Microsoft Power Automate Review, Pricing & Features

Microsoft Power Automate review covering cloud flows, RPA bots, per-user and per-flow pricing, and how it compares to Zapier and UiPath.

Category: Automation
Pricing: Subscription, from Included with Microsoft 365 (standard connectors); $15/user/month for Premium
Verified: Not yet
Last updated: July 18, 2026
Founded: 1975
Headquarters: Redmond, Washington, USA

WindowsNo-CodeAIFreemiumTemplates

Overview

Microsoft Power Automate is a workflow automation and RPA platform that connects apps and automates repetitive tasks. It began as Microsoft Flow, generally available from October 2016, and was rebranded to Power Automate on November 4, 2019, a change that coincided with expanding the product beyond cloud workflows into desktop RPA and virtual agents.

The platform spans three main automation types: cloud flows for connecting online apps and services, desktop flows for RPA-style automation of desktop and legacy applications, and business process flows for enforcing consistent, guided multi-step processes.

Key Features

Any Microsoft 365 user can build cloud flows using standard connectors for apps like Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, Excel, and Planner without an extra license. Flows built with premium connectors, such as Salesforce or SAP, require a Power Automate Premium license.

For robotic process automation, desktop flows can run in attended mode (triggered by and running alongside a human user) under the Premium plan, or in unattended mode via the Process or Hosted Process plans, where bots run automatically without a supervising user. Process Mining, available as a Premium add-on, analyzes how business processes actually execute in practice to identify automation opportunities.

Pricing

Power Automate Premium costs $15 per user per month and includes unlimited cloud flows, attended desktop flows, 5,000 AI Builder credits, and cloud storage. Unattended RPA requires the Process plan at $150 per bot per month, or Hosted Process at $215 per bot per month for Microsoft-hosted bot infrastructure.

A Per Flow plan, around $500 per month for 5 flows, licenses specific organization-wide flows rather than individual users. Process Mining is an additional add-on available only on the Premium plan, priced at $5,000 per tenant per month billed annually.

Key Features

Cloud flows — Automated, scheduled, or manually triggered workflows connecting cloud apps and services.
Desktop flows (RPA) — Record-and-replay automation of actions across desktop and legacy applications.
Unattended bots — Bots that run automatically on a schedule without a supervising human user, via the Process or Hosted Process plans.
Business process flows — Guided, multi-step processes that enforce a consistent workflow across a team.
AI Builder integration — Adds pre-built AI models, such as document processing, into automated flows.
Process Mining — Analyzes how business processes actually run in practice to surface automation opportunities.
Standard and premium connectors — Hundreds of connectors for Microsoft and third-party apps, split between included standard connectors and licensed premium connectors.
Power Platform integration — Flows can be triggered by or feed into Power Apps and Power BI within the same platform.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Basic cloud automation is included with any Microsoft 365 subscription at no extra cost
Covers both simple cloud workflows and enterprise-grade unattended RPA on one platform
Deep integration with Power Apps, Power BI, and Microsoft 365 apps
AI Builder adds AI capabilities to flows without separate data science tooling
Process Mining helps identify which processes are worth automating before building flows

Cons

Premium connectors require a separate $15/user/month license even for occasional use
Unattended RPA bots are expensive at $150-$215 per bot per month
Process Mining add-on is costly at $5,000 per tenant per month
Licensing model (per-user, per-flow, per-bot) can be complex to plan for at scale
Desktop flow reliability can be sensitive to UI changes in the applications being automated

Pricing

Included with Microsoft 365
Included N/A
Power Automate Premium
$15/user/month Monthly
Process (Unattended RPA)
$150/bot/month Monthly
Hosted Process
$215/bot/month Monthly

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Microsoft Power Automate free with Microsoft 365?

Basic cloud flows using standard connectors (Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, Excel, Planner) are included with Microsoft 365 at no extra cost; premium connectors require a separate Premium license.

What was Power Automate called before?

It launched as Microsoft Flow in 2016 and was renamed Power Automate on November 4, 2019 at Microsoft Ignite.

How much does Power Automate Premium cost?

Power Automate Premium costs $15 per user per month and includes unlimited cloud flows, attended desktop flows, and 5,000 AI Builder credits.

What is the difference between attended and unattended RPA in Power Automate?

Attended automation runs alongside a human user under the Premium plan, while unattended automation runs bots automatically without supervision and requires the Process plan ($150/bot/month) or Hosted Process plan ($215/bot/month).

What is Process Mining in Power Automate?

Process Mining analyzes how business processes actually execute in practice, helping identify automation opportunities; it's available only as a Premium add-on for $5,000 per tenant per month.

What are the main alternatives to Power Automate?

The main competitors are Zapier, UiPath, Automation Anywhere, and Make (formerly Integromat).

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