Microsoft Power Apps Reviews

I am currently a passive freelancer after retiring last year and completing certifications to transition into freelancing. I previously implemented Microsoft Power Apps within my organization, and I most recently worked with Microsoft Power Apps this month, with prior work at the end of last month.

I am largely focusing on content management with Microsoft Power Apps, especially financial content management with the help of AI. I am focusing primarily on makers rather than pro-code development, but more on low-code maker development.

I have seen a lot of new features coming into Microsoft Power Apps over the last year, and the overall ecosystem is coming together much better now. It was more fragmented earlier, but it is getting together much better.

I am focusing largely on the AI piece, including things like content extraction, image recognition, prompting, and automatic approval decisions. I am looking into more of that, so largely content extraction and AI-based workflows.

I do use canvas apps. Given that Microsoft Power Apps is low-code, it makes things much faster and makes me think more from a functional perspective rather than consuming my time on implementation aspects or technical aspects. The low-code, drag-and-drop simplicity and the rich connectors which are available have really helped in the canvas app. Added to that, the AI feature now coming into the canvas app is also very helpful.

A lot of time with Microsoft Power Apps, people just want plain vanilla data management with relationships across tables behind the scene and simple CRUD operations which are available in terms of create, read, update, and delete. If someone is not looking for anything fancy and wants something really quick, I usually start off with a model-driven app because it is pretty straightforward. There is a little bit of JavaScript and other few things which have now come up where you can actually customize a few things. In general, if the relationships are well-established in the data model behind the scene and you want something as plain as CRUD operations, model apps are very good. Another thing about model apps is that model-driven app provides uniform consistency. I was in the content management role in my company, and we always tried to come up with a uniform user interface that the entire organization can use. You have the list of entities listed on the left, and when you go into an entity, you have all the related entities that come down the drop-down box and you have standard main grid and record grid. It is a very standardized UI.

Microsoft Power Apps could be improved because there are still a lot of jargons and too many moving parts. For example, if you look at Copilot, the term Copilot is confusing in the sense of whether it is Copilot in M365, Copilot Studio, or Copilot in Microsoft Power Apps. There is a plan designer which uses Copilot. The whole thing how AI has been positioned is still not lucid for the end user. An end user wants to know exactly what they want and where they go to get it. I think that could also be because things are evolving so fast. From an end-user perspective, the way it has been positioned, the clarity and the boundaries between the different types of offerings and AI offerings available is confusing as of now. There should be better clarity on that.

The biggest issue I have, and I have also spoken to a few of my clients about this, is the licensing model. In traditional software development, almost 95 percent of the time, the development team bears the cost of the licenses. For example, if I develop something, I may have to pay licenses for four or five different software that I use. As a user, if you use my services, you probably pay something to me as a subscription, but you do not have to bother about the licenses. All that is wrapped under the hood. Unfortunately, in Power Platform as such, and even in other low-code things like UiPath, if you use a premium feature such as Dataverse, almost everything ends up using Dataverse or SQL Server or some relational database. If you use that, then as an app builder or app maker you have to have a premium license. The end user too would need to have a premium license. That really makes the adoption prohibitive. It is too expensive. We are talking about something like around just for Microsoft Power Apps alone, approximately twenty dollars per month, which is extremely high.

Another point to consider for what else can be improved in Microsoft Power Apps is that one does not know what compute power one is getting when one buys a license. If you look at the licensing model, you will get to know how much of Dataverse storage you will get in terms of log storage, database storage, and file storage. However, you do not get to know how much of compute power is being given to you. I do not think Microsoft has an SLA saying that any request of a certain amount, such as MB per second, you will get a response time of whatever, one by sixtieth of a second or some millisecond. I do not think that they have that performance SLA in place. They do have storage SLA which comes with the license, but they do not have a corresponding SLA for performance.

I have been working with Microsoft Power Apps for close to two years.

It is pretty good how it scales up on the model that I am using. I have not really seen any performance issues, slowness, or response time. It is quite good.

I communicate with the technical support of Microsoft Power Apps very infrequently. I would say once in six months, something like that. It is very infrequent.

I would not give them anything more than six or seven, maximum based on my experience with the technical support of Microsoft Power Apps. The people who support it do not seem to have in-depth knowledge of the product, and they usually end up giving standard answers and links to publicly available material, which often I would have tried all of that. They keep pointing to the same material which is publicly available. My problem has always been something very specific, and none of them I found have been able to help. I engaged them around two to three times over the last two years, and all the time they give a link to publicly available information without really understanding what my problem is. Quite often, I have had to give them solutions back saying that based on my research, I think this is what is happening. They say that agreed and they close the ticket. Many times, they have said things such as that there is a table relationship which is implicitly established. I said that is fine, but where is the documentation that says it is established. For example, accounts and the contacts table are supposed to have some implicit built-in relationship between these two Dataverse tables. So I asked them for proof, and they were not able to provide it. They said that it is not documented. Those are the kinds of things. I think the skill levels are low. They are probably adequate for pretty vanilla type of requirements or support tickets, but when it actually comes to something in-depth, I would not rate them more than six or seven, maximum seven.

