Deep dive on specific licenses
Entitlements to use Power Automate capabilities (standard connectors, premium connectors, attended RPA, etc.) are obtained via licenses and add-ons. This article provides details on each license.
To get an overview of the Power Automate key licenses, visit the types of Power Automate licenses page.
Power Automate Process license
A Power Automate Process license can be allocated to a machine or to a cloud flow.
Note
- The Process license replaced the Unattended RPA add-on (same price with more entitlements).
- The existing Unattended RPA add-ons have been upgraded to align on the Process license: once assigned to an environment, they now have exactly the same role as Process licenses and those two SKUs can be used interchangeably (allocated to cloud flows or machines).
| Process license scenarios | Description |
|---|---|
| Environment assignment | To be used by a cloud flow or a machine, a Process capacity license first needs to be assigned to the environment where the cloud flow or the machine is located. Learn how to allocate a Process capacity license to an environment. |
| Cloud flow allocation1 | Allocated to a cloud flow, a Power Automate Process license entitles it to use standard, premium, and custom connectors while being accessed by unlimited users within the organization (regardless of their user license). Each Process license allocated to a cloud flow entitles it to 250k daily Power Platform Request (stackable limit). Discover how to allocate a Process license to a cloud flow. A cloud flow that was allocated a Process license becomes a 'process flow.' Process flows have their plan switch to "Process plan" and a process-flow can be associated to other cloud flows (excluding other process-flows). A cloud flow associated to a process-flow is also covered by the Process license allocated to the process-flow. Its plan switches to "This flow is associated to run on process plan," its runs are considered 'in-context' or the Process license and its PPR consumption is counted against the Process license PPR entitlement. A process-flow can be associated to a maximum of 25 cloud flows. Discover how to associate flows to a process flow. |
| Machine allocation | Allocated to a machine, it becomes an unattended bot2. Each unattended bot on a machine entitles the machine to carry one unattended desktop flow run at a time. Machines can be manually allocated unattended bots or be set to auto-allocate themselves when required by a run in unattended mode. Any unattended bot allocation (manual or automatic) on a machine remains until a manual de-allocation occurs. To prevent a machine from auto-allocating itself Process capacity, disable its auto-allocation setting. Any cloud flow targeting a machine with unattended bot(s) is automatically covered by the machine's bot(s) and considered to be a 'process flow' (with the flow association capability) and is entitled to a 250k daily Power Platform Request (non-stackable limit). Those cloud flows have their plan automatically switch to "Process plan inherited from machine"3. Discover how to allocate a Process license to a machine. |
| Utilization management | You can visualize and manage all Process licenses allocated to cloud flows and machines within an environment using the Process capacity utilization page4. |
- Process allocation to cloud flows and flow association to process flows isn't yet completely available
- Each machine - depending on its OS - can support a maximum number of unattended bots (equal to the maximum number of Windows sessions the machine can concurrently open).
- Cloud flow with "Process plan inherited from machine" aren't yet available
- Breakdown of cloud flow allocations isn't yet available in the process capacity utilization page
Compare the Power Automate Process license with the other Power Automate capacity licenses.
Power Automate Hosted Process license
A Power Automate Hosted Process can be used by an individual hosted machine, by a hosted machine group (or by a cloud flow / a machine acting as a Process license):
| Hosted Process license scenarios | Description |
|---|---|
| Environment assignment | To be used by a hosted machine or a hosted machine group (or by a cloud / flow a machine), a Hosted Process capacity license first needs to be assigned to the environment where the hosted machine or the hosted machine group is located. Learn how to allocate a Hosted Process capacity license to an environment. |
| Hosted machine allocation | A hosted machine enables developers to build, test, and run automation on a constantly active (= turned-on) hosted machine. At creation of an individual hosted machine, a Hosted RPA add-on is auto-allocated to it and becomes a hosted bot. This hosted bot is pulled from the available hosted pool1 and is automatically released back to the pool at manual deletion of the hosted machine. |
| Hosted machine group allocation | A hosted machine group enables developers to run automation on an auto-scaling group of hosted machines. It's continuously adjusting the number of hosted machines turned-on to the desktop flow workload. One hosted bot is automatically pulled from the available hosted pool1 and temporarily allocated to the hosted machine group when it scales up: any new hosted machine turned-on in the group consumes one extra hosted bot. The hosted bot is automatically released to the available hosted pool1by the hosted machine group when it scales down (= when one of its hosted machines is turned-off). A hosted machine group has two scaling settings: - Max bots: the maximum number of hosted bots it can auto-allocate itself to turn-on hosted machines. - Committed bots: the guaranteed number of hosted bots it can immediately auto-allocate itself when required. The key benefits of hosted machine groups are: - Auto-scalability delivering high processing parallelization and reacting to demand spikes - Load balancing2 across multiple hosted machine groups, which optimizes the hosted bot utilization rate. Any cloud flow targeting a hosted machine or hosted machine group in unattended mode is automatically covered by the machines' hosted bot and considered to be a 'process flow' (with the flow association capability) and is entitled to a 250k daily Power Platform Request (non-stackable limit). Those cloud flows have their plan automatically switch to "Process plan inherited from machine"3. |
| Hosted Process usage as a Process license4 | The Power Automate Hosted Process is a superset of the Power Automate Process, which means it can provide the same entitlements as the Process license and act as one. When all Process licenses in an environment are already allocated to machines and cloud flows (or when there's no Process license assigned to the environment), the Hosted Process licenses are used instead of the Process license at any new allocation to machines / cloud flows IF the setting "Allow hosted capacity to be used as Process capacity" (in Admin Center) was enabled by the environment admin. |
| Utilization management | You can visualize and manage all Hosted Process licenses allocated to hosted machines and hosted machine groups within an environment using the Hosted Process capacity utilization page. |
- The available hosted pool supports all hosted machine groups auto-scaling operations: the hosted machine groups pull hosted bots from it when they scale up and are throttled (= can't scale-up) when the available hosted pool is empty.
