-in is for local development only.Architecture limits: Microsoft lists apps that need complex multi-step transactions, stored procedures or custom authentication providers as poor fits.Fabric Apps is worth piloting when a team needs a custom, data-centric app inside its Fabric architecture . It also needs developers, or AI coding agents with human review, to build and maintain it.
Power BI: Best for Analytics and Reporting Power BI is Microsoft’s business analytics platform, and it now runs as one of the core workloads inside Microsoft Fabric . Teams use it to track key performance indicators (KPIs), investigate trends and share results across the organization.
Power BI reports are interactive, multi-page documents built on semantic models, with cross-filtering, drill-through and bookmarks. The semantic model holds the relationships and DAX measures that keep a metric such as gross margin calculated the same way in every report. In Fabric, those models can read lakehouse and warehouse data in OneLake through Direct Lake without importing it first.
Power BI also has a small write-back option. Translytical task flows are still in preview. They let report users add, edit or delete records in a Fabric database, or call an external API, through Fabric user data functions.
Strengths of Power BI Analytical depth: Data modeling, DAX calculations and interactive visuals support detailed analysis.Consistent metrics: Shared semantic models keep business definitions identical across reports.Native to Fabric: Reports use lakehouse and warehouse data in the same platform, including Direct Lake access to OneLake.Mature sharing and security: Workspaces, apps for distribution and row-level security control who sees what.Light write-back: Translytical task flows connect report actions to data updates.Limitations of Power BI Not an application platform: Reports suit analysis, with limited room for custom screens and multi-step workflows.Write-back stays small: Record management, transactions and custom logic need a separate app or service.Model quality decides results: Performance, consistency and access control depend on how the semantic model is built .Licensing shapes sharing: Viewer access depends on Power BI licenses and Fabric capacity size, so Pro versus Premium decisions affect rollout.Choose Power BI when analytics is the primary requirement, such as sales reporting, financial analysis, inventory trends or executive dashboards. A retail chain, for example, can combine sales and inventory data to spot underperforming stores and stock shortages, then decide where replenishment comes first.
Case Study
90% Data Accuracy with Microsoft Fabric and Power BI
Kanerika replaced siloed SQL Server and SharePoint data at Southern States Material Handling with a Fabric lakehouse, corrected skewed KPIs and built role-specific Power BI reporting.
Read the Case Study → Power Apps: Best for Business Applications and Workflows Power Apps is Microsoft’s low-code platform for building business apps on Microsoft Dataverse or on data reached through connectors. Typical uses include employee onboarding, inventory updates, expense approvals, maintenance requests and customer records.
Canvas apps give makers full control of screens and logic through Power Fx and work with Dataverse or many other connectors. Model-driven apps generate much of the interface from a Dataverse data model and cannot be built without Dataverse. Code apps let developers build in React, Vue and similar frameworks from a code editor and still publish inside Power Platform.
Power Apps pairs naturally with Power Automate for routing approvals and sending notifications. It can also use Fabric data through Dataverse virtual tables sourced from Fabric . Those tables are read-only, so an app built on them cannot write changes back into OneLake.
Watch on YouTube
Dynamics 365 & Power Platform: Why Adoption Stalls After Go-Live
Kanerika looks at why Power Platform rollouts lose momentum after launch, a useful check before scaling Power Apps across teams.
Strengths of Power Apps Fast visual development: Makers can build and change apps without writing most of the code.Process integration: Forms, approvals, record updates and notifications connect across Microsoft 365 and other services.Three build styles: Canvas, model-driven and code apps suit different teams and requirements.Structured business data: Dataverse provides tables, relationships and security roles, and solutions move apps between environments.Mature governance: Environments and data loss prevention policies let administrators control what makers can connect to.Limitations of Power Apps Licensing adds up: Running apps requires a license, and code apps need Power Apps Premium, pay-as-you-go or an app pass.Read-only Fabric access: Virtual tables sourced from Fabric OneLake cannot write data back.Platform constraints: Connector limits and designer conventions shape what an app can do.Code app gaps: Code apps do not yet support Power Platform Git integration or run in Power Apps for Windows.Choose Power Apps when employees need a practical way to complete a task, such as submitting a request, updating a record or approving a change. A manufacturer could build a maintenance request app where operators report faults, technicians update work orders and supervisors approve repairs. Power Automate can route each request, while Power BI tracks recurring faults and resolution times.