Positive

I did participate in the initial setup of Microsoft Power Apps. This experience is close to a year old, and things have just been moving along since then. I will share things which are like a year old, but I think a lot of it holds good. Though Microsoft Power Platform in general and Microsoft Power Apps specifically have come up with things better now.

From the setup perspective, usage perspective, and deployment perspective, there are two types and two categories to consider. First is purely from the maker's perspective. If I am the one who is building a Microsoft Power Apps application or a UI, what does it mean for me. But I think the second category is more important, and that is where I would say ninety-eight to ninety-nine percent of things fail. That is, what does the organization allow. How do you set up the governance for Microsoft Power Apps in an organization. As a maker, I can do whatever I want within my small ecosystem of M365 because I do not need anybody's license as such. It is free and comes with my M365 license. But people want to build much more than just use M365 for simple automations. At that time, there is a lot of governance that needs to be built into place to make sure Microsoft Power Apps, of course not just Microsoft Power Apps but other parts too, since we are now conversing about Microsoft Power Apps, there are a lot of things that need to be taken care of in terms of governance of Microsoft Power Apps.

The first one is about the maker itself. As a maker, I make an app and I deploy it. I think it was extremely simple. There is nothing really, especially given that Microsoft gives a free developer environment. I think it was very easy. So no problem there. I did not use any of the ALMs or the classic ALMs of deployment pipelines or Power Platform deployment pipelines. I did use solutions to move from one environment to the other, basically from my non-production environment to production environment, but I did not use the Power Platform deployment pipeline. The reason for that is it needs to be managed. My production environment has to be tagged as managed. That means every user who uses my app in my production environment will again need a license, even if I am using the SharePoint list, because it is a managed environment. So that was one difficulty that I had. Therefore, I opted out of using managed environments, which means Power Platform deployment pipelines were ruled out. So I basically just exported and imported the solutions from one environment to the other environment. In that process, I think it was extremely simple to set up. The developer environment, as I said, takes just a couple of minutes. I can get a free developer environment provisioned. For provisioning of the production environment, which of course one has to pay a license for because it is a production type, that was also very simple. I think it is very simple, so there is no complexity there. It is just the deployment piece where, as I said, the mandate to make the target environment as a managed environment is a deterrent because that means the end cost of operational cost will become very high. Other than that, as a maker, I think it was pretty simple in terms of setting up, developing, and deploying.

I have not seen any return on investment with Microsoft Power Apps. I have not really gone into production-level work. I have been playing around with the free kind of options like SharePoint list and M365 connectors largely. I have not really looked into ROI because of the cost and have not been able to scale it up to enterprise level.

Power Automate is again largely my primary focus since I am in the content management workspace. I usually look more for cloud-based flows where the arrival of a file or arrival of some content triggers a flow. In the flow, I use different models to do extraction of the text, particularly PDF extraction. I extract PDFs along with the coordinate. I have integrated with Azure in this instance. I have used Azure Document Intelligence. I call Azure Document Intelligence API endpoint from my Power Automate. Then I have the flow continue, and I put the extracted data into the database. That is then made available to my canvas app for people to look into it and modify it.

Power Automate helps me automate this process when I require a particular content to be available. Usually it is a PDF file or some sort of file that arrives. Within the Power Automate flow, I call Azure's Document Intelligence and have the content extracted and got back to me in a JSON format. I store that in my database in Dataverse, and then the flow completes. Then there are different UIs, either model-driven app or canvas app, which helps the users see the extracted data. The users can actually see and click through the data to see where from within the document the values were extracted so that way they can do a quick curation to see whether the extractions are all correct and then they sign off.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Power Apps offers two different types: model-driven apps and Canvas apps. The model-driven app is useful for building a data model container and using pre-built tables to create a user interface, whether it's for reporting or data collection. The model-driven app works for pulling in data from other places, but it becomes hard to maintain as it grows larger. The Canvas app is most effective for serving up a SharePoint list or something similar, allowing for a very simple interface powered by usually only one source. However, it can get complicated when trying to do multiple things from multiple places and keep track of everything.

The data behind Microsoft Power Apps is segment data, which can raise complexity, especially if you want to create two or three apps or more. You have to recreate data feeds within each environment, which increases maintenance and proliferates data ingestion rules.

If you're using Microsoft Power Apps to connect to a SharePoint list and create a quick form for business users, it's highly effective. It's a phenomenal use case when it's serving a small group and powered off a single list, making it easy for almost every business user to pick up and run with.

