Skip to main content

Notifications

Announcements

No record found.

News and Announcements icon
Community site session details

Community site session details

Session Id :
Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Small and medium business | Business Central, N... / Business central and P...
Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
Answered

Business central and Power Apps licensing - again again

(0) ShareShare
ReportReport
Posted on by TMNielsen 44

Can anyone explain clear and simple what licence is needed to create power apps to work with Business Central.

I have read a lot of forum threads with the same question and I have tried to read a lod of pages on docs.microsoft.com, but I still have absolutely no clue.

I am in the process of evaluation if my company should switch to Busness Central and I read a lot of teasers like :

"Power Apps is the platform to customize and extend applications in Dynamics 365, such as Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service, in context of the use rights.

Dynamics 365 Applications can be customized using Power Apps and Power Automate capabilities."

...so of course I'm interesting in knowing if we can create Power Apps and Power Automate with i.e. business Central Essentials licences.

To me this seems like a simple question that could be answered with a simple "Yes, you can create power apps with Business Central Essentials licence" or "No, this will require additional licences".

  • TMNielsen Profile Picture
    TMNielsen 44 on at
    RE: Business central and Power Apps licensing - again again

    Thank you Shinichi, for finally giving an understandable answer.

    From your explanation I agree that the simple answer is no - and of course the q/a is not as simple as I like it to be

  • Verified answer
    S.Kawamura Profile Picture
    S.Kawamura 1,520 on at
    RE: Business central and Power Apps licensing - again again

    Hi,

    One month ago, my customer asked me a similar question and I did some research.

    My answer is "No, this will require additional licenses". Technically speaking, "Yes, but you can only do very limited things."

    For example, Check the capacity of your tenant in Power Platform Admin Center. Your capacity is 0GB if you only have  BC license. In this case, you will not be able to create a new Dataverse environment and you will have to use the Default environment.

    Default Environment has many restrictions and is not recommended as a production environment. Please see the following article for the reason.
    Solved: Can I use the Default CDS environment as a Product... - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)
    Environments overview - Power Platform | Microsoft Docs

    Also, when I tried to create a Dataverse table in the Default Environment, it required the Dynamics365 Administrator Role. Normal users cannot create tables.

    It might be possible to create an application that only do CRUD BC tables without creating Dataverse tables, within the limitations of the Default Environment. However, there may be many other restrictions and you may not be able to achieve what you want.

    My recommendation to MY CUSOMER was to buy Power Apps per User Plan. If you have a small number of apps you want to create and a large number of users, you can buy a Power Apps Per User Plan for the number of developers to develop apps, and then buy a Power Apps Per App license for the number of apps you have developed to make them available to users.

    Since the latest licensing terms and conditions change from time to time, and your requirements are not accurately communicated in this forum, it would be best to consult with a partner or Microsoft sales representative who is familiar with Power Platform licensing.

    I hope this is helpful to you and happy new year.

    S.Kawamura

  • Suggested answer
    JAngle Profile Picture
    JAngle 63 on at
    RE: Business central and Power Apps licensing - again again

    B8B27940_2D00_2024_2D00_4FA7_2D00_9919_2D00_A35AEF22D18A.png
    The licensing guide is ok but I tend to refer to the above which was from a dynamics community conference by a former MS employee. As the image shows it is often a collection of licensing that results in your true set of capabilities.

  • Suggested answer
    Inge M. Bruvik Profile Picture
    Inge M. Bruvik 997 Moderator on at
    RE: Business central and Power Apps licensing - again again

    Dynamics 365 Business Central Applications include the “PowerApps for Dynamics 365 Applications” license. Dynamics 365 Business Central users can use PowerApps to access Dynamics 365 within the bounds of their Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials or Premium license.

    pastedimage1640858312107v1.png

    Link to Power Platform licensing guide https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=2085130&clcid=0x409

    I hope this makes it a little clearer for you.

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

Quick Links

Daivat Vartak – Community Spotlight

We are honored to recognize Daivat Vartak as our March 2025 Community…

Announcing Our 2025 Season 1 Super Users!

A new season of Super Users has arrived, and we are so grateful for the daily…

Kudos to the February Top 10 Community Stars!

Thanks for all your good work in the Community!

Leaderboard

#1
André Arnaud de Calavon Profile Picture

André Arnaud de Cal... 292,575 Super User 2025 Season 1

#2
Martin Dráb Profile Picture

Martin Dráb 231,493 Most Valuable Professional

#3
nmaenpaa Profile Picture

nmaenpaa 101,156

Leaderboard

Featured topics

Product updates

Dynamics 365 release plans