Teams comparing low-code options more broadly can weigh Power Apps against other low-code automation platforms before committing.
Rayfin vs. Fabric Apps vs. Power BI vs. Power Apps: Key Differences Rayfin vs Fabric Apps vs Power BI vs Power Apps can look like a contest between similar tools, because each one touches business data. Their jobs differ, though. Rayfin builds the backend, Fabric Apps runs custom apps inside Fabric, Power BI analyzes data and Power Apps runs business processes.
Factor Rayfin Fabric Apps Power BI Power Apps Primary purpose Define and deploy app backends in code Run custom data apps inside Fabric Analyze data and share reports Build business apps and workflows Development approach Code-first TypeScript and CLI Code-first, often with AI coding agents Semantic modeling, DAX and report design Low-code canvas and model-driven apps, plus code apps Main output Database schema, GraphQL APIs, permissions and typed client Hosted web app with database, sign-in and APIs Reports, dashboards and semantic models Operational business apps Typical builders Developers Developers and technical data teams Analysts and BI developers Makers, business users and developers Data access Its own Fabric SQL database plus connectors SQL database, warehouse, lakehouse endpoint and semantic models Semantic models over Fabric and other sources Dataverse and connectors Writes back to Fabric Yes, through its database and connectors Yes, to a SQL database or warehouse (lakehouse is read-only) Limited, through translytical task flows (preview) Not through Fabric virtual tables, which are read-only Sign-in Fabric SSO once deployed Microsoft Entra ID through Fabric SSO only Microsoft Entra ID Microsoft Entra ID, with guest access options Status in October 2026 Open source, deploys to Fabric Apps (preview) Preview Generally available Generally available Main consideration Development skills and setup Preview limits, regions and capacity Not a general-purpose app platform Licensing, connectors and platform limits
How to Read These Differences Rayfin and Fabric Apps sit on different layers of one workflow. Rayfin is the framework developers code against, and Fabric Apps is the managed service that hosts the result. A team building a custom app on Fabric uses both.
Power BI and Power Apps serve different moments in a decision. Power BI helps people understand performance, and Power Apps helps them act on it by submitting, updating and approving records. Translytical task flows narrow that gap slightly by letting a report trigger a small action.
The sharpest practical divide is where new data lands, and answering that question often settles the choice. A Fabric App can read and write Fabric data directly, while Power BI writes back only through task flows. Power Apps reads Fabric data as read-only virtual tables and writes to Dataverse or other connected systems instead.
Can Rayfin, Fabric Apps, Power BI and Power Apps Work Together? These tools often work best as parts of one solution. The right mix depends on where the data lives, who builds each piece and how insight turns into action.
Take a manufacturer that wants better production visibility and faster maintenance coordination. Production records, equipment data and operating history already sit in Fabric, and each tool picks up a different part of the work.
Rayfin and Fabric Apps
A custom app shows production records and equipment status in a layout built for line supervisors. Supervisors log shift notes and corrective actions, which are stored in a Fabric SQL database. Power BI
Reports analyze production efficiency and equipment downtime across lines. Trend views surface recurring maintenance issues. Power Apps
Operators submit and track maintenance requests. Technicians update work orders, and Power Automate routes approvals. Together they connect data, analysis and action. Power BI may be enough for a pure reporting initiative, and Power Apps may cover an approval workflow on its own. Rayfin with Fabric Apps earns its place when developers need a custom application on Fabric data.
Strong Fabric governance makes the combination easier to run, because every tool then reads from the same governed, well-permissioned data.