I deal with tools such as SharePoint to a decent extent. I work with Power Platform, including Microsoft Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI, although I haven't worked quite as much with Data Fabric yet. I know a substantial amount about the Microsoft stack and about all the Office products.

Integrating with the Azure environment is fairly straightforward. If you have a SharePoint list, you can easily connect that. However, if you have a data source that's a premium connector, you need to be careful. For instance, I run a couple of SQL Servers, which are premium connectors in Microsoft Power Apps, and that requires a different licensing model than what a standard E5 license covers.

The areas for improvement include scalability, which becomes cumbersome past point solutions, and maintenance can be challenging if you overly segment your environments.

The Canvas apps can help in designing user experiences by allowing you to build it in a certain way and display the information as desired. Model-driven works effectively too, but for a business user wanting a pretty and unique design, you can do almost anything in Canvas. However, you also have to build your formulas to connect to your data, which adds complexity, especially if combining multiple data sources into your Canvas app.

I started working with Microsoft Power Apps around 2015, going on 10 years.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Microsoft's customer service or technical support around a three. I find it's better to read forum posts than to call the support staff at Microsoft.

I typically use forums to address my issues.

Breaking it down, calling Microsoft support gets a three, the Microsoft documentation from MSDN rates around five to six, and community support is closer to an eight or nine since there's a big enough community that someone has likely faced the same problem and posted about it, improving the community overall.

Neutral

The initial setup with Microsoft Power Apps depends on what you're trying to do. If it's a simple SharePoint connection with a form build, it's pretty simple. However, designing a user experience that is more complicated with multiple data sources is not something everyone can handle easily.

I don't have experience with Fortinet solutions or Cisco, but I have extensive experience with Microsoft products. I haven't implemented any AI Builder models within Microsoft Power Apps yet.

When deploying data sets, you have to be aware that it may impact your licensing structure. There are three licensing models: per user, per app per month, and pay for the app for users connecting to it. These models can be complicated to keep track of, so for most business users under a standard E5 license, I typically recommend using a SharePoint list instead of something an Azure database.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Microsoft Power Apps a 6 out of 10.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Power Apps provides us with a platform where we can deliver an application instead of relying on traditional forms. When we want to conduct a survey, we use Microsoft Power Apps to gather feedback rather than presenting a standard form. This approach is more desirable because people are more likely to respond to a Power App survey than a regular form, as filling out forms is often perceived as optional. Microsoft Power Apps gives respondents the feeling that their input is mandatory and important, which encourages them to provide more comprehensive information compared to traditional forms.

The primary strength is the user interface, which makes it very easy to create Microsoft Power Apps through drag-and-drop functionality. We can arrange multiple options in the way we want and structure them according to the purpose of the application we are trying to create. Unlike forms that can only have a specific layout, Microsoft Power Apps can be designed with many different layouts, so end customers do not feel like they are completing a boring or repetitive task.

Creating visually appealing applications typically requires developers with skills in React or JavaScript, but with Microsoft Power Apps, we can simply drag and drop options to create a very good-looking application.

Microsoft Power Apps has impacted our organization significantly. Previously, we had a very small number of survey participants, but after shifting to Microsoft Power Apps, we can see that approximately 90% of people are willing to provide their input. Before using Microsoft Power Apps, out of 100 people, about 40% would fill in information in optional surveys, but with Microsoft Power Apps, we can see that 90% of people are interested in completing a survey. This represents a 50% increase in participation due to the change in technology.

Microsoft Power Apps is really good for small applications, and I do not want it to be improved much for bigger, very complex applications. I find this application very useful for small types of functionalities and do not want to go into a large use case for a small Power App.

When we try to add more and more features into these applications, they become laggy. However, this is acceptable. Microsoft Power Apps can replace a very good-looking application and can be created very easily, but there is a limitation where I cannot accomplish a lot with it, so there are some constraints.

I have been using Microsoft Power Apps for approximately five to six years.

Microsoft Power Apps is stable.

Microsoft Power Apps is really scalable and very nice to scale. We can have multiple pages and multiple designs within the same application. It is very good and also very fast in response.

Microsoft has very good customer support, and we do not face any issues when it comes to Microsoft.

Previously, we used Microsoft Forms, and now we are using Microsoft Power Apps. The reason is that we can see more attraction towards Microsoft Power Apps than forms.

We purchased Microsoft Power Apps through the AWS marketplace.

Microsoft Power Apps comes with a bundle and is pretty cheap to have. It is not that expensive, and the developer cost is also relatively low. We can keep people working on this and also purchase additional licenses. Fewer employees are needed with Microsoft Power Apps, as a smaller team can accomplish the work.

