Microsoft Power Platform licensing overview
The purpose of this section is to provide a brief overview of the licensing possibilities of the Microsoft Power Platform components including high-level price tags. Licensing details, which are very complex and change frequently, can be found in the various licensing guides Microsoft regularly publishes:
Figure 1.4 - Microsoft Power Platform licensing overview
The preceding overview can serve as a first orientation when deciding on the products to purchase.
For example, when you need a simple relationship management solution with some basic sales management capabilities, is it better to purchase Dynamics 365 Sales, which starts at about $65 per user, or is it sufficient to choose a Power Apps single-app license for $10 per user for creating simple model-driven apps with certain simple extensions?
Alternatively, when you need complex marketing management, does it make sense to choose a Power Apps single-app license for $10 per user and invest months of complex development to implement all of the requirements or rather purchase Dynamics 365 Marketing for $1,500 per month, where all my requirements are covered as standard?
Let's answer these types of questions with a short and simplified 3-year cost calculation.
Simple relationship management
In the following table, we provide a high-level simplified cost calculation, where for a Dynamics 365 Sales Professional application ($65/user/month) we calculate with 80 hours of implementation of the out-of-the-box product, for the Power Apps Per-App Plan ($10/user/app/month) with 320 hours of implementation including light customization. The cost of labor is estimated at $150/hour:
Figure 1.5 - Sales Management Cost comparison example
As we can see in this case, purchasing a Power Apps license is significantly beneficial over Dynamics 365.
Complex marketing management
In the following table, we provide a high-level simplified cost calculation where, for Dynamics 365 Marketing, we calculate 160 hours of implementation of the out-of-the-box product, and for Power Apps Per-App Plan ($10/user/app/month), 5,000 hours of implementation including complex customization and custom development. The cost of labor is estimated at $150/hour:
Figure 1.6 - Marketing Management Cost comparison example
As we can see in this case, a custom development approach would cost 10 times more than deciding on the right Dynamics 365 product providing the required capabilities.
Note
For a detailed information about Power Apps and Microsoft Power Automate licensing, please refer to the following link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/pricing-billing-skus
Further details on the Power Platform components and Products are available at https://powerplatform.microsoft.com/en-us/