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Everything you need to know about Microsoft Power Platform licenses

Everything you need to know about Microsoft Power Platform licenses

Lately we've been getting a lot of questions from clients about exactly how the Power Apps and Power Automate licenses of the Microsoft Power Platform work. That's why we've clearly laid everything out for you in this blog.

It's often assumed that Power Apps and Power Automate are part of the Office 365 package and are therefore free to use. This is true for some scenarios, but you'll then miss out on various premium features of the platform. How exactly does that work? We explain it below.

What is the Power Platform?

The Power Platform is Microsoft's low-code/no-code platform. With it, you can quickly build powerful business applications, analyze data, automate processes, and create intelligent chatbots. All of this through a single platform. The platform consists of the following products:

  • Power BI: an interactive data visualization tool that enables organizations to make data-driven decisions. You can create user-friendly dashboards personalized with your KPIs and brand identity.
  • Power Apps: a low-code/no-code application development platform that turns ideas into organizational solutions by enabling anyone to build custom apps to solve business challenges.
  • Power Apps Portal: the low-code tool for creating extranet websites for external users.
  • Power Automate: is the workflow tool that lets you easily automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks in the process without any programming knowledge.
  • Power Virtual Agent: the no-code tool that creates chatbots to engage in conversation with customers and employees.
  • AI Builder: is the AI toolkit that extends the Power Platform and integrates with Power Apps, Power BI, and Power Automate. It also offers no-code artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.
  • Dataverse: (also known as Common Data Services "CDS") is Microsoft's cloud database technology. With Dataverse, people can store their data dynamically in a scalable and secure environment.

Want to know more about the Power Platform? Then I'd like to point you to our blog 'What is the Microsoft Power Platform?'

What is included with Office 365?

Offering an extensive platform that's easy to use and allows for the addition of customization has always been Microsoft's strategy for Office 365. That's why Microsoft has added some Power Platform capabilities to Office 365. If your organization has Office 365 (the Business or Enterprise plan), you get the following capabilities as part of your license:

  • Power BI Pro if you have a Microsoft Office 365 E5 license.
  • Power Apps has the ability to create canvas apps, but only with the standard free connectors. Some examples of these are Azure AD, Dropbox, Excel, Gmail, Google Drive, and Microsoft Teams.
  • The ability to customize SharePoint/Microsoft lists with Power Apps.
  • Power Automate has the ability to run workflows within the daily API limits that only use the standard free connectors. Some examples of these are YouTube, Twitter, Trello, Slack, and Pinterest. See a complete list of all free connectors here.
  • Power Virtual Agents for Teams, a scaled-down version of Power Virtual Agents, can be run in the Microsoft Teams client.
  • Dataverse for Teams, also known as a scaled-down version of CDS, is used to build applications that run within Microsoft Teams subject to the size and capacity limits.

When you need to use an app or workflow that requires a premium connector, you'll need additional licenses. Since 2019, Microsoft has reclassified the connectors, and most connectors are now labeled premium. See a list of the various connectors here.

But how do you decide whether you need additional licenses? If your application or workflow needs to connect to data stored in Office 365, in most cases your current license will be sufficient. Only when you frequently need to connect to a system or source outside Office 365 should you consider purchasing additional licenses. There is one exception: if you build an app with the new Dataverse for Teams. With Dataverse for Teams, calling the API from this app is now included.

Power Apps licenses

Power Apps licenses have changed a lot over the past three years. Unfortunately, that makes things somewhat complicated. Power Apps consists of the following three components:

  1. Canvas apps: Canvas apps are free apps that let you use your creativity to build web or mobile applications.
  2. Model-driven apps: these are apps driven by data with a component-focused approach to app development. Unlike Canvas apps, the design is limited to predefined layouts and components. For those familiar with the Dynamics CRM platform: model-driven apps are the technology used for Dynamics CRM apps.
  3. Portals: Portals make it possible to create web portals for external users, such as communities, customer service portals, and much more. It also includes various ways to identify users or allow them to browse content anonymously. Power Apps Portals isn't new, but a rebranding of Dynamics Portals.

If you need to purchase licenses for Power Apps because you need greater capacity, a premium connector, a model-driven app (instead of just Canvas apps), a portal, or a more complex application, then you'll need to purchase additional Power Apps licenses. Power Apps premium licenses are available in two versions.

Power Apps per app

  • Although this is per app, it's still licensed per user per app with a maximum of two apps. For example, you may have 35 applications running, but some of your users only need access to one of those applications. In that case, you can license some of your users based on a per-app model.
  • Rights to use Dataverse CDS as a data source with basic capacity.
  • The cost is €8.40 / per user / per app / per month (including a maximum of two separate apps).

Power Apps per user

  • Unlimited number of apps per user per month.
  • Rights to use Dataverse as a data source with greater capacity.
  • The cost is €33.70 / per user / per month.

Power Apps Portal

  • With a Power Apps per user subscription, you automatically have the right to create a portal.
  • If you need more than one portal, you can purchase rights for more capacity.
  • Each portal comes with a predefined number of login attempts and page views.

Power Automate licenses

Just like with Power Apps, you may need more for Power Automate than the rights you get with Office 365. Power Automate can be extended to get more capacity, higher limits, and access to premium connectors. Here's how it works:

Power Automate per user

  • This allows individual users to create unlimited workflows based on their needs and use premium connectors.
  • A license is required to trigger the workflow, which means that if a user creates a workflow and someone else triggers the workflow (via a trigger), it must also be licensed separately or via a per-flow plan.
  • The cost is €12.60 / per user / per month

Power Automate per user with RPA (Robotic Process Automation)

  • RPA is only required if you plan to use the new UI flows, also known as Robotic Process Automation. They use the new Power Automate Desktop (formerly known as WinAutomation).
  • If RPA is needed (use of UI flows). 1 bot at a time.
  • Includes 5000 service credits for AI Builder.
  • The cost is €33.70 / per month / per user.

Power Automate per flow

  • This allows an unlimited number of users to use a flow.
  • There is a minimum purchase of 5 flows.
  • The cost is €421.50 / per 5 flows / per month.

So what about an application built with Power Apps that triggers a flow? Microsoft has a solution for this: in this case, licensing Power Apps allows the use of a flow, as long as the flow runs in the context of the application. This is covered in more detail in the Microsoft Power Platform licensing guide on page 13.

What is included with Dynamics 365?

If your organization has a license for Dynamics 365, there's good news. Dynamics 365 comes with user rights for Power Automate and Power Apps. This means you may be able to build additional applications and complex flows and implement a portal without having to purchase additional licenses, as long as the applications are built within the context of the Dynamics application and reside in the same environment.

Want to know more?

Do you still have questions about the Power Platform's licensing structure after reading this blog? Feel free to get in touch with us, without any obligation.

Written by Andy Berger
Low-code Developer
E-mergo

This blog is based on the Microsoft Power Platform licensing guide, accessible via this link.