Fewer employees are needed with Microsoft Power Apps, as a smaller team can accomplish the work. I would recommend that others looking into using Microsoft Power Apps first give it a try by using a free trial before buying the latest premium version or considering the costs they should account for before making a purchase. I rate Microsoft Power Apps a 7 out of 10.

Private Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

We are building many tools, like an audit tool or a dashboard for our operations team, where they input values and store them in some bucket. Instead of doing a web-based application, we are using Microsoft Power Apps as a low-code platform. 

We are also developing a single pane of glass for the operations team that navigates multiple systems in the background through Power Automate Flow, gathers information, and displays it in a grid. This combination of both time-saving, ease-of-use applications, and a single pane of glass provides all the required information to work on.

The most valuable features for us are predominantly on the user interface front. It provides ease of development with many modules. The integration with SharePoint is part of the enterprise package, making it cost-effective. This allows our operations team to use existing functionalities without incurring extra costs. We utilize Microsoft Office licensing to take advantage of PowerApps for sixty to seventy percent of its potential, which is very beneficial.

An integration of Copilot options within Microsoft Power Apps would be useful. In UiPath apps, there is an autopilot function that uses a generative AI model, which creates layouts and connects data services automatically with a prompt. Such integration would be beneficial to build basic frameworks that can be enhanced. This would assist business process users who lack coding knowledge.

I have been working with Microsoft Power Apps for almost a year. I have been switching between Microsoft Power Apps and UiPath Apps, using them parallelly due to the low-code platform integration.

I would rate the stability of Microsoft Power Apps as a nine out of ten.

Scalability depends on the license model. If it is flexible and includes premium connectors, scalability is easy. I would give it an eight out of ten for scalability.

Microsoft's technical support is around a seven to eight. That said, it could improve with an active community similar to other apps.

Positive

I previously worked with UiPath and Cognizant. I now predominantly work with Microsoft Power Apps and UiPath Apps for their integration capabilities and ease of use.

The initial setup of Microsoft Power Apps is straightforward.

The pricing for Microsoft Power Apps is at a medium level. For small to medium enterprises, it is affordable, especially with Microsoft Enterprise licensing. However, for larger enterprises, the licensing costs for premium connectors can be tricky.

I also work with UiPath, Microsoft, and Automation Anywhere products such as Power Automate.

Overall, I rate Microsoft Power Apps a seven out of ten. 

It is recommended for small and medium enterprises. While I can recommend it to other users, in certain aspects, I prefer UiPath Apps due to its integration capabilities and AI models.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

I have encountered numerous challenging use cases with Microsoft Power Apps, primarily in HR or operations and management. Most of the projects rely on document uploads and approval levels. I have implemented all these logics using Microsoft Power Apps.

Two essential features of Microsoft Power Apps are the user experience and the development area. It is easy to build an application within a few hours or a few days, even with complex requirements. With Microsoft Power Apps, there are three different areas: Canvas, Model Driven, and Power Pages. Power Pages, previously known as Power Portal, has been moved into a separate module. Canvas Apps provide complete user design flexibility with many connectors to integrate into Microsoft Power Apps, making it efficient to fetch and update information from various data sources such as Dataverse, Excel, SharePoint, and Azure. This helps in building applications with less effort, as it offers plenty of connectors. It is compatible with Outlook, Gmail, and Office 365 users.

Improvements needed for Microsoft Power Apps include addressing the delegation issue. Currently, we have a restriction to load almost two thousand records when connecting directly with a data source. While there are non-delegable functions available, they require filtering and categorizing the data before bringing it into the application. It would be beneficial if Microsoft could increase this limit, as, in many use cases, applications might require importing data exceeding two thousand records, potentially reaching one hundred thousand. Additionally, integrating Power BI features like charts and analytics directly into Microsoft Power Apps would be advantageous. This would eliminate the need for separate integration and allow handling everything within a single platform.

I have been working with Microsoft Power Apps for probably three years.

Overall, I would rate the stability of Microsoft Power Apps 9.5 out of ten.

I would rate the scalability of Microsoft Power Apps as eight out of ten. It is quite scalable, though there are some limitations regarding the number of records, as mentioned previously.

I would rate the customer service from Microsoft as eight out of ten. A few months ago, I contacted support for an issue, but the response time was longer than expected.

Positive

The initial setup of Microsoft Power Apps is quite easy. Users just need to share the application, and the respective user will be notified via email for easy access. Compared to other platforms, managing applications with Microsoft Power Apps does not require much effort.

I would rate the pricing of Microsoft Power Apps a six out of ten. It is in the middle range and considered reasonable given the current price.

I do not see any competitors capable of providing a solution like Microsoft Power Apps in the industry. While UiPath offers an application-oriented tool, I have not used it much, so I cannot provide an informed comparison. However, when compared to Microsoft, I believe Microsoft would lead the industry.