How Kanerika Approaches Microsoft Fabric Implementation Any of these tools performs only as well as the data underneath it. A Fabric implementation means mapping source systems, migrating pipelines, validating data, setting up governance and keeping business reports reliable through the change.
Kanerika works on that foundation layer across data engineering, platform modernization, Microsoft Fabric and Power BI. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Data and AI and a Microsoft Fabric Featured Partner , it helps organizations plan their data architecture around operating needs and future analytics.
Its work spans three connected areas.
Platform modernization: Assessing current data workloads and planning a move to Microsoft Fabric .Data integration and engineering: Connecting enterprise systems, automating ingestion and building reliable Fabric data pipelines .Analytics and reporting: Building Power BI models and reports on consolidated data.Kanerika also builds FLIP , an AI-powered, low-code DataOps platform that automates selected data platform and BI migration paths. Its Azure to Fabric Migration Accelerator is available as a native workload inside Microsoft Fabric.
Kanerika Service
Microsoft Fabric Consulting and Implementation
Kanerika plans and builds Fabric foundations, from lakehouses and pipelines to governed semantic models, so reports and apps run on the same trusted data.
Explore Fabric Services → Engagements start with an assessment of the existing environment. That means identifying which systems need to connect, where manual work piles up, which reports drive decisions and what the target platform must support.
Unifying Six Operational Systems for FoodPharma on Microsoft Fabric FoodPharma, based in Santa Fe Springs, California, is a contract developer and manufacturer of functional food delivery systems such as soft chews and bars. As an FDA-registered manufacturer with an Excellent SQF rating, it depends on accurate data across operations, quality and finance. Microsoft featured the engagement in its FoodPharma customer story .
Challenge Plant managers, finance teams and analysts worked across six disconnected systems. NetSuite handled finance and ERP, RedZone handled production, Parity Factory ran manufacturing execution, UpKeep tracked maintenance, Paychex ran payroll and Outlook carried communications.
A plant manager who spotted a yield dip in the morning needed that line’s maintenance history to explain it. Analysts pulled extracts from each platform by hand and reconciled mismatched fields and timestamps in spreadsheets. Cross-functional reporting took two business days, and by the time a report arrived, the moment to act had often passed.
Solution Kanerika built a foundation layer on Microsoft Fabric. A proof of value first pulled one month of sample data from all six systems, and a focused seven-week implementation followed.
The team consolidated more than 50 tables and roughly 1 TB of historical data into Fabric, with automated daily loads through Data Pipelines and Dataflow Gen2. Power BI became the shared reporting layer for the BI team and business users.
Thu Nguyen, VP of FP&A and BI at FoodPharma, described the experience this way.
“Kanerika helped us build and migrate to a Microsoft open Lakehouse. Their initiative and troubleshooting support made the entire experience smooth and productive.”
Results Cross-functional reporting dropped from two business days to about 90 minutes. The BI team got back roughly 15 hours a week of manual data work. Every record now sits in a governed environment, so a number in a report can be traced back to its source system. The change shows up in daily decisions. A question raised early in the day now gets answered by lunchtime. Leadership questions about cost per unit, margin or productivity can be closed in the same meeting. The same unified data is also the base for FoodPharma’s next steps with Fabric Data Science, Real-Time Intelligence and Copilot in Fabric .
Talk to Kanerika
Map Where Each Microsoft Tool Fits
Share your data estate and reporting goals, and Kanerika’s team will help decide where Fabric Apps, Power BI and Power Apps belong in it.
Book a Meeting → Conclusion Rayfin, Fabric Apps, Power BI and Power Apps cover different parts of the same data estate. Power BI remains the default for analysis and reporting, and Power Apps remains the quickest route to low-code process apps.
Rayfin and Fabric Apps fill a newer gap, custom applications that read and write governed Fabric data. They suit a focused pilot while the platform is in preview. The deciding questions are what the user will see first, who will build it and where new data needs to land.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Rayfin and Fabric Apps? Rayfin is the open-source SDK and command-line tool that developers use to define an app’s data model, permissions and APIs in TypeScript. Fabric Apps is the managed service in Microsoft Fabric that hosts the deployed app, with its SQL database, sign-in and frontend hosting. Running the rayfin up command turns a Rayfin project into a Fabric App.
