Building business applications and workflow with Microsoft PowerApps and Microsoft Flow has grown substantial in the last year. Since licensing is complicated and with new features in place Microsoft has simplified the licensing options. Here is an overview of the most important changes per October 1. 2019.
The information in this article is intended for your preparation to upcoming changes, based on official Microsoft publications, hence not based on any underlying legal licensing documents because there aren’t any yet. Always consult the official Microsoft licensing documentation before you make any strategic decisions.
Office 365
Both Microsoft PowerApps and Flow are components of mainstream Office 365 subscriptions. With that, organization’s users with a qualifying Office 365 User Subscription License (USL) assigned can use PowerApps and Flow within certain limitations. First of all, all Apps to be built and workflows to be designed and implemented have to be connected to customers Office365 tenant and must be intended for organizational use. This will not change. But some related important features will:
- PowerApps and Flow have access to connectors for data collection or integration with other cloud services. Some of the Standard connectors will be transferred to Premium connectors (amongst with SQL, Azure and Dynamics365) and may only be authored or executed by users with an assigned premium license (not default within Office365)
- It will no longer be required to have an standalone plan assigned for maker or administration capabilities
- No longer will there be limits on the number of Flows, but a limit on the number of API calls Flow initiate. This limit will be 2,000 API requests per user per day (across PowerApps and Flow)
New PowerApps plans
For those organizations which require Microsoft PowerApps standalone plans there is a simplification. Or in other words, a choice. Either license per App or per user for unlimited Apps. Organizations who want to start with PowerApps but are not sure if it is ‘the thing’ for them, do not have to license tenant-wide. This makes it easier to start. This new plan, available as of October 1. 2019, is a license ‘per user per app’ at a price of USD 10 per month.
Those organizations who want to license users for multiple Apps better choose the new ‘per user’ plan at a cost of USD 40 per user per month.
For PowerApps Portals there are two plans. If the external users (so users not belonging to your organization) are known, the price will be USD 200 for 100 logins per month. If the users are anonymous, Microsoft will charge you USD 100 for 100,000 web page views per month (no login required).
New Flow plans
Like the changes with PowerApps we see similar changes for Flow per October 2019. There is a new Flow per user plan, which allows a user with an assigned subscription to create and execute unlimited workflows and business processes. Pricing will be USD 15 per user per month.
For an easy start or for organizations with the requirement for limited amounts of flows with maximum usage there is the new Flow per business process plan. Pricing starts at USD 500 for up to 5 active workflows per month and can be extended per workflow for USD 100 a month.
License Guidance
Again, please consult the Microsoft licensing legal documents like the Product Terms and Online Services Terms for detailed conditions and plan information. Might you need some help with making clever licensing decisions, please do consult one of the Quexcel Microsoft Licensing Experts.