Power Automate review
by Microsoft CorporationWorkflow automation
Microsoft’s cloud and desktop automation, licensed per user at $15 a month (Premium, paid yearly) with premium connectors, RPA, a HIPAA BAA and EU regions, plus a Free licence with standard connectors.
- Free plan
- Self-serve
- Per seat
- Public prices
What you're paying for
- Compliance included (main value)
- Built-in reach
- Worth the price
Automation inside Microsoft 365, with HIPAA, ISO 27001, EU regions and Entra ID sign-in covered by Microsoft, from $15 per user a month.
Power Automate puts cloud flows and desktop automation in the same Microsoft tenant as Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and Dynamics 365, with 1,400+ certified connectors. Its compliance file comes from Microsoft: Power Automate is in the scope of Microsoft’s SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 reports, its HIPAA BAA is included by default in the data protection terms, and environments can be created in Europe. One Premium licence at $15 a month (paid yearly) covers premium connectors, the HTTP trigger and 40,000 requests a day.
- HIPAA BAA by defaultMicrosoft’s HIPAA page says its BAA is available through the Microsoft Online Services Data Protection Addendum by default, and lists the Power Automate cloud service as in scope.Evidence: Microsoft HIPAA/HITECH compliance offering page (2026-10-16)
- Audited and in an EU regionPower Automate is listed in the scope of Microsoft’s SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 offerings, and flows live in environments created in a chosen region, Europe included.Evidence: Microsoft SOC 2 and ISO 27001 pages, Power Automate regions overview (2026-10-16)
- High limits on one licencePremium is $15 a month paid yearly with 40,000 Power Platform requests per user a day, far above our scenario’s 10,000 requests a month.Evidence: Pricing page and request limits docs (2026-10-16)
- Best for
- Organizations on Microsoft 365 that need HIPAA, ISO 27001 or EU residency, and builders who also automate Windows desktop apps.
- Good to know
- It is licensed per user, paid yearly: each person who owns or shares premium flows needs a licence, and the Free licence has no premium connectors.
How Power Automate compares
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Workflow automation: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Power Automate | Make | n8n Cloud | Zapier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Compliance includedAutomation inside Microsoft 365, with HIPAA, ISO 27001, EU regions and Entra ID sign-in covered by Microsoft, from $15 per user a month. | Worth the priceA visual builder for branching, multi-step scenarios at a low price per action, with an EU data center on every plan. | Saves engineering timeWorkflows that mix visual steps with your own code, billed per run rather than per step, with a self-hosted edition as an exit. | Built-in reachConnect more than 9,000 apps in multi-step workflows without code, and pay only for actions that succeed. |
| Overall score | 8.5Best | 7.8 | 6.6 | 5.4 |
| Free option | Free plan | Free plan | 14-day free trial | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | No card needed | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $15/user/mo | $9/mo | $20/mo | $19.99/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Tiered | Tiered | Tiered |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per-user licence with a daily request limit; per-flow or per-bot Process licences | Credits: most module actions use one, the trigger included; routers and error handlers none | Executions: one per run of a whole workflow, whatever its length | Tasks: one per successful action; triggers, polling and built-in tools use none |
| Free option | Free licence: standard connectors, no sharing, 6,000 actions a day; 30-day Premium trial | Free plan: 1,000 credits a month, 2 active scenarios; no trial stated | No free cloud plan; 14-day trial (1,000 executions), no card; Community Edition self-hosted | Free plan: 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps, 1 user; 14-day Professional trial, no card |
| Reference scenario (2,000 runs, annual) | $15/mo for 1 Premium user (10,000 requests a month needed), computed | $9/mo on Core, 10,000 credits (10,000 needed), computed | $20/mo on Starter, 2,500 executions (2,000 needed), computed | $129/mo on Professional, 10K tasks (8,000 tasks needed), computed |
| Month-to-month price | Not published (paid yearly) | $10.59 for Core 10,000 credits ($18.82 Pro, $34.12 Teams) | $24 for Starter; $60 for Pro 10,000 executions | $193.50 for Professional 10K tasks; from $29.99 for 750 tasks |
| Usage past the plan | Power Platform Requests add-on, $50 a month (licensing FAQ) | Extra credits at the plan rate plus 25%, manual or auto-purchase | Not stated for Cloud plans | Pay-per-task at 1.25× the base rate (annual) or 2.5× (monthly), up to 3× the tier |
| Code steps | C# in custom connectors; PowerShell, Python, JavaScript and .NET scripts in desktop flows | Make Code App (JavaScript or Python) from Core, 2 credits per second of code | JavaScript and Python code steps on every plan | Code by Zapier on every plan; 30 seconds of included runtime per step on Professional |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | In scope of Microsoft’s SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3; ISO 27001-certified security program | SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3; ISO 27001 not stated | SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3; ISO 27001 not stated |
| HIPAA BAA | Included by default through the Microsoft Online Services DPA | Not stated | Not stated | Not offered: Zapier says it cannot sign BAAs |
| EU data hosting | Environments in the Europe region | Every plan: US or EU data center chosen when the organization is created | Every Cloud plan: Frankfurt, Germany (the only stated region) | Not offered: data stored on AWS in the United States |
