Help understanding powerapps license changes October 2019

[seanbrogan]

Can anybody shed any light on the new PowerApps licensing plans? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around what is going on.

I specifically went out last year and purchased a number of Office 365 premium licenses as well as the F1 plan for employees in the field, so that we could use powerapps.

I am using a combination of an Azure SQL database(pay as you go license) and SharePoint (under the 365 licensing) to function as the back end for my apps.

Am I now no longer going to be able to develop and distribute Apps to my employees under these licenses? Am I now being asked by microsoft to go out and buy more licenses specific to PowerApps?

Hope this is the right place to ask the 365 messages aren't very clear.

[Bug]

It seems like it's time for businesses to realise that their investments in terms om human capital (training) and ressources for the development of PowerApps / Flows are about to become sunk costs.

Does anyone know of relevant alternatives to the PowerApps platform with basically the same functionality but where the pricing and business model is more transparent and fair. Would be an interesting scenario if there are competitive alternatives allowing us to use our existing data in Microsoft Azure SQL.

[MrNigel]

@Bug - over the last 30+ years I have created solutions based on these BPM/workflow platforms, I admit I am a bit rusty on their current capabilities and pricing so some may not be relevant/alive:

1. Staffware (now Tibco) - the granddaddy of ALL workflow solutions
2. e-work from Sysgenics (now OpenText) - IMHO still has the best graphical designer
3. Skelta (now Wonderware) - the first Windows web based BPM product
4. K2 - expensive, but fully featured
5. Nintex - started by ex Microsoft guys and very MS centric, probably the closest to Power Apps in terms of platform/functionality and its SharePoint integration

If you are looking for an alternative start with Nintex and work up the timeline alternatives.

[Bug]

@MrNigel Thanks for the input. I will definitely have a look at some of the alternatives, starting with Nintex.

[MorningMusic]

Does anyone have any real experience using Nintex? Their website has me pretty excited to look into it further, but I'd love to hear from someone who's used the platform or developed in it?  How does it compare to PowerApps? How customizable is it?  I've found that PowerApps can be very simple, with minimal coding required for simple workflows or tasks or can easily get very complicated and require a lot of code to build out a robust process/application.  We're using Azure SQL Database as a back-end for all of our PowerApps at the moment, so these licensing changes are hugely impactful.  If anyone has experience with Nintex, I'd very much like to know how it compares and what you liked/disliked. 

[SeanTambling]

This really stinks. We as a community have all invested so much time, effort and money already, thinking PowerApps and Flow are such affordable powerful tools and now to have those tools be made to cost us even more is such an insult. I understand wanting to profit. Heck we all want to profit in one way or another, but this is just greed. Pure and simple. Guess I'll have to look into investing in Nintex and their solutions. Wouldn't it be refreshing to see a corporation realize their mistake and make amends in some way. I hope Microsoft hears their customers and makes changes. Otherwise I foresee  this mistake of theirs costing them more than they expected to make. I for one am willing to forgive if MS decides to make changes to their current policy regarding PowerApps, otherwise I believe it's time to look for a new partner for our company.

[PKalinka]

I'm with all of you - these changes have drastically changed the approach towards using PowerApps.  We need to reevaluate our usage, too.  I had just convinced the business to start moving to this and had just finished getting the Azure SQL instance configured and migrated from MySQL back on October 8th... then started getting prompted to upgrade on 10/21...  Nice.

Does anyone have any email addresses for whomever we should be appealing and raising these concerns?

[Oshin]

Someone said Nintex.  I never tried it myself but will be looking into it now.

[datamaster]

So the grandfathered in (SQL Azure connector) only works if you do not update and publish your app. I just changed a label description on my app and then republished. Now my users are being asked to "Start a free PowerApps premium) trial. Simply because I changed a label description! How can this be called grandfathered in? Very disappointed and expect better from such a great company as Microsoft. 

[Anonymous]

I am able to confirm that the rule applies to created date and not update/publish date of your app.

• What is the created date of your app?
• Are there any other connectors within the app? 

[datamaster]

The create date is over 2 years ago and the only premium connector is SQL Azure.