Power Platform moved to per user and per app subscriptions plus capacity packs for Dataverse, AI Builder, and Power Pages. The licensing detail is where the cost hides. Read the map before the next true up.
Microsoft Power Platform is licensed through per user and per app subscriptions, with Dataverse, AI Builder, and Power Pages charged as separate capacity packs. The seat price is small. The capacity and request limits decide the real invoice.
Power Platform is licensed in three layers that stack. Get the layers wrong and the cost compounds.
The first layer is the per user or per app subscription. The second is premium connectors and Dataverse access. The third is consumption capacity for storage, AI, and portals. Microsoft documents the full model in its pricing and billing guide.
Seeded use comes free inside Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 licenses. It covers standard connectors and apps that stay inside the Microsoft 365 data boundary. The moment a flow touches a premium connector or custom Dataverse table, a standalone license is required.
The core standalone seats are Power Apps Premium, Power Automate Premium, and the Power Automate hosted process for unattended automation. Power Pages, AI Builder, and copilots sit on top as capacity. Microsoft lists current rates on the Power Apps pricing page.
Power Apps Premium lists at roughly 20 dollars per user per month and covers unlimited apps for one user. Power Pages is priced by capacity, not by seat.
Power Platform list price layers at a glance
| License or pack | Metric | Approximate list | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power Apps Premium | Per user per month | About 20 dollars | Makers and users of premium apps |
| Power Automate Premium | Per user per month | About 15 dollars | Users running premium flows |
| Power Automate hosted process | Per bot per month | About 150 dollars | Unattended robotic automation |
| Dataverse capacity | Per gigabyte per month | Add on pack | Storage beyond the base allocation |
| AI Builder credits | Capacity pack | Add on pack | Document and prediction models |
| Power Pages | Authenticated user pack | Capacity tier | External facing portals |
Power Pages bills by authenticated and anonymous user capacity packs each month. The model replaced the older login and page view metrics. External traffic must be forecast before a tier is chosen, because anonymous spikes can move the bill quickly.
Power Automate Premium lists at roughly 15 dollars per user per month for attended flows. Unattended robotic automation and AI both move to capacity packs.
The hosted process for unattended robotic automation lists at roughly 150 dollars per bot per month. It is priced per concurrent automation, not per user. One bot can serve many processes if scheduled well, so concurrency planning is the lever.
AI Builder consumes credits from capacity packs. Document processing and prediction models draw credits faster than buyers expect. Microsoft publishes the consumption model and request entitlements in the request limits guide.
The standard Microsoft partner pitch is to license every maker and user with Power Apps Premium so nobody hits a wall. We disagree. In the majority of estates we reviewed, premium seats were over assigned by a fifth or more, while the real cost crept in through Dataverse and AI capacity that nobody modeled. The buyer side move is to map who actually needs premium connectors and Dataverse, license those users, and meter capacity against a benchmark before buying packs. Blanket premium licensing is easy to sell and expensive to own, and it hides the consumption cost that actually scales.
Source: Redress Compliance advisory engagement file, 2024 to 2025.
Power Platform is cheap to start and expensive to scale. The seat price is the headline. The capacity packs are the invoice.
Three traps recur in almost every unmanaged Power Platform estate.
Dataverse splits into database, file, and log capacity. Audit logs and attachments grow silently. Microsoft details the split in its capacity and storage guide. Set retention rules early or the log capacity becomes a recurring pack purchase.
Five moves recur in every well run Power Platform estate.
List every app and flow, the connectors it uses, and whether it needs premium. Assign premium seats only to the users who touch premium. This single step removed a fifth or more of premium seats in our reviews.
Watch Dataverse and AI consumption for a full quarter before committing to packs. Buy to a benchmark, not to a throttling event.
Power Platform discounts are negotiated inside the wider Microsoft enterprise agreement, not in isolation. Time the ask with the renewal and the Microsoft 365 and Copilot conversation.
Only the seeded version is included in Microsoft 365. Seeded use covers standard connectors and apps inside the Microsoft 365 boundary. Premium connectors, Dataverse, and standalone apps require a separate Power Platform license.
Power Apps Premium lists at roughly 20 dollars per user per month. The figure covers unlimited apps and premium connectors for one user. Volume and enterprise agreements move the rate down, so treat the list price as a ceiling.
Microsoft retired the older per app plan and consolidated most buyers onto Power Apps Premium. Some legacy per app entitlements remain in older agreements. Check the agreement before assuming a single seat model.
Each license carries a daily API request entitlement. Heavy flows and integrations can exceed the entitlement and trigger throttling or capacity add on purchases. The limits are published by Microsoft and should be modeled before rollout.
Dataverse storage is split into database, file, and log capacity. A base allocation comes with qualifying licenses, then capacity packs are sold per gigabyte. Storage growth is the most common source of surprise cost.
Yes. AI Builder consumes credits sold in capacity packs. Some seeded credits come with premium licenses. Document automation and prediction models draw the credits down faster than buyers expect.
Power Pages is priced by authenticated and anonymous user capacity packs, billed monthly. The model replaced the older portal login and page view metrics. Forecast external traffic before committing to a tier.
Buying premium seats for every maker and user instead of mapping who actually needs premium connectors and Dataverse. A clean entitlement map typically removes 20 to 35 percent of premium seats in our reviews.
Microsoft renewal moves, the EA framework, the M365 SKU framework, the Copilot framework, and the buyer side moves across the full Microsoft estate.
Used across more than five hundred enterprise engagements. Independent. Buyer side. Built for procurement leaders running the next renewal cycle.