| SSO | Sign-in through Microsoft Entra ID | Company SSO (OAuth2 or SAML2) on Enterprise | SAML and LDAP on Enterprise (Business is self-hosted only) | SAML on Team in the plan table; Enterprise in the FAQs |
| Workflow export | Flows as .zip packages or Dataverse solutions | Scenario blueprints as JSON on every plan | Workflows download as JSON on every plan | Zaps as JSON on Team and Enterprise |
| Self-hosting | No | No | Yes: Community Edition free on GitHub; Business and Enterprise licences | No |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Power Automate brings Microsoft’s compliance file, EU regions and high limits to one $15 per-user licence, plus desktop automation. It is licensed per user and paid yearly, and webhooks and premium connectors need that paid licence. | From its public pages, Make is the lowest-cost way to run our scenario, with branching, error handling, code and an EU region from the $9 Core plan. Every module run counts as a credit, and SSO and audit logs are Enterprise features. | From its public pages, n8n Cloud has the most predictable per-run price here, with code, AI and webhooks on the $20 Starter plan and a self-hosted edition as an exit. It has no free cloud plan, hosts in Frankfurt only, and keeps SSO and audit logs for Enterprise. | From its public pages, Zapier offers the broadest app directory here and a complete builder on Professional, priced per successful action. Costs grow with action volume, data stays in the US, and the audit log and Zap export start on Team. |
Evidence: Power Automate: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Make: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; n8n Cloud: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Zapier: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Score
- Pricing clarity
- 7.0 / 10, Good
- scenario plan priced; can be bought online; no month-to-month price published; extra usage priced; the pricing page offers a 30-day trial; the licensing docs describe a 90-day self-provisioned trial (admin-managed trials last 30 days); the Power Platform Requests add-on is 10,000 requests a day for $50 a month in the licensing FAQ, but adds 50,000 a day on the request-limits page
- Free plan and trial
- 8.5 / 10, Excellent
- free plan covers about 36,000 reference runs a month (6,000 actions a day ÷ 5 requests a run × 30 days), multi-step workflows, webhook trigger not included or not stated, 30-day trial
- Price for 2,000 runs
- 9.0 / 10, Excellent
- $15/mo on Power Automate Premium (1 user), annual terms: 1 user licence; 2,000 runs × 5 requests (trigger and 4 actions) = 10,000 Power Platform requests a month, within the 40,000 a day the licence allows; the HTTP request trigger is premium, so the Free licence cannot run the scenario; assumes each trigger and action counts as one Power Platform request
- Workflow building blocks
- 9.0 / 10, Excellent
- 1,400 apps listed; branching on the scenario plan; code step on the scenario plan; version history on the scenario plan; retries or error routes on the scenario plan; AI steps on the scenario plan
- Compliance and data residency
- 10.0 / 10, Excellent
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA BAA on the scenario plan, EU data storage on the scenario plan (environments are created in a chosen region; Europe maps to North and West Europe data centers)
- Admin, team and exit
- 7.6 / 10, Good
- SSO on the scenario plan (sign-in through Microsoft Entra ID); audit log enterprise or through sales only (in Microsoft Purview, whose licensing the admin docs ask you to review); team roles on the scenario plan; workflow export on the scenario plan (.zip packages or Dataverse solutions); cloud only; management API
Review
Review from public pages
Written from Power Automate's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 16, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
What the public pages show
We read Microsoft's US Power Automate pricing page and product page, the Power Platform licensing FAQ, the license-type and license deep-dive pages, the request limits page, Microsoft's SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA compliance offering pages, and Power Automate docs on regions, sharing, drafts and versioning, exporting flows, error handling, activity logs and desktop-flow scripting on Oct 16, 2026; we did not sign in, start a trial or build a flow. The pricing page shows US prices with a note that actual prices may vary by currency, country and organization and are set at checkout.
The licensing is documented in depth, with two differences between pages. The pricing page offers a 30-day trial, while the licensing docs describe a 90-day self-provisioned trial and 30-day admin-managed trials. And the Power Platform Requests add-on is 10,000 requests a day for $50 a month in the licensing FAQ but adds 50,000 a day on the request-limits page. The HTTP request trigger our scenario uses is premium, according to a Microsoft Learn tutorial, so the Free licence cannot run it.
Strengths
- Compliance from Microsoft
Power Automate is in the scope of Microsoft’s SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA BAA, and the BAA is part of the data protection terms by default.
vs n8n Cloud: Zapier cannot sign BAAs, and Make and n8n Cloud do not state HIPAA support.
- Generous daily limits
A Premium user gets 40,000 Power Platform requests a day; a Process licence gives a single flow 250,000 a day, stackable up to 10.
- Cloud and desktop automation together
Premium includes attended desktop flows (RPA) that run scripts in PowerShell, Python, JavaScript and .NET, plus process mining.
vs Zapier: Zapier, Make and n8n automate through APIs only.
- A free licence with real limits
The Free licence runs cloud flows with standard connectors up to 6,000 actions a day per user, for work, school or personal accounts.