- Load balancing refers to the ability of multiple hosted machine groups to scale-up and down at different moments using the same available hosted pool. The load balancing governance is managed through the max bots and committed bots scaling settings.
- Cloud flow with "Process plan inherited from machine" aren't yet available.
- The Power Automate Hosted Process superset behavior (allowing it to be applied to machines and cloud flows) and Admin Center setting aren't yet available, in the meantime any organization with Process overage that could be covered by its Hosted Process licenses should ignore the Process overage.
Compare the Power Automate Hosted Process license with the other Power Automate capacity licenses.
Power Automate Free license
If you sign in with your work or school email address, you get all capabilities included in the Power Automate Free license. If you have a non-business user account (such as an account that ends with @outlook.com or @gmail.com), you can still use Power Automate with the Power Automate Free license. Go to Power Automate and then select Try free.
Compare the Power Automate Free license with the other Power Automate user licenses.
Note
You can't share flows when you use the Free license.
To know which users have the Power Automate Free license, admins can go to the Microsoft 365 admin portal, sign in, and then select Billing > Licenses to find out how many Free licenses are assigned vs available:
To find out which users have a free license, select Assigned licenses.
Power Automate Trial license
A user can self-provision a Power Automate Trial license from within the Power Automate portal. This trial lasts for 90 days. For example, when a Power Automate Free user tries to create a desktop flow in a non-default environment (which operation he doesn't have entitlement for), the user is prompted to start a Trial that includes usage of premium connectors, attended RPA and unattended RPA:
Compare the Power Automate Trial license with the other Power Automate user licenses.
How can admins allow or block Power Automate Trial licenses (self-assisted)?
Admins can use PowerShell cmdlets to enable or disable self-assisted trials. Once disabled, all existing licenses of the specified type are removed from all users in the tenant. These trials aren't recoverable. Additionally, it blocks all further assignment of licenses of that type. Admins can enable self-assisted trials at any time.
Learn how to create a trial (subscription-based) environment in the Power Platform admin center.
Is Power Automate Trial license available in government clouds?
No, Power Automate Trial licenses aren't available work in government clouds (GCC). Those organizations can only purchase licenses with volume discounting.
Admin-managed trial licenses
Admin-managed trial licenses are trial versions of the Power Automate Premium, Power Automate Process, or Power Automate Hosted Process licenses. They bear the same entitlements but have a 30 days lifetime.
Global admins can provision those trial licenses on the Microsoft 365 admin center and assign them to users / environments. An admin-managed trial has an end date that can be extended once (another 30 days).
Note
- Admin-managed trials are different from the Power Automate Trial license (self-provisioned).
- When using an admin-managed trial SKU, the SKU name might not say Trial.
Follow these steps to get started.
Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Under the Billing section, select Purchase services.
Search for Power Automate, and then select a license.
Select the details of a license, and then select Start free trial.
A confirmation similar to this one opens.
After the free trial starts, select Billing > Licenses to get the 25 new licenses available for you to assign to users.
How can I create an admin trial, check expiry and extend trials?
Follow these instructions to create an admin trial, check expiry, and extend trials.
Power Automate seeded licenses
Entitlements to use Power Automate capabilities (standard connectors, premium connectors) can be obtained via seeded licenses. Seeded licenses are a particular type of Power Automate user licenses, they're tied to other Microsoft products and they offer limited capabilities on Power Automate.
Seeded licenses
Users gain limited rights to use Power Automate if they inherited seeded plans from licenses tied to other Microsoft products:
- Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) / Dynamics 365 Enterprise / Dynamics 365 Professional / Dynamics 365 Team Member
- Power Apps Per-app plan / Power Apps Premium / Power Apps Plan 1 or Plan 2 (legacy)
- Windows licenses
Those licenses entitle the user to create and run cloud flows with standard connectors. They can also entitle them to create and run a cloud flow with premium and custom connectors if the flow is in-context and associated to the application from which the seeded license is inherited.
