Can Power BI connect to DynamoDB?

Not directly. Power BI has no native DynamoDB connector, because AWS ships no ODBC or JDBC driver for DynamoDB itself. You connect indirectly: query the table through Amazon Athena — via a federated query or a data export to S3 — using the Athena ODBC connector, or use a third-party ODBC driver such as CData's.

Why there is no direct connector

DynamoDB is a NoSQL API-driven service, not a SQL endpoint, and AWS does not provide an ODBC/JDBC driver for it. Power BI's data sources expect SQL-style connectivity, so a bridge is needed.

Option 1: through Amazon Athena

Athena can query DynamoDB using its federated-query connector, or query data you export from DynamoDB to Amazon S3. Power BI then connects to Athena with the Athena ODBC connector in Import or DirectQuery mode.

Option 2: a third-party ODBC driver

Vendors such as CData sell ODBC drivers and Power BI connectors that talk to DynamoDB directly and expose it as a SQL-like source.

Option 3: export the data

Export DynamoDB to S3 (or CSV) and load the file into Power BI — simplest for point-in-time reporting.

Go deeper

See export DynamoDB to CSV. Download DynoTable to browse and export your table data.