Microsoft Power Automate
Low-code cloud automation and RPA across the Microsoft ecosystem.
What is Microsoft Power Automate?
Microsoft Power Automate is a low-code automation platform for building workflows across cloud apps and services, plus desktop robotic process automation (RPA). Part of the Power Platform, it lets business users and IT automate repetitive tasks and connect Microsoft and third-party systems.
Best known for: Low-code automation and RPA across the Microsoft ecosystem
Key features
- Cloud workflow automation flows
- Desktop RPA for legacy apps
- Hundreds of prebuilt connectors
- AI-assisted flow building with Copilot
- Approval and notification workflows
- Process and task mining
Who Microsoft Power Automate is best for
- Organizations already standardized on Microsoft 365 and Dataverse
- Teams needing both cloud flows and desktop RPA under one license
- Enterprises wanting attended + unattended automation with governance
Ideal team: Mid-to-large enterprises on the Microsoft stack that need governed, scalable RPA plus cloud workflow automation.
Microsoft Power Automate pricing
Free
$0
- Cloud flows, standard connectors
- UI-based flows
- Try before you buy
Premium
$15/per user / mo
- Attended RPA (desktop flows)
- Premium & custom connectors
- 5,000 AI Builder credits
Process
$150/per bot / mo
- Unattended RPA
- Runs regardless of user count
- Dataverse 50 MB
Hosted Process
$215/per bot / mo
- Unattended RPA on hosted VM
- No self-managed infrastructure
- Microsoft-managed runtime
Costs to watch before you commit
- All paid tiers are annual (per-user or per-bot yearly commitment) — there is no cheap month-to-month.
- Unattended RPA is a steep jump: $150–$215 per bot/month versus $15 Premium per user.
- AI Builder credits, Process Mining, and Dataverse storage overages bill separately.
- The version bundled with Microsoft 365 uses standard connectors only; premium/custom connectors require a Premium license.
Top Microsoft Power Automate alternatives
Popular Automation & iPaaS tools teams evaluate alongside Microsoft Power Automate.
OttoKit (SureTriggers)All-in-one automation connecting WordPress and 1,000+ apps.
Relay.appAI-powered workflow automation with human-in-the-loop approvals.
LatenodeLow-code automation with full code and AI — pay for runtime, not per task.
ParabolaTurn messy data into automated workflows — no code required.
ActivepiecesOpen-source AI automation and MCP — a self-hostable Zapier alternative.