Deciphering Power Automate Licensing

• Power Automate can be licensed in several ways, and optimal licensing depends on usage scenarios.
• Basic Power Automate capabilities included with most Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscriptions may be sufficient for many customers.
• Upgraded Power Automate capabilities require additional licensing, and capacity add-ons increase costs.
• Customers with heavy Power Automate use will likely need the Managed Environments feature that requires specific licenses.
• An adjustment period is usually needed as customers learn how Power Automate will be used in their organizations and tune their licensing purchases.

This report, the third in a series on Power Automate, is for managers and budgeting and purchasing personnel who need to understand the licensing aspects of Power Automate. The reports in the series include the following:

• Benefits and risks
• Technical details (how it works)
• Licensing (this report).

Power Automate is a component of the Power Platform set of services, which are a part of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. These services, which also include Power Apps, Copilot Studio, Dataverse, and others, focus on simplifying line-of-business (LOB) processes and access to and modification of organizational data from all sources. Power Automate allows the creation of workflows (automated, possibly unattended business processes) without expensive developer resources.