What we build in Power Automate
The obvious choice when the business already runs on Microsoft 365, and frequently the cheapest, because much of it is licensed already. Its licensing model is the part that catches people out, not its capability.
Power Automate is the obvious choice when the business already runs on Microsoft 365, and frequently the cheapest, because much of it is licensed already. We build on it when Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, Excel and Dataverse are the systems involved, where the connectors are first-party and the authentication is already in place, and when IT governance makes introducing a new vendor a procurement exercise.
We look elsewhere when most of your stack is outside Microsoft and you would be paying premium licenses for nearly every connector, when you need very high execution volume cheaply, or when the team maintaining it would rather read a flat canvas than a nested flow. The licensing model is what catches people out, not the capability: premium connectors sit behind a license charged either per user or per process, so a flow that works in a trial can stop working when the trial ends.
What it is, and where it sits
Power Automate is Microsoft's automation platform and part of the Power Platform. Where it wins is proximity: if your business lives in Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, Excel and Dataverse, the connectors are first-party, the authentication is already in place, and your IT policies already cover it. That last point carries real weight in regulated or IT-governed environments, where introducing a new vendor is a procurement exercise and using the one you already have is not.
We treat it as one of four defaults alongside Make, n8n and Zapier, and choose on your actual volumes and systems rather than preference. For a Microsoft-centric business it frequently wins on three-year cost.
What we build in it
- Approval flows through Teams and Outlook, with the decision written back to the source system
- SharePoint and Dataverse orchestration: document routing, metadata, retention actions
- Inbox triage and routing across shared mailboxes
- Excel-driven processes replaced with something that does not depend on a file being open
- Integrations out to non-Microsoft systems over HTTP where no first-party connector exists
- Scheduled reporting assembled and distributed without anyone remembering
- Document generation from templates, filed and shared automatically
How it is priced
Get this right before anything is built, because it is where cost surprises come from. Some Power Automate capability is bundled with Microsoft 365 licenses you may already hold. Premium connectors are not.
| Model | What you pay for | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| Bundled with Microsoft 365 | Nothing beyond the licenses you may already hold. | The flow stays inside the Microsoft estate and needs no premium connector. |
| Premium, per user | A premium license per person, covering anything reaching outside the Microsoft estate and several capabilities inside it. | A small, identifiable group of people personally run the flows. |
| Process plan, per process | A license attached to the process rather than to the people using it. | A business process many people benefit from but nobody personally "runs". Often the cheaper shape. |
A flow that works in a trial can therefore stop working when the trial ends. We work out which shape fits during scoping, and you buy the licenses directly from Microsoft. Check current terms at the time; Microsoft revises this model more often than the other vendors.
When to choose it, and when to think twice
The honest summary: Power Automate is strong inside its own world and merely adequate outside it. That is a reasonable trade if your world is Microsoft.
We hold no reseller agreement with this vendor, take no affiliate commission, and do not resell licenses. You buy your own subscription directly. It is the only arrangement under which our recommendation means anything.
Want the three-year cost across all four platforms?
Tell us your volumes and which systems are involved. The cost model comes with the proposal, which is free.
You will talk to Fayez or Kareem. Nobody else.