Microsoft Fabric’s Direct Lake: The End of Import Mode for Power BI?

• December 26, 2025
• Sameer Mohammed
• no comments

For years, Power BI users have relied on Import Mode and DirectQuery to connect data to dashboards. Import Mode offered speed but required constant refreshes. DirectQuery provided real‑time access but often struggled with performance.

Now, with Microsoft Fabric’s Direct Lake, a new era of analytics is here. Direct Lake promises the speed of Import Mode, the freshness of DirectQuery, and the scalability of Fabric’s OneLake. The question is clear: Is Import Mode reaching the end of its journey?

The Problem: Why Import Mode and DirectQuery Weren’t Enough

Import Mode:

• Fast performance with in‑memory storage.
• But required scheduled refreshes, consuming memory and creating delays.

DirectQuery:

• Real‑time access to source systems.
• But performance bottlenecks, limited transformations, and dependency on source speed.

Both modes had trade‑offs, leaving BI teams to choose between speed or freshness.

The Solution: What is Direct Lake?

Direct Lake is a new storage mode in Microsoft Fabric that allows Power BI to query data directly from OneLake using Delta tables.

• Always fresh: No scheduled refreshes needed.
• High performance: Queries run at in‑memory speed.
• Fabric‑native: Seamlessly integrated with pipelines, Data Activator, and governance.

Direct Lake combines the best of Import Mode and DirectQuery — without their limitations.

Comparison Table

Under the Hood: Delta Tables & Fallback

• Delta Tables: Direct Lake leverages Delta tables in OneLake, enabling columnar storage, ACID transactions, and high‑speed queries.
• Fallback Mode: If Direct Lake cannot serve a query (e.g., unsupported features), it automatically falls back to DirectQuery mode — ensuring reliability.
• Fabric Integration: Works seamlessly with Fabric’s Eventstreams, pipelines, and governance features.

This technical foundation makes Direct Lake both fast and resilient.

Industry Use Cases

• Finance: Real‑time risk dashboards without refresh delays.
• Retail: Live inventory monitoring across thousands of SKUs.
• Manufacturing: IoT sensor data streamed directly into dashboards.
• Healthcare: Patient monitoring dashboards with zero lag.
• Energy: Grid optimization with continuous streaming analytics.

Benefits

• Performance: Faster than DirectQuery, fresher than Import Mode.
• Scalability: Handles billions of rows without memory strain.
• Simplicity: No refresh scheduling or complex caching.
• Future‑proof: Aligns with Microsoft Fabric’s unified data strategy.

Direct Lake ensures your data is always fresh. To learn how to trigger automatic alerts based on this real-time data, check out our guide on [Automating Business Actions with Power BI and Data Activator].

Conclusion

Direct Lake isn’t just another storage mode — it’s the future of Power BI. While Import Mode won’t disappear overnight, the shift toward real‑time, scalable analytics is clear.

Ready to modernize your BI architecture? Partner with AQL Technologies to implement Microsoft Fabric and unlock the power of Direct Lake.

[Contact Us to Get Started]