What to automate first with Power Automate, and what it really costs

Power Automate is Microsoft's tool for automating repetitive work between apps, and most businesses on Microsoft 365 already have a basic version included. It's good value for jobs that stay inside Outlook, Forms, Excel and SharePoint. Once a flow needs a premium connector, though, the cost starts at £11.50 per user a month before VAT.

A flow is a set of instructions that runs on its own: when this happens, do that. A connector is the plug that lets a flow talk to another app. Microsoft splits them into standard ones, included with Microsoft 365, and premium ones you pay extra for. That split decides most of what you'll spend.

The short version

• Power Automate comes with most Microsoft 365 business plans, but only for flows that use standard connectors.
• Invoice reminders, form-to-spreadsheet entry and approval emails are the jobs we'd automate first.
• Premium costs £11.50 per user a month before VAT, and a Process licence for one flow costs £115.30 a month.
• A flow whose owner leaves is downgraded and turned off after 14 days unless someone takes it over.
• When you need several premium flows or a paid third-party connector, a direct custom integration often costs less over three years.

What is Power Automate used for in a small business?

Invoice chasing is usually the first job worth automating. Research for the Office of the Small Business Commissioner found that businesses hit by late payment spend an average of 86 hours a year chasing it. A flow that sends a polite reminder on day one, seven and fourteen won't reform a bad payer. But it does take the awkward bit off someone's desk.

Form-to-spreadsheet entry comes next. Someone fills in a Microsoft Form, the flow adds a row to Excel and emails whoever needs to know. Nobody retypes anything, so nobody mistypes a postcode.

Then there are approvals: holidays, purchase orders, expenses. The flow sends the request, waits for a yes or no and records the answer. People who only respond to approvals don't need a Premium licence, which keeps this one cheap.

Is Power Automate being phased out?

No. What's gone is the older SharePoint workflow engine. Microsoft removed SharePoint 2013 workflows from existing tenants on 2 April 2026, having retired the 2010 version in November 2020, and pointed customers to Power Automate instead. So if approvals someone built in SharePoint Designer years ago stopped working this spring, that's why. Rebuilding them in Power Automate is the normal fix.

Five steps to your first useful flow this week

Start with the work, not the licence. The work tells you which licence you need.

1. Write down the three tasks someone repeats every week and roughly how long each takes. Be wary of jobs that need judgement: automate the copying, not the decision.
2. List the apps each task touches and check whether their connectors are standard or premium. Accounting software is the one to watch: the Xero connector in Microsoft's catalogue is built by a partner, Magnetism, is classed as premium and needs its own licence after a seven-day trial.
3. Build the first flow using only Microsoft 365 apps, such as Forms to Excel or an Outlook approval. Don't let it live in one person's account.
4. Before anyone else builds, give every flow a co-owner and ask whoever runs your IT to set a data policy. Look out for flows that send company data to personal email or storage.
5. Run it for a month and count the hours saved before paying for anything premium. Watch for flows that fail without telling anyone.

Step two is where budgets slip. Chasing invoices from Xero means paying Microsoft for Premium and a third party for the connector. Two bills, one job. Step five is easier with a record, which is why we built Time Hive to log every automation run and work out the hours saved.

The mistakes that break flows or leak data

A leaver can quietly kill a working flow. Microsoft's FAQ says that when a flow's owner leaves or loses their Premium licence, the flow is downgraded and turned off after 14 days if nobody acts. Close your bookkeeper's account on her last day and the reminders stop a fortnight later.

Data leaks are harder to spot. A flow that copies form responses into a personal Gmail or Dropbox has moved customer data somewhere you don't control, and that's a UK GDPR problem as well as an IT one. Admins can set data loss prevention policies, rules that stop business apps and personal apps being joined in one flow. Set them before people start building, not after.

Then there's the tempting shortcut. Routing everyone's requests through one licensed account to save on licences has a name, multiplexing, and Microsoft calls it a licence violation. We wouldn't.

What does Power Automate really cost once premium connectors apply?

These are Microsoft's UK list prices, before VAT, paid yearly.

The rule that catches people out sits in Microsoft's licensing FAQ. If an automated or scheduled flow uses a premium connector, only its owner needs Premium. Instant flows are different. If a person starts it by pressing a button, everyone who runs it needs Premium, or the flow needs a Process licence. Ten staff pressing that button cost £1,380 a year. One Process licence costs £1,383.60. Both buy you one flow.

When is a custom integration cheaper than another licence?

A custom integration connects two systems directly through their APIs, the doors software leaves open for other software to use. You pay once to build it and a little to run it, and the cost doesn't rise when you hire. Compare that with three years of one Process licence: £4,150.80 before VAT.

If everything you use lives in Microsoft 365, we'd stay with Power Automate. But if you need three or four premium flows, or a key app needs a paid third-party connector, a direct build often works out cheaper over three years. Keeping a membership organisation's CRM and website in sync was that kind of job, and our integration scenarios cover 204 applications.

Start with the invoice reminders

Build the job that costs you the most hours on what you already pay for. Buy premium only once a month of numbers says it's worth it. And when licences grow faster than the hours they save, it's time to price a direct integration. Swarm Labs builds both through our AI automation work, and we'll tell you which one suits you.

Talk to us about the jobs you'd like off your desk

Sources

1. Microsoft: Power Automate pricing (UK)
2. Microsoft Learn: Power Automate licensing FAQ
3. Microsoft Support: SharePoint 2013 workflow retirement
4. Office of the Small Business Commissioner: Late Payments Research
5. Microsoft Learn: Xero Accounting (Magnetism) connector
6. Microsoft Learn: Data loss prevention (DLP) policy creation
7. Microsoft Learn: Get started with Power Automate (training module)