Overall, I would rate Microsoft Power Apps nine out of ten. I recommend it to any organization, regardless of size. Digitalization is happening worldwide, and it's compatible with both Windows and mobile devices. This makes it cost-efficient and flexible for designing applications to suit one's needs. My review can include my personal name without any contact details or company information.

We are creating a contractor app to allow us to track contractor-related data in an app rather than using Excel emails. Power BI is mainly for the reporting side for dashboard creations and analytics. This is used in a government, specifically a state agency, for managing contractors.

The ability to build our application is valuable. While it is marketed as low-code, no-code, learning how to use the system takes some development skills. However, the solutions are easily integrated with other Microsoft products. If we are using Outlook or Power BI for our reports, the integration is easier because it is within the Microsoft ecosystem. It eliminates different spreadsheets that people use to track the same information. By standardizing the process, it becomes more efficient.

The tool could be easier to use. While providers focus on low-code, the options are often dropdowns. Understanding where components are stored is not straightforward, requiring a lot of Googling. These tools should be intuitive for business users who will need at least a week of training to use them effectively.

Support is excellent. I would rate it a ten. Their assistance was crucial as we developed the solutions.

Positive

We have used RPA from UiPath but only as a proof of concept and never moved forward with it. We have used Power Automate in the past as part of the Power App ecosystem.

The initial setup was of moderate difficulty. As a group of IT developers, we assumed it would be easier, but the learning curve was more intense than expected, especially for the solution we were building. Microsoft's support team has been helpful during this process.

We realized we needed vendor support during the ramp-up as the learning curve was steep, demonstrating that vendor assistance can be essential when delivering something quickly.

We are still developing the solution. The aim is to create a cleaner interface to replace spreadsheets, thus standardizing processes and improving efficiency. It's more about efficiency rather than direct cost savings.

The pricing is beneficial since it bundles with other Microsoft tools. If you have Office 365, you get some licenses. For more elaborate work, an upgrade to an enterprise license, costing around $35 per license, is needed.

We evaluated RPA from UiPath as a proof of concept.

The solution is useful if you already have Office 365. However, while you can build a solution, making it production-worthy for the entire organization requires more training and guidance, particularly for first-time users. I rate Microsoft Power Apps seven or eight due to the complexities of building solutions. Overall, I would rate the solution a 7 out of 10.

I work with Microsoft Power Apps for multiple solutions. The first one is automating the process by emailing our users. In our company, we receive some Excel files with the email addresses of our users. With Microsoft Power Apps, I create a data flow and define what type of user we have, like if the user is premium or if the user has to pay some charges or not, and based on that, I send different emails to the users. That is one process. The other process we use is Microsoft Power Apps, mostly with Microsoft Power Pages platform, to create a UX.

The tool's most valuable feature stems from the fact that in our company, we spend a lot of time sending emails and get involved in identifying what type of users we have. The most valuable feature of the tool is that, with the budget, we can reduce the time we invest in our various processes.

Microsoft Power Apps can be a better product. The low-code area can be easier for new users to use. The features that the tool provides are very helpful.

The tool's documentation can be better. The information in the documentation needs to be updated.

I have been using Microsoft Power Apps for nine months. My company has a partnership with Microsoft.

The tool is helpful. From an old-school standpoint, I prefer to have more codes to be able to implement the solution of my choice. Microsoft Power Apps was a very impressive tool when I heard about it for the first time. I was really shocked that you can do all those types of solutions with Microsoft Power Apps, making it a very impressive and helpful product. In my company, we use the tool a lot of time for many of the solutions, especially the products that we have on an on-premises model, and we want to move it to Microsoft Power Apps for its facility and for all the users we have.

Microsoft Power Apps can be a worthy solution and it falls under the easier and medium range but it gets more difficult if there are many requirements, owing to which I think Microsoft Power Apps cannot be the best solution. If the solution deals with not too many processes, then it is the best tool as it becomes easier and quick to implement.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Millions of people around the world use the tool. In MetLife, Mexico, around 2,000,000 users use the tool.

Microsoft Power Apps has too many new tools. I think the solution's documentation is new, and it is not very expensive. The tool's documentation doesn't have the exact information we need. I think he can be better. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Positive

With low code, I just have experience with Microsoft Power Apps. Next week, we start to work with Appian in our company.

Appian is more oriented toward being a VPN solution. Microsoft Power Apps can also be a VPN solution. You can use it in other different ways. The main difference between Microsoft Power Apps and Appian is that Power Apps is more of a low-code tool than Appian. If you want to use some low-code tools, Microsoft Power Apps Apps is good. With Power Apps, you can have a better connection with Microsoft's ecosystem, consisting of Azure and other such tools.

I have experience with Azure and a lot of Microsoft services.

The product's initial setup phase is very easy. My company sponsors the course and a tutorial associated with the tool, so it is easy to use. The recommendations from Microsoft make it very simple to start with the solution.

