Power Platform Licenses Explained

Introduction

So many of my clients have asked me to explain Power Platform licensing that I’ve decided to put together this summary. What makes Power Platform licensing complex is its variety of products, licenses, and deployment options. Because most customers already have M365 licenses, which include basic Power Platform functionality, in this article we’ll focus on the types of limitations or functionality that would require additional paid licenses.

First, Some Key Terms

Cloud Flow: Runs in the Microsoft cloud and interacts with other systems via connectors or APIs. These flows do not interact with desktop applications.

RPA Flow (Robotic Process Automation Flow): Automates tasks by interacting with desktop or server apps, such as Excel or legacy Windows applications.

Automated Flow: Triggered automatically by an event, such as a user uploading a document in SharePoint, and runs in the background. These are the most common SharePoint-related flows.

Instant Cloud Flow: Manually triggered by a user. This is typically when a user submits a Power Apps form or clicks a button which calls the flow directly rather than through an event.

Standard Connectors: Access basic Microsoft 365 services (e.g., SharePoint, Outlook). Included in standard M365 licenses.

Premium Connectors: Access third-party or advanced systems (e.g., Salesforce, SQL Server). Requires premium licensing.

Dataverse: Cloud-based data platform optimized for no-code business automation and rapid application development across the Power Platform, Power BI, Teams, and SharePoint.

AI Builder: Power Platform feature that integrates Azure AI into business processes so natural language models can be used in flows.

Types of Power Platform Licenses

A number of previous licenses have been retired such as Plan 1 and Plan 2 so here we only focus on the current licenses shown in the table below.

M365 – refers to licenses that are included in the Microsoft 365 licenses and are immediately available to all licensed users.

Power Automate Premium – a per-user license that covers advanced Power Automate features such as premium connectors.

Power Automate Process – a per-flow license that does not depend on user licenses.

Power Apps Premium – a per-user license that covers advanced Power Apps features such as model-driven apps.

Feature	M365 (All)	Power Apps Premium	Power Automate Premium	Power Automate Process
Run Power Apps	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Standard Connectors	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Premium Connectors	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dataverse for Teams	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Full Dataverse access	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
AI Builder	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cloud flows	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
RPA flows	No	No	Yes (attended)	Yes (unattended)

Table 1: Power Platform Licenses

Note that Power Pages are not included in this discussion because they have a separate licensing model which uses capacity-based licensing, priced per authenticated and anonymous user visits.

Power Automate Licenses

Licensing requirements in Power Automate vary depending on the user role and features used. In general, all users with M365 licenses can participate in Cloud Flows and can create flows that connect to SharePoint. So when do customers need premium licenses?

1. Makers/Publishers

Accounts that are used to create, edit, or publish solutions using premium features (e.g., premium connectors, Dataverse, or AI Builder) require premium licenses. These accounts are responsible for building and maintaining solutions that leverage advanced capabilities. Note that this account is the default owner of the flow and if it is disabled or deleted then automated flows will stop working because the owner account holds the security context for the flow. Best practice is to use a service account rather than an individual account and assign a co-owner to every flow.

According to Microsoft, only the publisher of the flow requires a premium license: “If an automated or scheduled flow uses a premium connector, only the owner needs to have a Premium license” https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/power-automate-licensing/faqs 

2. End Users

All users require an M365 license to be part of any flow. They can author flows for themselves using Standard Connectors. They cannot author a solution that uses premium connectors. If an Instant Cloud Flow uses a premium connector, then the user who triggers the flow must also have a premium license, even if they did not author the flow.

3. External Users

Guests or external users accessing solutions with premium features may require premium licenses unless they are covered under their own organization’s Microsoft 365 or Dynamics 365 licenses.

In addition to the strict license requirements there are also scaling considerations. Licenses determine how many requests a user or flow can make per 24-hour period. Below is a summary of request limits for various licenses. Note that Microsoft previously offered additional allowances during a transition period that ended October 1, 2024.

License Type	Request Limit (User)	Request Limit (Flow)
Microsoft 365	6,000	10,000
Power Automate Trial	6,000	10,000
Power Automate Premium	40,000	200,000
Power Automate Process	N/A	250,000

Table 2: Power Automate Request Limits

Power Automate imposes daily request limits depend on the type of license the flow runs under. This makes sense for a SaaS platform which is process-intensive to ensure that the shared resources are not overly consumed by one flow or user. Each action within a flow—such as sending an email, retrieving a value, or making an API call—counts as one request. The number of requests permitted within a 24-hour period depends on the license assigned to the user or flow.