Note
- Example 1: if a cloud flow uses premium connectors, is owned by a user with a Power Apps Premium license, associated to a Power App and triggered by the app, any user can run the flow if they have a Power Apps license.
- Example 2: a cloud flow created within a Dynamics 365/App using a Power Apps can connect to the following
- To any data source within the use rights of the Dynamics 365/App created using Power Apps.
- Directly with the Dynamics 365/App created using Power Apps (via built-in triggers/actions).
If the cloud flow is isolated and has nothing to do with the application, then a standalone Power Automate Premium must be purchased. You can find more details can be found in Microsoft Power Apps and Power Automate Licensing Guide.
Compare seeded licenses
Here-bellow a table detailing each seeded license entitlement:
| Power Apps Premium | Microsoft 365 | Dynamics 365 professional1 | Dynamics 365 Enterprise applications2 | Dynamics 365 Team member | Windows licenses | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applied to | User | User | User | User | User | Machine |
| Daily PPR limit | 40k per user | 6k per user | 40k per user | 40k per user | 6k per user | Not included |
| Standard connectors | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included |
| Premium connectors | Included with limitations 4 | Not included | Included with limitations 5 | Included with limitations 5 | Included with limitations 5 | Not included |
| Custom connectors | Included with limitations 4 | Not included | Included with limitations 5 | Included with limitations 5 | Included with limitations 3,5 | Not included |
| Attended RPA | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included with limitations6 |
| Unattended RPA | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Hosted RPA | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Business process flows | Included with limitations 4 | Not included | Included with limitations 5 | Included with limitations 5 | Included with limitations 5 | Not included |
| On-premises gateways | Included with limitations 4 | Not included | Included with limitations 5 | Included with limitations 5 | Included with limitations 5 | Not included |
| Process mining | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Process mining data storage | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| AI Builder credits | 500 | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Dataverse database storage | 250-MB per license | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Dataverse file storage | 2-GB per license | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
- Dynamics 365 Sales Professional and Dynamics 365 Customer Service Professional
- Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise, Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise, Dynamics 365 Field Service, Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation, Dynamics 365 Retail, Dynamics 365 Talent, and Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement plan
- In Dataverse for Teams environments (included in specific Office licenses), users can use custom connectors built on Azure and Dataverse
- Only included if cloud flow is in-context & associated to a Power App
- Only included if cloud flow is in-context & associated to a Dynamic 365 app
- Only includes local execution of desktop flow (no orchestration)
Power Automate legacy licenses
| License name | License type | Entitlements |
|---|---|---|
| Power Automate Per-user plan | User license (legacy) | The Power Automate Premium license replaced this license (it provides more entitlements for the same price). The already purchased Per-user plan licenses are still usable but considered legacy and they shouldn't be renewed but instead replaced by Power Automate Premium licenses. |
| Power Automate Per-flow plan | Capacity (legacy) allocated to cloud flow | The Power Automate Process license replaced this license. The already purchased Per-flow plan licenses are still usable but considered legacy and they shouldn't be renewed but instead replaced by Power Automate Process licenses. |
| P1 and P2 plans | User license (legacy) | These grandfathered licenses are no longer available for purchase nor via autorenewal after December 31, 2020. |
Important
To organizations with active Power Automate P1 and P2 plans:
Organizations with these licenses with renewals that are due on or after January 1, 2021 need to transition to the Power Automate Premium user license or to the Power Apps Premium user license to continue using the Microsoft Power Platform services. Organizations with active contracts that started before January 1, 2021 with grandfathered licenses will continue to be supported until the contract end date. Contact your Microsoft account representative for more information or purchase the replacing licenses.
Power Apps Developer plan
There's a free Power Apps Developer plan to learn about Power Platform. You aren't allowed to use it in production but can try out things and have access to all premium connectors. You can use this free developer plan also in a free Microsoft 365 developer tenant. Business process flows and RPA flows can't be created in an environment with the Power Apps Developer plan.
Entitlements of free / trial / legacy licenses
| Free license | Trial license | Per-user plan (legacy) | Per-flow plan (legacy) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applied to | User | User | User | Cloud flow |
| Daily PPR limit 1 | 6k per user | 40k per user | 250k per Per-flow plan2 | |
| Standard connectors | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Premium connectors | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Custom connectors | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Attended RPA | Not included | One attended bot included | Not included | Not included |
| Unattended RPA | Not included | One unattended bot included | Not included | Not included |
| Hosted RPA | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Business process flows | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| On-premises gateways | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Process mining | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included |
| Process mining data storage | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| AI Builder credits | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Dataverse database storage | Not included | Not included | 250-MB per license | 50-MB per license |
| Dataverse file storage | Not included | Not included | 2-GB per license | 200-MB per license |
- The Power Platform Requests are subjected to higher limits during the transition period. Learn more on Request limits in Power Automate).
- Only one Per-flow plan can be allocated to a cloud flow (no multi-allocation), PPR limits can't be stacked.