This article will compare Power Automate vs Logic Apps and help you better understand what the right choice is for you.
In today’s world, automation is vital. Proper automation frees up human time to do more complicated tasks, improves the user experience, and helps you gather the business intelligence you need to ensure your company’s success.
There are many automation options, some of which are very similar. Microsoft provides multiple options and two of them are Power Automate and Logic Apps. Making the right Power Automate vs. Logic Apps decision requires understanding what both platforms offer and which will give you the needed features.
What is Power Automate?
Power Automate was formally known as Microsoft Flow and is part of the Microsoft Power Platform. It is designed to integrate with other Microsoft products and run on desktop and mobile. It also integrates well with Microsoft Teams, allowing you to manage workflows in your Teams hub.
Power Automate is a low-to-no-code platform that allows any team member to automate processes with minimal input from IT. It automates business processes, repetitive tasks, and calendar reminders. It is tied directly into Office 365
What is Azure Logic Apps?
Microsoft Azure Logic Apps are part of the Azure cloud platform, along with Azure AD, Azure KeyVault and Azure Service Bus among others. It is designed to integrate and modernize server applications, automate business-critical workflows, and deploy and run locally and through the cloud. It allows for some compelling integration solutions.
A Logic App can be developed on Windows, macOS and Linux using Visual Studio code, with hundreds of cloud-based connectors and integrators including Salesforce and Office 365.
An Azure Logic App is designed as a tool for IT pros and developers.
What Are the Advantages of Power Automate?
Power Automate is designed for end users. While it has a learning curve, you do not have to be a coder or developer to create automated workflows in Power Automate. Some people benefit from hiring a consultant to help them get the best out of the service, but the basic intent is that it should be usable by anyone.
Here are some of the other advantages of Power Automate over Logic Apps.
Mobile Development
Power Automate comes with a mobile app for iOS and Android. You can build a Power Automate flow quickly and easily from a phone or tablet.
This is a massive advantage for people who are on the move or who routinely work from home. The app has some limitations; it doesn’t have an expression builder. But it does allow you to build simple flows without having to go to your desk or boot up a computer.
Logic Apps does not have a mobile interface, although you could theoretically use the web-based interface on your phone.
Office 365 Integration and Pricing
Access to Power Automate comes with the Business Application Group, which can be accessed through Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Office365. If you already use Office 365 heavily, you can almost certainly access Power Automate without paying more or getting a separate license. This is an obvious advantage for many companies.
However, if you do not have Dynamics 365, some premium features will require an extra charge per user or per Microsoft flow.
Improved Scalability
Because Power Automate is usable by many end users, you don’t need to run everything through your IT team. This allows you to scale up processes faster because “super users” can handle the tasks without going through IT.
You can continue to develop and improve processes over time and scale them up as your business grows. You can also address a broader range of problems than if you depended more on IT to fulfill all of the process automation requests.
This does not mean you don’t need an IT team, but rather that you can keep your IT team reasonable in size and deploy them on more complicated and exciting projects that support your company’s growth.
Advantages of Logic Apps
First, Power Automate is built on Logic Apps, hence the many similarities between the two platforms. However, Logic Apps is designed to provide much more powerful tools and is intended for developers and IT professionals, not regular users.
The advantages include the following:
Lower Cost Per Action
Unless you already use Dynamics 365, Power Automate is more expensive for each action. With Azure Logic Apps, you are metered and pay per action for only what you use.
For some companies, this can prove to be cheaper. While per-action pricing sounds like it will get expensive fast, costs can be as low as 1 cent per 20 runs of an app.
Larger companies can pay for a single-tenant environment at an hourly rate, but this is only worth it if you have a lot of projects.
Visual Studio Integration
Logic Apps is integrated into Visual Studio, an environment your IT staff are likely already familiar with. This helps reduce their learning curve while giving them access to all of the features of Visual Studio to help them build the workflows.
Incidentally, Logic Apps is still a “low code” environment but requires more expertise.
Far More Connectors
Both platforms provide a large number of out-of-the-box connectors to integrate with a variety of software. However, Logic Apps provides a much higher number, 700 and growing. You have a much higher chance of integrating with the niche software you use without paying somebody to create a custom connector. You don’t have to worry about learning a new API for each software you work with.
This saves significant time for IT.
Superior Logging and Monitoring
Azure Logic Apps falls under Azure Monitor with Application Insights, which will rapidly alert you to exceptions and performance problems. While there are logging tools in Power Automate, they could be more sophisticated.
Improved Security
Because Power Automate is controlled per user, it’s common for service accounts that are assigned broad permissions to be used. That can result in security issues.
Logic Apps, on the other hand, has managed authentication, which offers a higher level of protection for your most sensitive data. This is not to say that Power Automate doesn’t have data protection, but Logic Apps is more optimized to protect highly sensitive data, such as financial or medical data.
How to Decide Power Automate vs. Logic Apps
Both of these services are excellent low-code alternatives offered by Microsoft. Because they are Microsoft products, they integrate well with Office 365 and other Microsoft products you might be using. They also have a more familiar interface.
Thus, deciding between the two depends on precisely what your company needs to achieve. In some cases, you may find that your best solution combines the two, but here are some things to consider:
Who is Going To Be Making Power Automate Flows?
If the answer is business owners and regular users, you need Power Automate. The learning curve is relatively small and most people can handle it. If what you need is a more robust solution for your IT team, you need Logic Apps
What Third-Party Connectors Do You Need?
If you are only planning on connecting to Microsoft services and/or to mainstream platforms, then you can typically get away with Power Automate. You should consider that some connectors might be premium and require a Dynamics 365 or standalone Power Automate subscription. As these costs are per user, they can get expensive.
If you need to integrate with niche, industry-specific software, you have a far higher chance of being able to do so out of the box with Logic Apps. In part this depends on your industry, as some industries have standard software and platforms that are seldom used outside that industry and thus may not be in the main library for Power Automate.
What Are You Already Paying For?
If you already have Dynamics 365, then you have Power Automate. This may be the cheaper option if you use a lot of Dynamics 365 features.
If you already heavily use Azure, then you may have access to Logic Apps or be able to add it on for cheaper.
Considering third-party connectors, you should also cost the precise things you use. But it’s worth looking to see what you may already be paying for and not using before making a decision.
Neither Power Automate nor Logic Apps is truly “better.” They have different use cases. Some companies find they need both to satisfy their needs. You should consider who will be making the workflow, how complicated the automation you need is, and the respective costs to make the right decision between the two. Both are excellent platforms that can be very useful to your business.
Still confused? You should seek the advice of a consultant. At IncWorx we can help you decide your best course of action and choose the platform most suited to your needs. Check out our blog for more information, or contact us to schedule a call with an expert.
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