How does Microsoft Fabric Apps work with Power BI? A Fabric App can connect to a Power BI semantic model and run DAX queries on behalf of the signed-in user, which is how the data app template works. That lets a team keep one governed model behind both its reports and a custom app. Users need Build and Read permissions on the model, and an admin must turn on the query API setting.
Does Fabric Apps replace Power BI? No. Fabric Apps covers custom applications where users enter, update or act on data, while Power BI stays the main tool for reports, dashboards and semantic models. Many teams will use both, with one semantic model feeding Power BI reports and a Fabric App that reads the same governed measures through the semantic model connector.
When should you choose Power BI over Power Apps? Choose Power BI when the main goal is analysis, such as monitoring KPIs, spotting trends or sharing dashboards. Choose Power Apps when people need to complete a task, such as submitting a form, updating a record or approving a request. Many solutions use both, with Power BI showing where a problem sits and Power Apps handling the follow-up work.
Is Rayfin open source? Yes. Microsoft publishes Rayfin under the MIT license on GitHub, so teams can read the source, raise issues and follow each release. The SDK and CLI are free to use, but deploying an app still needs a Fabric workspace on capacity, with the Fabric Apps workload turned on by a tenant administrator.
Can you use Rayfin without Microsoft Fabric Apps? Only partly. The Rayfin repository supports local development without cloud resources, but it marks that mode as experimental and it suits trying out the workflow. Production deployment runs through rayfin up into Fabric Apps, where the managed database, sign-in, hosting and governance all come from Fabric. Teams that need hosting outside Fabric should plan a different backend.
What are the main limitations of Microsoft Fabric Apps? Fabric Apps is in preview, so features and limits can still change. It needs Fabric capacity, an administrator to turn on the workload and a supported region. Deployed apps sign users in only through Fabric single sign-on, and Microsoft lists complex multi-step transactions, stored procedures and custom authentication providers as poor fits for the platform today.
Is Microsoft Fabric Apps ready for production applications? Fabric Apps is still in preview, so it suits pilots and internal tools more than systems the business cannot run without. Teams moving toward production should test authentication, permissions, capacity use and performance with realistic data, and recheck Microsoft’s documentation before each rollout stage. General availability is the natural point to widen use.
How much does Microsoft Fabric Apps cost? Fabric Apps runs on the Fabric capacity assigned to its workspace. The app, its SQL database, authentication and hosting consume capacity units like any other Fabric workload, so the cost shows up in capacity usage. Teams should size capacity for app traffic alongside existing reports, pipelines and notebooks before moving a pilot into production.
Can Power Apps connect to Microsoft Fabric data? Yes. Power Apps can create Dataverse virtual tables sourced from a Fabric lakehouse or warehouse and build apps on them without copying data. Those virtual tables are read-only, so an app built on them cannot write changes back into Fabric OneLake. Apps that must update Fabric data need another route, such as a Fabric App or translytical task flows.
How do you choose the right tool for building data apps in Microsoft Fabric? Start with what the user will see first and where new data needs to land. A dashboard points to Power BI, a form or approval points to Power Apps, and a custom app that reads and writes Fabric data points to Fabric Apps built with Rayfin. Then check team skills, licensing, sign-in needs and preview status before committing.
Are Fabric Apps the same as Power BI apps? No. A Power BI app is a way to package and distribute dashboards and reports to users in the Power BI service. A Fabric App is a custom web application with its own backend, built with Rayfin and hosted in Microsoft Fabric. The shared word causes confusion, but the two items solve different problems and are built in different ways.
Can external users access a Fabric App? Fabric Apps sign users in through Microsoft Entra ID with Fabric single sign-on, so access follows the organization’s Fabric tenant and item permissions. That suits employees and other users already in the tenant. Public, customer-facing experiences need another approach, such as Power BI Embedded for analytics or a separately hosted application with its own authentication.