The time required to deploy the solution depends and varies from engineer to engineer and the volume of the tool required.

The solution can be deployed in a week because we don't have much experience with the program, but after that, all the next solutions will take one and a half days to deploy.

Regarding the cost, some weeks ago, we used a comparison tool for an on-prem solution and Microsoft Power App solution. In five years, with the on-prem service, we spend, like, 1,20,000 USD for five years. If we moved to Microsoft Power Apps, the cost would be 25,000 USD for five years, so there is a difference of 1,00,000 USD.

If we compare Microsoft Power Apps with any on-prem or other Azure solutions, I feel it can be made cheaper.

We have some interim processes in our system. The process basically involves analyzing the profile of some users, especially if they are candidates for a new product. For certain processes, we spend five hours per day. With Microsoft Power Apps, we can reduce the time invested to an hour per day.

I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

Initially, we used it mainly to wrap up Power BI reports for BetterView, creating straightforwardapps. About a year ago, it evolved into more robust apps for collecting information, particularly for logistics. We developed apps to streamline workflow and gather data for specific operations.

We then built a more advanced app that allowed us to communicate with customers—connecting workflow issues, creating problem reports, and sharing shipment updates via SharePoint, which integrates easily with Microsoft Power Apps.

Power Apps is used mostly locally, within one or two departments. Each app is developed locally, and it’s not used for enterprise-wide purposes. In our organization of about a thousand people, around six developers work with Power Apps. There are likely a couple of hundred users across all apps.

Over time, it became a key part of our operations, and we've developed around three or four apps in total. However, the main use case remains to display Power BI reports. By wrapping reports within Power Apps, we can present them in different formats to create better dashboards, making the process more efficient

In my experience with Microsoft Power Apps over the past two years, the best feature is its seamless connection with the Microsoft ecosystem. It integrates well with Microsoft Teams, and you can use it with minimal programming, which is typical for low-code and no-code apps.

A downside is that Power Apps is primarily designed to work within the Microsoft ecosystem. It’s unsuitable for publishing apps outside the network, so you need additional Microsoft technologies for broader use. While it’s very scalable for simple apps, it's not ideal for large-scale enterprise applications.

I’ve been using Microsoft Power Apps for about two years.

I'd rate the stability of Microsoft Power Apps as a seven or eight out of ten. There are occasional issues depending on the app's complexity, but it's generally stable.

Regarding scalability, I’d rate it a five. It has room for improvement and is more suitable for simpler apps rather than enterprise-wide solutions.

As for technical support, we work through partners, not directly with Microsoft, so I can only speak to the support we get through them. It’s usually effective because it benefits both parties, though the quality can vary between partners.

Positive

Before using Power Apps, we used Oracle Application Express. We switched because Microsoft’s vision supports citizen development strategies, allowing more people outside the IT department to develop apps. Oracle was more IT-driven and less flexible, which led to bottlenecks. We also wanted to move away from Oracle.

For Microsoft Power Apps, if you’re within the Microsoft ecosystem, I’d rate the deployment as an eight out of ten. It’s pretty straightforward—activate it, and it works.

You don’t need to install anything; administration just requires permissions.

We’ve seen a good return on investment, especially with Power Automate. For every development hour, we gain about ten hours of operational efficiency. We’ve invested around one hundred hours and saved around one thousand annually.

In terms of pricing, Power Apps is cost-efficient.

Overall, I’d recommend Power Apps for its ease of deployment and supportive documentation.

However, it's not suited for complex, enterprise-wide applications. I’d rate Microsoft Power Apps an eight out of ten overall.

Public Cloud

PowerApps is currently the best low-code platform because of Microsoft's investments—not just in low-code development but also in generative AI in order to accelerate development. The Power Platform integrates really well with all the new technologies, including AI. It's maturing fast, though I haven't had the chance to fully compare it with others like Mendix, which has been around for a while. To make a completely informed and unbiased decision on which is better, I'd need more experience with other platforms. But from my perspective, for most customers, it ticks a lot of boxes, especially in terms of rapid development.

Power Platform also supports developers when they hit the limits of drag-and-drop features. If you want to build something more native, that’s doable too. Our use cases vary depending on the customer.

Because we're a company that helps customers automate processes using Power Platform. Power Platform has a very industry-agnostic nature, meaning it can be applied across various sectors—whether it's healthcare, banking, construction, automotive, or manufacturing. Wherever there are processes still relying on paper, currency, or Excel that need automation, PowerApps is a good fit.

Power Platform has a range of products—apps, CloudFlows, Power BI, Pages, and now the Copilot edition. But the ones I use most often, especially with our customers, are apps combined with CloudFlows running in the background. We're also seeing a rise in conversations about Copilot.

