Hello, are you looking to understand the differences between Power Automate and Azure Logic Apps – or not sure what each of these does and when to use them? Well, you have come to the right place. Let's go through these, to understand the differences and similarities and to look at how you can transition between them.
Power Automate is Azure Logic apps under the hood. These share the same workflow engine, designer surface, allowing the easy and familiar experience of creating Flows. These have an extensive range of connectors built in the service, enabling you to build solutions that connect to a broader range of first and third party services. If these do not suffice, there is the option to create a custom connector to integrate your app with Power Automate and Logic Apps.
Both have:
You may be asking yourself, why are there two similar products that seemingly do the same thing - which the answer sits in how they are used. So, the primary difference between the two is:
This leads to functionality and focuses on the features that support these features, providing unique capabilities in each product that are not shared between them. For example,
For more detail on comparing the two, check out the section Compare Microsoft Power Automate and Azure Logic Apps in the documentation.
So, let's see moving a Flow from Power Automate to Logic Apps. In this scenario, in Power Automate, a Flow has been created to trigger when a SharePoint list item, get property from my Office 365 profile and Email me when the item has changed (btw, this is available as a template), the Flow would look like this:
Example Flow in Power Automate
Within Power Automate, you have the option of exporting a Flow to Logic apps:Screenshot showing the export option to Logic Apps
The export feature generates an ARM template (an Azure Resource Manager template are used to provision resources in Azure) in JSON format. If you are unfamiliar with JSON, refer to the fantastic article from Bob German - Introduction to JSON.
Using the ARM template, you can go to Azure (https://portal.azure.com), note - this will require an Azure Subscription. Search for "custom template" then find the option to "Deploy a custom template" as shown below:
Deploy a template option in the Azure Portal
Following the instructions and complete the fields in which Azure presents to you, can deploy the template. After deployment is complete, navigate to the Logic App Designer, you may need to authenticate the connections, click on those and a pop-up window will show for you to log in.
Once completed, you will need to Enable your Logic App then your Flow will be ready in Azure:
Showing the Logic App Designer and the example Flow
Whilst this is not the full instructions for performing the import, if you want to see the full process of importing the Flow, visit the article titled Export Flows from Power Automate and deploy to Azure Logic Apps.
It's a good question. There are many factors that could influence the decision to move, such as:
Whilst this is not an exhaustive list of reasons, there will be plenty of scenarios for the transition. But with the move to Azure, there are additional factors to consider, especially if you are setting up for the first time:
Whilst there is a lot to consider when looking at your Flow, you can rule out elements that do not apply, removing the noise from any decision.
Whilst this is not a licensing guide, this model does change as you move to Azure. The following provides an overview of the licensing differences between the two services:
|
Power Automate |
Azure Logic Apps |
Charged By |
Office 365 plan, Per User Plan, Per Flow plan |
Azure Subscription |
Cost change |
Predictable cost each month or year – subscribe to a plan |
Consumption-based – pay for what you use |
Connectors |
Shown as Standard or Premium, Premium requires plan elevation from Office 365 plan. |
Standard or Enterprise Connector executions |
Other costs |
Standard cost model with an option to add connectors that require additional licensing such as Adobe Sign |
You can add services to the Logic Apps such as App Insights, Log Analytics that increases the cost profile. |
When considering a change, ensure that the target service is configured appropriately and that you have done estimates based on the connectors used, number of actions, and executions per month to ensure there are no unexpected bills at the end of each month.
Typically, when you provision Azure Resource Groups (like folders - just one level ;)) that contain the Azure resources you can planning to deploy – the advantage of this, there is a feature called "Budgets" which allow you to set up an alerting period, e.g. monthly that send notifications if the costings go over a budget, allowing you to assess the resource and optimise – but to note this isn't a cap.
Azure Resource Group with the Budget settings screen
Azure Logic apps also have the option of Integrated Service Environments, whilst they provide access to dedicated Azure resources, the cost does go up accordingly. Check out the calculator to understand the costs before proceeding.
If you want to learn more about Power Automate, Logic Apps or the comparison, here are a list of additional resources that you can use to explore the technologies further:
You must be a registered user to add a comment. If you've already registered, sign in. Otherwise, register and sign in.