Things to know
- Per-user licences, paid yearly
Premium is $15 per user a month paid yearly, and the pricing page publishes no month-to-month price; sharing flows needs a paid licence.
Workaround: A Process licence ($150 a month per flow) lets a flow use premium connectors for any user.
- Webhooks and premium apps need Premium
The Free licence covers standard connectors only; the HTTP request trigger, premium and custom connectors need Premium or a Process licence.
- Audit logs sit in Microsoft Purview
Flow creation, edits, deletions and permission changes appear in Microsoft Purview, whose own licensing the admin docs ask you to review.
- Fewer connectors than Zapier
The product page lists more than 1,400 certified connectors, and custom connectors fill gaps.
Pricing reality
Power Automate is licensed per user per month, paid yearly. Premium ($15) covers cloud flows with premium connectors and attended RPA within 40,000 Power Platform requests per user a day. For our scenario, 1 builder runs 2,000 flows of a trigger and 4 actions, about 10,000 requests a month (assuming one request per trigger or action), so one Premium licence at $15 a month covers it; the Free licence cannot, because the HTTP request trigger is premium. Costs grow with people rather than runs: 5 builders are $75 a month (computed). Process ($150 per bot a month) licenses a flow for all its users or an unattended bot; Hosted Process is $215. Extra AI credits are sold as add-ons.
Exit path
A cloud flow can be exported as a .zip package and imported into another environment, or moved with Dataverse solutions; only the owner or a co-owner can export it. Packages are Power Automate formats, so moving to another platform means rebuilding the flows. Deleted flows can be restored within 21 days of deletion.
Compared with
- Pick Power Automate when
- You need a HIPAA BAA, ISO 27001 or EU environments, at $15 per user a month.
- Pick Zapier when
- You connect many non-Microsoft apps and want 9,000+ apps without per-user licences.
- Pick Power Automate when
- You work in Microsoft 365 and want Entra ID sign-in, Purview audit logs and a HIPAA BAA without an enterprise contract.
- Pick Make when
- You want unlimited users on one plan from $9 a month and a visual builder outside the Microsoft stack.
- Pick Power Automate when
- You need Microsoft’s compliance file and desktop automation of Windows apps.
- Pick n8n Cloud when
- You want code steps in JavaScript or Python, unlimited users and a self-hosted edition.
Choose it if
- Your organization already runs on Microsoft 365 and Entra ID.
- You need a HIPAA BAA, ISO 27001 or EU environments without an enterprise contract.
- You also need to automate Windows desktop apps.
Look elsewhere if
- Many people build flows and you want one flat price for unlimited users.
- You want to pay month to month.
Bottom line
From its public pages, Power Automate brings Microsoft’s compliance file, EU regions and high limits to one $15 per-user licence, plus desktop automation. It is licensed per user and paid yearly, and webhooks and premium connectors need that paid licence.
Plan limits at a glance
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per-user licence with a daily request limit; per-flow or per-bot Process licences |
| Free option | Free licence: standard connectors, no sharing, 6,000 actions a day; 30-day Premium trial |
| Reference scenario (2,000 runs, annual) | $15/mo for 1 Premium user (10,000 requests a month needed), computed |
| Month-to-month price | Not published (paid yearly) |
| Usage past the plan | Power Platform Requests add-on, $50 a month (licensing FAQ) |
| Code steps | C# in custom connectors; PowerShell, Python, JavaScript and .NET scripts in desktop flows |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | In scope of Microsoft’s SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 |
| HIPAA BAA | Included by default through the Microsoft Online Services DPA |
| EU data hosting | Environments in the Europe region |
| SSO | Sign-in through Microsoft Entra ID |
| Workflow export | Flows as .zip packages or Dataverse solutions |
| Self-hosting | No |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 16, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Power Automate yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 16, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Power Automate yet.
Power Automate lists 4 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Power Automate Premium (paid yearly), costs $15/user/mo.
- Power AutomateFreeFree licence$0/moCloud flows with standard connectors; 6,000 actions a day per user
- No premium or custom connectors (the HTTP request trigger is premium)
- Flows cannot be shared
- Attended desktop flows run locally
- Work, school or personal accounts
- Power AutomateLowest pricePower Automate Premium$15/user/moPaid yearly; 40,000 Power Platform requests per user a day; 30-day trial
- Standard, premium and custom connectors
- Attended desktop flows (RPA) and process mining
- AI Builder credits, 250 MB Dataverse database and 2 GB file
- Sharing, co-owners and managed environments
- Power AutomatePower Automate Process$150/bot/moPaid yearly; licenses one cloud flow or one unattended bot; 250,000 requests a day
- Premium connectors for every user of the flow
- Unattended desktop flows (one run at a time per bot)
- Stackable up to 10 per flow
- Power AutomatePower Automate Hosted Process$215/bot/moPaid yearly; unattended automation on a Microsoft-hosted virtual machine
- Everything in Process
- Microsoft-hosted machines and machine groups
- Dataverse 50 MB database and 200 MB file
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-16.
Source: microsoft.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.