In apps, we tend to jump in when things get critical in context, especially when building enterprise applications for our customers. We often have to go the extra mile in terms of design and user experience. We don’t usually rely solely on out-of-the-box features. Instead, we bring our own designs and improvements in that area. Of course, we start with what Power Platform provides out of the box, but in some cases, we have to build our own components and create custom experiences.

The favorite feature among most makers is the PowerApps Studio, where they can get started and create. For myself, my role is a bit different—I’m more involved in presales, selling the platform to customers, showing demos, and focusing on governance and the security aspects of the platform as a whole. So I have fewer hands-on tasks with Power Apps, and I don’t really have a specific favorite feature. However, I do enjoy the overall experience of creating applications.

In the future, I would like to see a more intuitive merged experience for pro-coders. For instance, being able to quickly work in Azure within a preferred IDE, like how developers typically structure their code in TypeScript or other conventional programming languages. It would be great if Power Platform had a nice integration between the low-code environment, where developers can drag and drop, and the pro-coding side. This way, both pro coders and low-code developers could work together without any friction, and both types of users would have an experience that meets their expectations.

I would like to see improvements in the Power Apps experience—specifically, the experience for makers developing Power Apps. So far, Microsoft has made good progress. They have a nice feedback cycle, and they listen, adapt, and improve.

So, a greater focus on the overall experience would be nice, so that all types of makers feel welcomed and don’t get frustrated when building.

I have been using it since 2019. 

Microsoft's technical support is fast in responding, but they don't always have the full knowledge right away. When you contact them, you won’t necessarily get an immediate answer because a lot of expertise also lies with partners who have the most project experience.

However, Microsoft does react pretty fast, and they try to involve everyone who could potentially help. It’s beneficial if you're connected to Microsoft at different levels. For instance, if you have FastTrack solution architects in your organization or if you’re connected to Microsoft resources, they have ways to get things resolved quickly and provide fast answers for any issue.

So, the key is to be connected through different layers to ensure that not only do you get a fast response but also the right kind of help in case you encounter technical problems.

Neutral

Given the nature of the Power Platform, which is designed to be accessible to everyone, Microsoft's goal is to empower people everywhere to achieve more. Power Platform tries to accomplish this because it’s a tool meant for anyone who loves technology. If someone is tech-savvy, they can build and automate using Power Platform. However, it’s not easy because a lot of factors are involved.

There’s change management and company culture to consider. Every company has a history and a culture that either accepts or blocks new technology, so you have to take that into account. Then there’s the cost. Once you understand the value of Power Platform, you’ll realize it’s not free and comes with a specific cost. Some companies are willing to pay, but others hesitate, especially considering the global crises we’ve faced recently, like COVID and ongoing conflicts. This can make selling the platform more challenging.

It’s a process that can't be done in two, five, or even ten days. But it’s also not something that needs to be perfect right from the start. It’s important to get started on the right foot, with people on the customer side who are committed and fully understand Power Platform. It works best when adopted from the bottom up, with support from top management.

The deployment process can take anywhere from weeks to months, depending on the organization—its size, history they have, and how it has adopted other technologies in the past. If the company already uses several Microsoft tools, it can go more smoothly compared to starting from scratch. There are many factors to consider. Having a partner like us, who has experience working with different customers and knows what not to do, can make the process faster and smoother.

It's one of the main reasons why we work with it. Customers see the value in using Power Platform because they realize that many of their processes aren’t running optimally. A lot of them are manual, paper-based, or heavily human-oriented, and they want to automate those processes. Power Platform is a great fit for that. It helps bring together data and processes that are spread across different systems because of its high integration capabilities.

It’s especially useful for companies working extensively with Excel, SharePoint, and other collaboration tools since Power Platform integrates well with them. Many companies centralize their tasks with this platform, reducing the need to open multiple apps in parallel just to complete their daily tasks. It also allows more people to get involved in the development process. Instead of waiting for a developer to join the company, employees can learn Power Platform and use it to solve their problems.

It’s also an excellent tool for core developers, provided they understand the strengths of Power Platform. They shouldn’t compare it directly to programming languages like JavaScript or TypeScript—that’s the wrong comparison. Power FX, the formula language of Power Apps, should be appreciated for what it can do in combination with the Power Platform ecosystem. If developers understand its value, they can quickly test ideas without spending months implementing multiple features. You can create functional prototypes and gather feedback from users rapidly because of how quickly things can be built and tested.

Power Platform also supports rapid development, making it easier to create fast, clickable prototypes that can be populated with real data immediately. It’s beneficial for people at all levels, from professional developers to department employees looking for a self-help solution to automate processes, like dealing with thousands of Excel sheets linked across different areas. It works well in industries that have diverse systems, offering a unified platform to bring everything together.

