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Power Automate use rights included with Power Apps for service principal flows

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Posted on by chrgosselin

According to the Power Platform Licensing Guide on page 17, use rights for Power Automate are included with Power Apps and select Dynamics 365 licenses, provided that the Power Automate flows are within the context of Power Apps applications.

However, the Support for service principal owned flows - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn support article states (emphasis mine): "A service principal application user is a non-interactive user, so it can't have a user license associated with it. Premium service principal application user-owned flows need a Power Automate Process/Power Automate per-flow license. However, if a flow doesn't utilize premium connectors, or is used exclusively within the context of a Dynamics 365 application, it's exempted from the need for a Power Automate process or Power Automate per-flow license.".

The Support for service principal owned flows - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn table in the same article also distinguishes between the Power Automate licenses required for service principal flows in the context of Dynamics 365 applications (i.e., flows can use standard and premium connectors without additional Power Automate licenses) and service principal flows in the context of Power Apps applications (i.e., flows that use premium connectors require additional Power Automate per user or Power Automate per flow licenses).

The information in this article seems to contradict the Power Automate use rights included with Power Apps licenses, which are described as exactly the same as those included with Dynamics 365 licenses, according to the Power Platform Licensing Guide. There appear to be specific licensing conditions when the flow is attached to a service principal in the context of Power Apps, but this is not 100% clear.

I would appreciate if anyone could provide some guidance with regard to the required licenses for service principal flows (using premium connectors) in the context of Power Apps applications. Do we need to acquire separate Power Automate licenses or are we covered under the use rights included with our Power Apps licenses? If so, could we assign ownership of the flows to a service account instead? Any other options?

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,360 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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HI

To clarify, are you saying you have Flows, that are triggered by people using either model driven or canvas apps, where-in they can trigger them, but all the work is done by a service principal?

Do the users actually have licenses? (if not, then it shouldn't be done that way). Service principles are more used for unattended situations, not a way for users to do things they aren't allowed to do.

Just want to make sure I understand fully what your app does.

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chrgosselin 6 on at

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To clarify, are you saying you have Flows, that are triggered by people using either model driven or canvas apps, where-in they can trigger them, but all the work is done by a service principal?

Do the users actually have licenses? (if not, then it shouldn't be done that way). Service principles are more used for unattended situations, not a way for users to do things they aren't allowed to do.

Thanks for you reply @FLMike. This particular model-driven app is used by more than 250 fully-licensed users (Power Apps (per app) licenses). We have various flows (scheduled, automated, and instant). We're not trying to allow users to do things they're not supposed to do or circumvent Microsoft licensing. We simply assigned ownership of the flows to a service principal based on the following guidance: Support for service principal owned flows - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn. But, for some obscure reason, it looks like the Power Automate use rights included with Power Apps licenses does not allow assigning ownership of premium flows to a service principal without buying additional Power Automate (Process or Per flow) licenses.

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,360 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Thanks for the detailed response, yeah I didn't think you'd consciously do it, lol but so many do it just to make it more secure.

however, yes, to the best of my knowledge a Service Principle, used in how you want too, does in fact need additional licenses, as the standard use is for system to system etc.

Its a mind numbing thing Licensing.

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MGR 4 on at

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I currently have a very very similar question.

Posed it on

https://community.dynamics.com/forums/thread/details/?threadid=b8db643b-3de2-ef11-a730-7c1e5247dfc0

No answer yet.

Also found MS Docs to be not clear enough in this point.

Especially when it comes to mixed licensing Power Apps vs Dynamics and what exactly is "the context of a Dynamics 365 application".

I think it's really necessary to get more clarification from Microsoft.

Anyone else has an opinion / best practice or even discussed it with MS?

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