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By: Janina Criador
- IT Guides
- February 21, 2023
- Comments 0
Your Complete Guide to Power Platform Licensing
Microsoft 365 has revolutionized how businesses work, providing an inclusive and customizable platform to help power their operations. But what if you want something even more? Power Platform offers a robust suite of applications that can quickly generate business apps, analyze data sets, and automate processes – being your virtual assistant.
Many readers might mistakenly believe that Power Apps and Power Automate are free to use because they are a part of Microsoft/Office 365. While this is sometimes the case, it isn’t the case if you wish to use the platform’s many advanced capabilities. At first, It can be confusing to understand the nuances of licensing for Microsoft’s Power Platform products. You can use this article as a guide to help you understand each product and learn how to secure the licensing SKU (particular offering) that suits you the best.
Before anything else, let’s define the Power Platform
Microsoft’s Power Platform is the ideal solution for businesses to solve modern challenges quickly and efficiently. With its low code/no-code capabilities, users can rapidly develop robust business apps, gain insights from data analysis, automate processes effortlessly, and create virtual agents – all driven by a single platform.
Several products comprise the platform’s foundation:
- Power Apps is an innovative platform that allows users to create custom apps to address business needs quickly and easily – no coding required. With Microsoft’s low-code / no-code application development capabilities, you can transform your ideas into powerful organizational solutions.
- Power BI is an invaluable part of the platform, empowering organizations to make informed decisions backed by data-driven insights that are accessible companywide.
- Power Pages, Microsoft’s innovative low-code extranet platform, provides organizations with a powerful solution to build dynamic websites for external access quickly.
- Power Automate or Microsoft Flow enables businesses to maximize productivity and streamline their processes with the power of automation.
- Power Virtual Agents is an innovative, no-code platform from Microsoft that enables businesses to create interactive chatbots for conversations with customers and employees. Quickly build bots without writing code or hiring a developer.
Why can Power Platform licensing be complex?
- No one Power Platform SKU exists.
- Multiple licenses can be utilized with the same CDS database.
- The complexity of the software and the features it uses to determine the license needs.
- PowerApps and Power Automate access can be obtained through various license options
Power App Licensing :
Power Apps has undergone many transformations in the last three years, resulting in an excessively complex user interface. It now offers users three distinct options catering to their needs and preferences.
- Power Apps Canvas – Canvas apps allow you to develop free-form web or mobile applications using your imagination. Use Power Apps Canvas in your Microsoft Office 365 environment for free if it employs standard connectors.
- Power Apps Pages – Pages address the requirement to develop online portals with an external audience, such as communities, customer service portals, and many more, with a variety of user identification options or anonymous content browsing options. Power Apps Pages are a rebranded version of Dynamics Portals, not a new product (formerly Power Apps Portals).
- Power Apps Model Driven – Pages address the requirement to develop online portals with an external audience, such as communities, customer service portals, and many more, with a variety of user identification options or anonymous content browsing options. Power Apps Pages are a rebranded version of Dynamics Portals, not a new product (formerly Power Apps Portals).
Power Apps offers three tiers of licensing, each allowing you to take advantage of more significant features and capacities. Whether your needs are for larger capacity, premium connectors, or more complex applications such as model-driven apps and portals – with a suitable license from Power Apps, these goals can be achieved.
PER APP PLAN
- Permission to use the Dataverse CDS as a data source with a minimum capacity has been enabled.
PER USER PLAN
- It allows an infinite number of apps with monthly user licensing.
- Permission to utilize the Dataverse CDS as a larger-capacity data source has been enabled.
CONSUMPTION-BASED PLAN (PAY-AS-YOU-GO)
- This new strategy is fascinating for enterprises that still need to be ready to commit entirely to user-based licenses.
- In this case, licenses are dynamically charged based on the number of active users per month.
- If your organization has 1000 users, but only 100 are using the app each month, you can leverage a pay-as-you-go plan and only pay for those actively using the app monthly.
Power Pages Licensing
A low-code, data-focused business website developer using Dataverse is Power Pages.
- When you acquire a Power Apps per-user license or license Power Pages, you will have the right to create a website or portal to enable interactions with both anonymous and external users.
- You can acquire additional rights for increased capacity if you need to host over one portal. Capacity is measured according to page views (for anonymous scenarios) and per-login (for authenticated schemes).
- A predefined number of page views and logins come with each portal.
Power Automate Licensing
For Power Apps and Power Automate, add more usage rights than the default ones included with an Office 365 license. You can upgrade your capacity and access higher limits or premium connectors by extending your Power Automate service. Here’s an overview of how it works:
PER USER LICENSING
- To activate a flow, the user must have a valid license. It means that if one person designs the flow and someone else triggers it, they both need to be licensed – either on an individual basis or through a plan specifically for this flow.
- It enables users to craft countless flows according to their needs and incorporate premium connectors.
PER AUTOMATE LICENSING
- A newly-released option, this plan lets you bridge the gap between per-user licenses and per-flow licenses.
- It covers three deployment models – Desktop Flow attended, Desktop Flow unattended, and Clod Flow)
Power Virtual Agents Licensing
Except for Dataverse for Teams, which comes with the right for PVA, Power Virtual Agents, or “PVA,” does not have a seeded version for Office 365 subscribers. Be mindful of the licensing requirements if you use Power Virtual Agents. It has two editions available – Power Virtual Agents for Teams and Power Virtual Agents Capacity Pricing.
Other Options: Dynamics 365 for Power Platform
Organizations with Dynamics 365 licenses can enjoy having user rights for Power Automate and Power Apps, allowing them to construct further applications and intricate flows without requiring extra charging. Additionally, building a portal is possible if the applications are made within the scope of Dynamics and hosted in the same domain – though I cannot guarantee how this is monitored.
Other Options: Dataverse Licensing
Dataverse is a cloud-based database containing all the features you would expect from a hosted database, such as a relational data model, business regulations, enhanced safety, backup and restoration, and full Application Lifestyle Management (ALM). It does not come with its own license but instead is bundled with Power Apps, Power Automate or Power Virtual Agents with default storage space based on the plan chosen.
Skip the Power Platform Complexities with ECF Data
At ECF Data, we like to simplify things for you. Even though we wanted to give you more information and provide more clarity through this blog, employing an expert’s help can still save you the stress and ultimately find the most suitable licensing option for your business.
Let us be your partner in maximizing the value of your investments with accurate estimations and Power Platform applications. Our solutions will improve productivity for all stakeholders in your organization!