I also like the direction Microsoft is taking with their investment in Power Platform. They’re not just focusing on making one aspect good; they’re thinking in terms of partnerships and broader opportunities. It’s becoming a solution that fits everywhere.

For example, we created an application that helps construction site managers measure doors or other objects on a new construction site. They need accurate measurements to place orders with suppliers. Normally, they would do this manually with pen and paper, sometimes using hardware devices like a Bosch distance reader to get the measurements. 

Afterward, they would manually input everything into Excel, and from there, create an order in SAP, which often involves a lot of manual steps because there's no direct integration from Excel to SAP. This makes the process error-prone, with lots of potential for mistakes during data entry and order creation.

What we did was centralize and digitize the process with Power Apps. It stores all the measurements in a database, so the site manager can easily access the history of measurements, like from the past month, for example. Once they have the correct measurements, they can just press a button, and the system automatically uploads the data and sends it for ordering.

This entire process, which was previously manual or poorly set up, was automated using Power Apps. We also integrated it to capture the measurements directly from the hardware device into the app. Since many construction sites have periods where there's no internet connection, it works offline. Once the connection is restored, the daily measurements are uploaded and centralized, allowing for data history, reporting, and direct integration with SAP to place orders.

Overall, this automation led to a 75% increase in productivity, saving 75% of the manual work. It’s a significant improvement.

If I had to choose between Power Platform and Mendix, I would always choose Power Platform. They’re constantly improving Power Platform overall. But to be realistic, with optimism for areas that still need improvement, I would give it an eight out of ten. So, there’s still room for improvement.

We mainly use Power Apps for small applications. Ninety-nine percent of the work is on Internet or intranet solutions, specifically E2E and B2E. These solutions are designed to be developed quickly without being overly complex or requiring high performance or extensive handling of large datasets. In addition to these scenarios, integrating with other platform tools like Power BI and SharePoint enhances the solution. We generally avoid developing for B2C or B2B scenarios due to licensing issues and the nature of those markets.

Power Apps facilitates form creation, application planning, and automation. We have encountered scenarios where automation was crucial, such as managing emails according to SOPs and handling basic ERP tasks like user password changes and role assignments. Power Apps and Power Automate have automated these processes efficiently.

Power Apps offer a wide range of integrations and login options. Typically, we use SharePoint as a backend for these apps. They are both free and paid versions; the paid options are extensively used. 

There have been many improvements. First, performance could be improved. Second, there should be more flexibility in implementing features and functionality. It would be beneficial to have two modes: a developer mode, where developers can utilize more components they build themselves, and a mode for handling large amounts of data. 

Custom error management is also a challenge. Customization, including the ability to integrate custom code, would be valuable.

Due to performance issues, managing large amounts of data can be challenging. Exception handling poses significant challenges. Creating custom connectors and dealing with paid connectors can be expensive.

I have been using Microsoft Power Apps as a partner for four to five years.

You must design your application carefully if you're dealing with a large amount of data and numerous screens. Understanding the context is essential; our platform is designed for people with limited technical skills to develop applications without extensive technical training. However, when dealing with larger datasets, such as ten thousand records, technical considerations become important to ensure optimal performance.

The performance is very poor.

I rate the solution’s scalability a four or five out of ten.

Microsoft's technical support is pathetic. There is no guarantee that they'll be very helpful. They are straightforward. They have experts for each specific topic. They do not exceed their domain or technology. Generally, for significant issues where you need help from Microsoft, you require someone or a team that spans domains. It could involve network problems, process issues, database security, etc. Sometimes, when discussing these issues with their experts, it can take weeks for them to explain the problem entirely. 

Neutral

The initial setup is straightforward. It is online. Creating an environment and assigning users doesn't take time. One person is enough to do it.

The basic license allows most business users to resolve issues. It is included with their Office 365 license, so using Power Apps is fine. ROI is good because we already have it; Microsoft provides it so we can use it. However, licensing becomes more complicated for anything extendable or requires a complex solution. For example, licensing can be unpredictable and unclear if you need a B2B solution.

The long-term impact and license are challenging to understand. Many businesses avoid taking chances due to past negative experiences, and even Microsoft representatives sometimes struggle to clarify these aspects. Personal experience indicates that while they offer discounts, there's uncertainty about future costs after six months or a year. Licensing has improved but remains complex despite recent updates.

I rate the product's pricing a five out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

We have started exploring those parts. It is in the initial stages and capable of performing simple tasks that are helpful. We are still exploring how it can work with profiles, and other AI features that Microsoft continues to introduce. It provides a basic starting point within its capabilities. 

Microsoft Power Apps is a perfect tool. Understanding its limitations is crucial to identifying where it best fits within organizational solutions. It excels in scenarios requiring quick turnaround times, offering easy maintenance with minimal technical expertise needed. However, it's not suited for complex enterprise-level solutions.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.