Microsoft Power Platform · License Advisory
Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Pages, Dataverse capacity, AI Builder and Copilot Studio — each component has its own licensing model. Which combination fits your scenario depends on app count, flow needs, connector mix and data volume. We make the options comparable — before you buy.
Power Apps licensing
Power Apps Per User: around €20 per user and month. The user may use unlimited Power Apps across the organization — including premium connectors (SQL, SAP, Salesforce, custom APIs) and Dataverse. Useful for power users working across multiple apps, or makers building their own solutions.
Power Apps Per App: around €5 per app, user and month. The user is licensed for a specific app — needing two apps means licensing two Per App plans. Useful for frontline workers who need exactly one line-of-business app.
Rule of thumb for picking the model: from 3 apps per user upwards, Per User is more economical than Per App. With one or two apps, Per App wins. A seeded Power Apps variant with standard connectors is already included in Microsoft 365 — premium connectors require a paid license.
Power Apps in Microsoft 365 (seeded): the Power Apps license bundled into Microsoft 365 allows apps with standard connectors (SharePoint, Outlook, Excel) on a SharePoint-list basis. As soon as SQL Server, Dataverse, custom connectors or on-premises gateways come into play, a premium license is required.
Pricing notice: Microsoft adjusts list prices regularly (currency adjustments, NCE updates, plan restructurings). Figures here are indicative values from May 2026. For current prices including arades CSP conditions, see the License Cost Calculator (licenses.arades.de) ↗ daily.
Power Automate licensing
Power Automate Per User: around €15 per user and month. The user may run unlimited cloud flows, including premium connectors. The classic choice for power users building their own automations.
Power Automate Per Flow: around €100 per flow and month. A specific flow can be triggered by any number of users in the organization. Useful for background flows (e.g. nightly batches, scheduled tasks, system-to-system flows without clear user attribution).
Attended RPA (Robotic Process Automation): around €40 per user and month as an add-on on top of Per User. Allows recorded desktop automations executed in the foreground (with the user present) — typical for legacy apps without an API.
Unattended RPA: around €150 per bot and month. A dedicated bot running headless on a virtual machine. Scales with bot count, not user count.
Power Automate in Microsoft 365 (seeded): the bundled variant allows simple flows with standard connectors. Premium connectors, Dataverse-based flows, custom connectors and RPA require a paid license.
Power Pages licensing
Power Pages Authenticated User: around €200 per 100 users and month. For external portals with sign-in — customer self-service, supplier portal, partner portal. Billed in capacity packages (100, 500, 1,000, 5,000 users), tiered by volume.
Power Pages Anonymous User: around €75 per 500 users and month. For public portals without login — information pages with forms, public search, marketing landing pages with Dataverse binding. Capacity packages in steps of 500 and 5,000.
How Power Pages is billed: not per tenant, but per site. An organization can run multiple Power Pages sites in parallel — each with its own capacity, its own authentication and its own branding.
What Power Pages requires technically: Dataverse as the data layer (additional Dataverse capacity possible), optionally Azure AD B2C or external identity providers for authentication.
Dataverse capacity
Dataverse for Teams (included in Microsoft 365): each Teams license includes a lightweight Dataverse variant — up to 2 GB database per team, up to 250 MB file storage, limited table count, no access via the regular Power Platform maker UI. Sufficient for light list apps within a team.
Dataverse capacity (paid): as soon as a regular Power Apps Per User or Per App license is in place, the tenant receives a capacity pool — typically around 250 MB database + 2 GB file storage per Per User license, plus 50 MB per Per App license. The pool applies to the entire tenant.
Capacity add-ons:
Rule of thumb: the seeded capacity usually covers the first two to three productive apps. As soon as legacy data is migrated into Dataverse or larger datasets are moved, add-ons become due — we typically plan capacity reserve 12 months ahead.
AI Builder & Copilot Studio
AI Builder credits: the consumption unit for AI features in Power Apps and Power Automate. Typical models: form processing (with OCR), object detection, text recognition, prediction models (binary, multi-class), category classification, entity extraction, language detection, sentiment analysis. Cost: around €500 per month for 1M credits — credit consumption per call varies by model type.
Copilot Studio credits (formerly Power Virtual Agents): the consumption unit for custom AI agents. Measured in messages — generative answers consume more credits than rule-based dialogs. Starts at around €200 per month for 25,000 messages. Recommended: pilot with a small package, then scale up based on actual consumption.
What to watch out for: AI Builder and Copilot Studio consumption is not included in Power Apps or Automate licenses — credits are purchased on top. Consumption can be monitored per environment via the Power Platform Admin Center.
Discounts and optimization levers
NCE triennial up to 5% discount. Microsoft grants up to 5% additional discount on all Power Platform licenses for 3-year contracts. A clear lever for a stable power-user core workforce — less so for project or seasonal staff, since license quantities cannot be reduced during the term.
Volume discounts from larger quantities. Microsoft scales list prices from certain volume tiers (typically 250 licenses of a SKU). We make the relevant tier visible in the License Cost Calculator.
Non-profit up to 75% discount. Non-profit organizations (registered associations, foundations, gGmbHs) receive up to 75% discount on Power Platform licenses via Microsoft Tech for Social Impact. Power Apps Per User then comes in at around €5/user/month, Power Automate Per User at around €3.75. Prerequisite is recognition via verify.microsoft.com.
Education tariffs (A1/A3/A5). Eligible educational institutions (schools, universities) receive Power Platform licenses at heavily reduced education prices — usually bundled with Microsoft 365 Education plans.
