- Do I need a license?
- What kinds of licenses are available for Power Apps?
- How do I know what kind of license is best for me?
- Learn More about Power Apps Licenses
Do I need a license to use Power Apps?
Whether you need a license or not depends on two main things:
- Are you a current/active UW staff-member, faculty, or student?
- What do you want your Power App to do, and for whom?
Currently, Power Apps Premium licensing is not yet available at UW. The UWare team is hard at work to make Premium licensing available, but there is no estimated date of availability. This page, as well as the UWare Software Catalog, will be updated as new Premium licenses become available.
Power Apps for Current UW Users
Current and active UW users are eligible for a UW Office 365 license. These licenses usually come standard with your UW status and give you access to things like MS Word, MS Excel, and MS Outlook. A neat bonus is that UW Office 365 license-holders also get to use 'Power Apps Basic' for free!
If you don't qualify for a UW Office 365 license, you'll either have to pay for one or get a separate license for Power Apps.
Uses for Your Power App
Not all Power Apps are created equal: depending on what you want your app to do or what kind of data you want available to the app, your users may need more than the 'Basic' license.
Additionally, a 'Power Apps Basic' license can be used to create any number of Power Apps that use the basic set of features; however, if you want to create Power Apps that use any advanced features, you'll need an additional license.
Types of Power Apps Licenses
There are four (4) flavors of Power Apps license, and each has slightly different features and use cases. The differences between them boil down to:
- Capabilities - Different licenses grant access to different features, both for users and app developers
- Data Access - What kinds of data, where it's stored, and how much can be accessed all differs between license types
- License Assignment - License types differ in how they're assigned and to whom/what the assignment applies
- Price - Of course, each type has its own cost; check out the UWare page on Power Apps to see the most up-to-date pricing
Before we go into detail on each license, here's a summary of what each license type comes with:
| Capabilities | Premium | Per-App | Pay-As-You-Go | Basic |
| Use Custom Power Apps/Sites | Unlimited | 1 App OR 1 Website | 1 App | Unlimited |
| AI Builder | 500 Credits | 250 Credits | ||
| Premium/Custom Data Connectors | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| On-Prem Data Gateways | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Dataverse Access | Yes | Yes | Yes | 'Dataverse for Teams' Only |
| Custom Dataverse Tables | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Dataverse Database Capacity | 250 MB | 50 MB | ||
| Dataverse File Capacity | 2 GB | 400 MB |
Power Apps Basic
It's as the name suggests: the most basic tier of Power Apps, which comes with UW Office 365. 'Basic' users can build and run as many Power Apps as they want, as long as those apps only use 'Standard' data connectors; the 'Basic' license also only covers Power Apps that don't use Dataverse[1], and it don't allow for custom database tables.
Power Apps Premium (Coming Soon)
The 'Premium' tier of Power Apps comes with all the bells and whistles: a license-holder can both run and develop an unlimited number of Power Apps and Power Apps-based websites. They also can use any 'Premium' and 'Custom' data connectors, which means an app can access data from a wide variety of sources that aren't just limited to SharePoint and OneDrive!
'Premium' users also can run/build apps that have full access to files and data stored in Dataverse; their apps can even take advantage of custom tables that aren't a part of Microsoft's Common Data Model.
Finally, 'Premium' users get two big bonuses over other license types: they get up to 2GB of Dataverse file storage + up to 250MB of Dataverse database storage (to share across all the Power Apps they build) and they get 500 AI Builder service credits per month (renews each month, excess doesn't roll-over).
When they say 'Premium', they mean it!
Power Apps 'Per-App' (Coming Soon)
The 'Premium' license looks real nice, but what if you only need to use one or two apps with 'Premium' features every month? If you need some (or all) of the 'Premium' license's capabilities but don't need an unlimited number of apps, then the 'Per-App' license may be for you!
'Per-App' licenses aren't assigned to specific users; instead, they're purchased for an entire Power Apps Environment of your choosing. When a user needs a license, you'll apply it to a specific Power App[2]. For that specific app, the user gets all the same features and benefits of the 'Premium' license[3], but at a deep discount - it can take up to 4 'Per-App' licenses to match the cost of a single 'Premium' license!
If you know what Power Apps you want to use, the 'Per-App' license is a cost-effective way to get the most out of Power Apps.
Pay-As-You-Go
Let's say you know you're only going to use 1 or 2 Power Apps a month... but you aren't sure which specific ones you'll use. Or, let's say you know you'll use a Power App, but not every month (perhaps, an app that's used for a quarterly or annual task).
In that case, 'Pay-As-You-Go' may be the way for you!
Instead of paying a monthly cost every month, or needing to assign your license to specific apps, the 'Pay-As-You-Go' license is automatically assigned to Power Apps users and apps as-needed. 'Pay-As-You-Go' is great for cases where you have a strong estimate of how many people will use an app, but don't expect them to be using it all at the same time.
Here's how 'Pay-As-You-Go' works:
Use any Power App that takes advantage of 'Premium' features; if it's the first time you're using the app this month, you're billed the 'Pay-As-You-Go' charge, and you can use that app as much as you want for the rest of the month!
Use a different app in the same month? You'll be automatically billed a second 'Pay-As-You-Go' charge, and now you can use both apps as much as you want through the end of the month.
At the end of the month, any 'Pay-As-You-Go' licenses in your name are automatically cancelled and you aren't charged again until the next time you use a 'Premium' Power App.
Simple as that! Keep in mind, though: 'Pay-As-You-Go' licenses don't come with any Dataverse file or database storage, so the Power Apps you use can only read from Dataverse - can't save anything if you have nowhere to save it to, after all!
[2] A 'Per-App' license can be moved to a different app / reassigned between apps at will, but can only be reallocated between different Environments once every 90 days.
[3] Power Apps Per-App gets a reduced amount of Dataverse storage: only 250MB of file storage and 50MB of database storage. It also gets reduced AI Builder credits - 250 credits per month.
Which license is best for me?
Ultimately, you'll have to weigh the pros and cons of each license against your needs as a user/app developer to decide which is best for you. That said, we've boiled the decision tree down as much as we can to help you out:
- Do none of your apps need to take advantage of 'Premium' features? Stick with 'Power Apps Basic'.
- If you do need those features:
- Will you be using 4 or more apps every month? Go with 'Premium'.
- If not, will you be using apps every month?
- If yes, will they be the same apps every month? Go with 'Per-App'.
- If no, does your team have someone who can move your license(s) around when needed? Stick with 'Per-App'.
- If not (or if you do but it's a pain/you're OK with paying more for the convenience of not needing to move licenses around), go with 'Pay-As-You-Go'.
- If you're expecting to use apps infrequently, as-needed, or need the most flexibility in licensing, go with 'Pay-As-You-Go'.
Learn More
If you'd like a deeper dive into Power Apps licensing, here are some helpful links: