PowerApps Licensing Guide

One of the biggest concerns facing organisations and businesses looking to build modern business productivity apps using Power Apps is: How do we license Power Apps? How much is it to license Power Apps? At what stage do we need to purchase Power Apps License? All these questions we get asked so often, and are sometimes difficult to answer without understanding the exact needs and requirements for the Power App.

In this blog post we look to address some of the more frequently asked questions relating to licensing Power Apps, and more importantly at what licensing is needed.

Power Apps Developer Plans

First, if you are new to Power Apps and are keen to explore and develop your understanding further we highly recommend requesting a Developer plan this will give you a full playground account to make apps and work within Dataverse and all the other components without the need for a premium license its meant to help you learn, all you need is a Office 365 account then request the Power Apps Developer plan here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-apps/free

Key Notes about Power Apps Licensing

Building Apps: Users can build apps using the standard connectors provided in their Microsoft 365 subscription.
Running Apps: Apps created can be shared and used within the organisation by other users who also have the appropriate Microsoft 365 subscription.
Environment: These users can operate within the default environment provided by Microsoft 365, without the need for a standalone Power Apps license.

Through most standard Microsoft 365 subscriptions you will have limited access to build, deploy and run apps, more of these limitations listed below.

Limitations Without a Power Apps License

No Premium Connectors: Users cannot use connectors that are categorised as premium. These include, but are not limited to, connectors for services like Salesforce, SQL Server, Azure, and custom-built connectors.
No Dataverse: Users cannot use Dataverse (formerly Common Data Service) for data storage.
App Usage Limits: The apps created can be shared and used within the organisation but are subject to the standard connectors and storage capabilities provided by the Microsoft 365 subscription.

Licensing Summary

Without Power Apps License:

Allowed: Building and running apps with standard connectors.
Not Allowed: Using premium connectors, Dataverse, or additional features that require a standalone Power Apps license.

With Power Apps License:

Allowed: Full access to all features, including premium connectors, Dataverse, and the ability to create more sophisticated and integrated apps.

Types of Licenses

Power Apps Per App Plan: This license allows a user to run one specific app or portal within the environment. This is ideal for users who need access to a single app.
Power Apps Per User Plan: This license allows a user to run unlimited apps within the environment. This is suitable for users who need access to multiple apps.

Depending on the setup and deployment of the app it is a bit of a maths question as to what license fits best for example, if you have 1 large Power App that say 200 people use daily and they only use that one app – then the Power App Per App Plan would work better, but if you had several apps that 10 people would access occasionally then the Per User plan would be more suitable.

When to license

When you are developing your app, you should do this within a Sandbox, Developer environment, when you come to make your app live to other users deploy it to a Production environment, at this point you will want to license your app users (if you are using premium connectors or Dataverse as discussed above).

Dataverse Storage

Included Storage:

- - - Per App Plan: Each environment with at least one active Per App license gets 50 MB of Dataverse database capacity and 400 MB of Dataverse file capacity.
    - Per User Plan: Each environment with at least one active Per User license gets 250 MB of Dataverse database capacity and 2 GB of Dataverse file capacity.

Additional Storage Costs:

- - - Dataverse Database Capacity: Additional database storage can be purchased at a rate (as of the last update) of $40 per GB per month.
    - Dataverse File Capacity: Additional file storage can be purchased at a rate (as of the last update) of $2 per GB per month.

Final Thoughts

By leveraging Power Apps with a standard Microsoft 365 account, users can still take advantage of basic app-building capabilities without additional licensing costs, provided they do not require advanced functionalities. Get a Power Apps Developer account to get your own playground environment, to get more features to test without licensing.

For more detailed and up-to-date information, it’s always a good idea to refer to the official Power Apps documentation and Microsoft 365 licensing guides.

Additional Resources

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-apps/free

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/get-access-m365-users

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compare-microsoft-365-enterprise-plans

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/environments-overview