Avoid double licensing. Frequent mistakes in existing tenants: parallel Per User and Per App licenses for the same user, unused RPA bots, old Power Virtual Agents packages alongside Copilot Studio. An inventory typically uncovers these points within a few days.
License Cost Calculator
Choose audience (commercial, non-profit, education), pick license models (Power Apps, Automate, Pages, Dataverse, AI Builder, Copilot Studio), enter quantities. The calculator shows list price and identified arades price side by side — instantly, without lead capture.
Anyone wanting to process the result offline can request the Excel export — in exchange for short contact details and privacy consent. The export contains a cost sheet plus a feature comparison for the selected Power Platform tariffs.
Accompanying services
Power Platform licensing decisions rarely stand alone — architecture, governance, implementation, training and operations usually run in parallel. The most common accompanying services.
Before · Licensing
Which Power Platform model for which quantities, whether Per User, Per App or Per Flow, how Dataverse capacity is sized, which add-ons make sense. Procured via arades as a Microsoft licensing partner — with the option to use the partner relationship only as a control without margin maximization.
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Before · Architecture
Environment strategy (Dev/Test/Prod), Dataverse data model, connector strategy, ALM pipeline. The deliverable is an architecture document any engineering team can build from.
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During · Build
Sprint fixed-price package or discovery spike — we build Power Apps, Power Automate flows, Power Pages sites and Copilot Studio agents on top of a clear architecture. Handover includes documentation and knowledge transfer.
During · Adoption
Maker training for Power Apps and Power Automate, admin training for governance — as a dynamic learning programme over 4–6 weeks with initial training, application phases and follow-up sessions.
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After · Operations
After go-live: a predictable Application Care contract on a monthly flat rate, SLA-based. Includes releases, hotfixes, extensions and capacity monitoring.
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After · Governance
DLP policies, environment strategy, maker enablement programme, CoE Starter Kit setup — so Power Platform grows without tipping into shadow IT.
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Frequently asked questions
Power Apps Per User is around €20 per user and month at list price — the user may use unlimited Power Apps in the organization. Power Apps Per App is around €5 per app, user and month — useful when a user only needs one or two apps. From three apps per user upwards, the calculation tips toward Per User.
Power Automate Per User is around €15 per user and month — the user may run unlimited cloud flows. Power Automate Per Flow is around €100 per flow and month — useful for background flows without clear user attribution. Attended RPA add-on around €40, unattended RPA bot around €150 per month.
Power Pages Authenticated User is around €200 per 100 users and month — for external portals with sign-in. Power Pages Anonymous User is around €75 per 500 users and month — for public self-service portals without login. Billing is monthly on a capacity basis.
The Dataverse capacity included in Microsoft 365 (Dataverse for Teams) suffices for light Power Apps scenarios within a team — tables up to 2 GB per team, simple list apps, low user counts. As soon as apps run beyond Teams, more tables or premium connectors are used, Power Apps licenses plus Dataverse capacity add-ons become due.
AI Builder credits are the consumption unit for AI models in Power Apps and Power Automate — text recognition, form processing, prediction models. 1M credits cost around €500 per month. Copilot Studio credits are the consumption unit for custom AI agents — measured in messages, starting at around €200 per month for 25,000 messages.
NCE triennial (3-year contract) brings up to 5% additional discount. Non-profit organizations receive up to 75% discount on Power Platform licenses via Microsoft Tech for Social Impact. Educational institutions (schools, universities) get education tariffs. Volume discounts kick in from larger quantities — we make them visible in the License Cost Calculator.
We start with an inventory: which apps and flows already exist, how many users, which connectors (standard vs premium), what Dataverse usage. From that, the right model follows — usually a mix of Per User, Per App and Per Flow licenses plus matching capacity add-ons. Alongside it: license advisory, implementation and governance.
As of May 2026, Power Apps Per App costs around €5 per user, app, and month. Power Apps Per User costs around €20 per user and month — the user may use unlimited Power Apps in the organization. The break point is at four apps per user: from three apps used onward, Per User becomes economically better. Example: 50 users with 2 apps cost around €500/month as Per App (50 × 2 × €5), and €1,000/month as Per User — Per App is clearly cheaper. At 5 apps per user the ratio flips: €1,250 Per App versus €1,000 Per User. For complex apps with premium connectors we usually recommend Per User; for single-purpose apps Per App.
Microsoft Dataverse is billed in three separate capacity buckets: Database (from around €36/GB/month), File Storage (from around €1.80/GB/month), and Log Storage (from around €9/GB/month). Each Power Apps Per User license brings 250 MB Database and 2 GB File Storage as proportional entitlements. Capacity add-ons are only due once the summed entitlements are exceeded. In Dynamics 365 tenants the entitlements rise significantly — Customer Service or Sales Enterprise bring 250 MB Database per license each, plus tenant-wide base capacity. The most common optimization source: old audit logs, unused mailbox attachments, and test data in production environments — a capacity clean-up often saves 30–50% of add-on costs.
Yes — Power Automate Premium (formerly Power Automate Per User with RPA) is the prerequisite for desktop flows in attended mode. List price: around €15/user/month. With it, a user can start attended-RPA flows on their own machine. For unattended RPA — bot-driven automation without user interaction on dedicated machines — the Power Automate Unattended RPA add-on (around €150/bot/month) is required additionally. Cloud flows (without an RPA component) run on the standard Power Automate Per User license (around €15/month). The boundary is one of the most common questions — before an RPA rollout we always recommend an inventory conversation to pick the right license architecture.
30 min · license advisory introductory call
Bring your maker and consumer counts, your existing apps and flows, and your Dataverse usage — and in 30 minutes you get a substantiated recommendation.
