Understanding Microsoft Power Platform Licensing A Guide to Maximizing Your Investment

Understanding the nuances of Microsoft Power Platform licensing is crucial to leverage these tools effectively and ensure a sound return on your investment. Here’s your guide to understanding Microsoft Power Platform licensing to maximize your organization’s investment. But first, a quick overview of what Power Platform is.

A Quick Overview of the Power Platform

The Microsoft Power Platform is a suite of applications, connectors, and a data platform (Dataverse) that provides a rapid development environment to build custom apps for business needs. It’s essentially a collection of tools that allow users to automate processes, create solutions, and analyze data more efficiently with little to no code. Here’s a breakdown of its core components:

• Power BI: A powerful analytics tool that enables users to visualize data and share insights across an organization or embed them in an app or website.
• Power Apps: A low-code approach to custom app development, allowing users to quickly build apps with a point-and-click approach to app design.
• Power Automate (formerly known as Microsoft Flow): A tool that helps users create automated workflows between applications and services to synchronize files, get notifications, collect data, and more.
• Power Virtual Agents: Enables the creation of powerful chatbots that can engage conversationally with customers and employees—no coding required.

Together, these tools make up the Power Platform, which is deeply integrated with Microsoft 365 (Office), Dynamics 365, and Azure. Now, let’s look at how you can get your hands on it!

Licensing Basics

Navigating through the Power Platform licensing landscape begins with a clear understanding of the types of licenses available. The platform offers individual component licenses, such as for Power Apps and Power Automate, which cater to targeted needs for specific applications. Other, more comprehensive Power Platform licenses bundle these components, providing a holistic solution for broader requirements.

You can also choose between Per User and Per App licensing. Per User licenses are ideal for individuals requiring full access to multiple apps across the platform. Per App licenses suit scenarios where users need access to just one or two specific applications. We can help you choose the most cost-effective and functional option, making sure that the selected licensing model aligns perfectly with the organization’s usage patterns.

Power Platform Licensing Deep Dive

Here’s a closer look at your licensing options for Power Platform and its components.

Power Apps Premium Licensing

Power Apps Premium is the right choice for organizations aiming to fully embrace the power of custom app development. Priced at $20 per user per month, this license allows users to create, modernize, and deploy an unlimited number of applications and access unlimited Power Pages websites. For larger enterprises ready to make a substantial commitment, the price drops to $12 per user per month for over 2,000 new user licenses.

• Power Apps Per App Plan

If you’re a business that likes to test the water before diving in, the Per App licensing option may suit you well. The Power Apps Per App plan is $5 per user per app per month. With this plan, users can run a single custom app or access one Power Pages website for a specific business scenario, leveraging the full capabilities of Power Apps. It is an accessible entryway to the platform, ideal for targeted solutions and smaller-scale implementations.

• Power Apps Pay-As-You-Go

If your organization values flexibility, Power Apps also offers a pay-as-you-go option. This plan allows users to run applications without upfront licensing commitments, billing through an Azure subscription post-use. It’s a pay-for-what-you-use model calculated monthly based on actual usage, providing a cost-effective solution for fluctuating business demands.

• Developer Plan

If you want to build skills and learn more about Power Apps, Power Automate, and Dataverse, the Power Apps Developer Plan is right for you. The Power Apps Developer Plan gives you a free development environment (for individual use) so you can get acquainted with the full functionality of Power Apps. The Power Apps Developer Plan is restricted to building and testing apps to validate before production. You’ll need to choose one of the other options to distribute apps for production purposes.

• Advanced Licensing Options
  For enterprises with expansive and complex needs, Power Platform offers Capacity-Based and Tenant-Level Licenses. These advanced options will support larger-scale deployments and provide more resource allocation and management flexibility. Velosio can guide you through the details of this plan currently in preview to help you optimize cost and usage alignment.

Licensing Considerations

You’ve clearly got several options when it comes to Power Platform licensing. Our expert team can help your business evaluate which Power Apps components and licensing types align best with your operations and goals. We’ll provide strategic advice on managing costs without compromising on capabilities so that your organization strikes the right balance between investment and functionality.

Additionally, Velosio will help your business stay within the bounds of compliance, maintaining robust security protocols through your licensing choices.

Compliance and Security Considerations

Compliance and security considerations are as important as pricing — if not more so. The licenses you select must fit the budget and adhere to data protection regulations and your organization’s security framework. Your considerations may include data privacy standards such as GDPR, role-based access controls (RBAC), various compliance considerations such as HIPAA or ISO, and your organization’s individual data loss prevention (DLP) strategies. We will help ensure that your licensing decisions are compliant and your data remains secure, safeguarding your business’s reputation and trust.

How Velosio Can Help

Microsoft partners like Velosio are instrumental in making the Power Platform’s licensing labyrinth navigable. Our support extends beyond helping businesses make informed licensing choices — we provide custom solutions, tailored training, and ongoing support to ensure that your organization fully capitalizes on the platform’s potential. Contact us to learn more.