• For Automated Cloud Flows: limits are based on the license of the publisher..

• For Instant Cloud Flows: limits are based on the triggering user’s license.

  
  

How Microsoft enforces throttling when request limits are exceeded depends on the extent of the overage. Before reaching the limits, flow publishers receive warnings via alerts and email notifications. Once the threshold is crossed, the flow may experience delays or suspension. If a flow consistently exceeds its limit over a 14-day period, Microsoft may automatically suspend it until the limit resets the following day. Occasional overages—such as a spike of 500 actions—are typically tolerated. However, exceeding limits by 50% or more significantly increases the risk of throttling.

A separate source of throttling is the Concurrency Throttling that can occur when too many workflows try to execute at the same time. This limit is based on the number of simultaneous instances of the flow that try to run, is applied automatically, and is not related to license type. It may occur, for example, a user bulk uploads dozens of documents that all trigger the same automatic flow. This results in delayed execution for all triggered instances until concurrency subsides. There is no way of knowing the exact number of flows that will trigger throttling as it depends on factors such as flow type and complexity, region, tenant load, and environment capacity. To mitigate this, Microsoft allows configuration of a maximum number of concurrent flow runs (e.g., 5 or 10). Any flows exceeding that number are queued and executed later. This will prevent that automated throttling from affecting all of the flows and allow the current flows to execute more quickly. However, you cannot control the order in which queued flows run.

To summarize:

• Automated and scheduled flows always use the flow creator/owner's Power Automate request limits regardless of who started the process or what accounts are used for connections inside of the process.

• If a flow is associated with a per flow license, the flow uses the per flow limits and not the creator/owner/triggering user's limits.

• Instant flows (button, power apps, hybrid triggers) use the user limit of the person who manually started the flow.

• If a flow has a Process license, the flow, all child flows of the flow and any associated flows of the flow share the process license limits.

Power Apps Licenses

The factors that affect whether you need premium licenses for Power Apps are related more to the type of app and Dataverse capacity needed as throttling or requests does not come into play. As with Power Automate, one of the key requirements for premium licenses is to use Premium Connectors such as the SQL Connector. In Power Apps when a premium connector is used then all users who use the app need to have a premium licenses.

Another major factor is the creation of Model-Driven apps instead of the standard Canvas apps. Model-Driven apps provide a richer user experience, are designed to leverage the Dataverse, and are better for building complex business logic in forms. Model-Driven apps can only be built with Premium licenses.

Feature	Microsoft 365 (Basic)	Power Apps Premium	Power Apps Per App
Number of Apps Allowed	1 app (Teams only)	Unlimited apps	1 app per license
Dataverse Access	Dataverse for Teams	Full Dataverse access	Full Dataverse access
Connector Support	Standard connectors only	Standard and premium connectors	Standard and premium connectors
AI Builder Credits	Not included	500 credits/month	250 credits/month
Canvas Apps	Build and use within Teams	Build and use	Build and use
Model-Driven Apps	Not supported	Build and use	Build and use

Table 3: Power Apps Licensing

Managed Environments

A Power Platform feature which crosses all services is the Managed Environments governance available through the Power Platform Admin portal. Managed Environments allow admins to consolidate control over many environments and apply consistent policies for data loss prevention (DLP), sharing and permissions, and compliance rules. Managed environments are also required for pipeline app deployment. These are especially valuable for scaling governance across multiple environments and controlling app sharing and limiting data exposure. All of the Managed Environments features require every user interacting with the environment to have a Power Apps Premium or Power Automate Premium license.

Conclusion

Understanding Power Platform licensing is essential for maximizing the value of Microsoft 365 while avoiding unexpected limitations or costs. While many capabilities are included with standard M365 licenses, advanced functionality—such as premium connectors, full Dataverse access, RPA, and AI Builder—require dedicated Power Apps or Power Automate licenses. It's equally important to manage flow ownership and licensing boundaries carefully to prevent disruptions due to throttling, orphaned flows, or expired trial features. By proactively assigning appropriate licenses, leveraging service accounts, and adopting solution-aware flows, organizations can ensure their automation and app development efforts are both sustainable and scalable. As Microsoft continues to evolve the Power Platform, keeping up with license changes and best practices will help maintain control, compliance, and continuity across business-critical processes.