Resource / capacity

Capacity level limit exceeded

Power BI dataset refresh error: what it means and how to fix it.

What this means

The capacity-wide concurrent-refresh ceiling was hit.

How to fix it

  1. Retry after a short delay.
  2. Reschedule refreshes to spread the load.
  3. Check the SKU max-concurrent-refreshes limit.
View on Microsoft Learn

Frequently asked questions

What does the "Capacity level limit exceeded" error mean?
The capacity-wide concurrent-refresh ceiling was hit.
How do I fix it?
Retry after a short delay. Reschedule refreshes to spread the load. Check the SKU max-concurrent-refreshes limit.
Where does this Power BI refresh error appear?
It appears in a Power BI semantic model's refresh history when a scheduled or on-demand refresh fails.

Related resource / capacity errors

Catch this automatically

RefreshRadar monitors every Power BI dataset refresh and emails you when one fails, with the likely cause and the fix, so you are not hearing about a broken refresh from your stakeholders first.