# Power Automate vs Zapier for Microsoft 365: 35 apps checked

> Microsoft 365 already pays for flows between Outlook, Excel, SharePoint and Teams. We checked 35 apps on both tools and priced three flows.

- Published: 2026-10-24
- Author: 28creation Desk
- Format: Analysis
- URL: https://28creation.com/articles/power-automate-vs-zapier-microsoft-365/

## The short read

**An Outlook to SharePoint and Teams flow costs $0 extra on Microsoft 365, and from $239.88 a year on Zapier.**

- Microsoft 365 plans include Power Automate with standard connectors only. Of 35 common apps we checked, 14 are premium there and QuickBooks Online has none.
- Zapier bills each action and keeps SharePoint, Salesforce and QuickBooks for paid plans, but its Excel app can start a workflow on a new row.

### What you can do with this

> List the apps your flow touches and check each one's class on Microsoft's connector page. All Standard: build it in Power Automate for $0. One Premium: weigh a $180 yearly owner license against Zapier.

---

An office on Microsoft 365 already owns an automation tool. Microsoft's plans include Power Automate, and flows between Outlook, Excel, SharePoint and Teams cost nothing extra. Zapier, its best-known rival, charges for every action from the first one.

So the question for a Microsoft 365 office is rarely "which is better". It is which apps the flow touches, and whether either vendor puts one of them behind a paywall.

We checked 35 apps that small offices commonly connect, on both tools, from Microsoft's connector reference pages and Zapier's app pages on October 21, 2026. Then we priced three ordinary flows with a short script, from both vendors' price lists read the same day. The table below is the part you will not find on either vendor's site.

## Microsoft 365 pays for standard connectors, and only those

Microsoft says select Office 365 licenses include ["limited Power Automate use rights"](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/power-automate-licensing/faqs) meant "for personal productivity scenarios". In practice that means cloud flows built only from standard connectors. Users on those plans "can only access standard connectors", the same FAQ says; the exception is premium connectors inside Dataverse for Teams environments. Premium and custom connectors are not included, and neither is the on-premises data gateway.

The step up is [Power Automate Premium at $15.00 per user a month, paid yearly](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-automate/pricing), or $180 a year. The rule that decides how many you need is short. For an automated or scheduled flow that uses a premium connector, "only the owner needs to have a Premium license". For an instant flow (a button, or one started from Power Apps), "every user who runs the flow needs a Power Automate Premium license".

There is a trap in that first rule. Microsoft calls it multiplexing: pooling access so fewer people need licenses.

Its own example is a premium flow that starts when someone adds an item to a SharePoint list. If the flow emails only its owner, one license is enough. If it emails the person who added the item, "both the owner and the user need a Premium license".

A single Premium license on a shared service account that many people use is, in Microsoft's words, "multiplexing, and the flow isn't compliant". Microsoft adds that this "isn't hard enforcement"; admins are responsible.

## Zapier charges per action and gates some apps

[Zapier's pricing page](https://zapier.com/pricing) counts tasks. Each successful action uses one, though Zapier says "some apps or actions may use more than one task". Triggers, filters and Formatter steps use none, and neither does polling for new data.

The Free plan gives 100 tasks a month and two-step Zaps only, meaning one trigger and one action. Professional starts at $19.99 a month billed yearly for 750 tasks, and adds multi-step Zaps and premium apps, plus webhooks. The Team plan starts at $69 a month billed yearly and adds 25 users with shared app connections.

Zapier also differs on speed. It checks polling triggers every 15 minutes on Free, every 2 minutes on Professional and every minute on Team. Power Automate's shortest schedule, its [minimum recurrence interval](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/limits-and-config), is 60 seconds on every license.

## 35 apps checked on both tools, October 21, 2026

Microsoft classes each connector Standard or Premium on its reference page; Zapier marks some apps Premium, which means paid plans only. We read each page for the apps below. In the Zapier column, "Free plan" means the app is not Premium; a Zap with more than one action still needs a paid plan, whatever the app.

| App | Power Automate connector | Zapier app |
|---|---|---|
| Outlook | [Standard](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/office365/) | Free plan |
| Excel | [Standard](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/excelonlinebusiness/) | Free plan |
| SharePoint | [Standard](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/sharepointonline/) | [Premium](https://zapier.com/apps/sharepoint/integrations) |
| Teams | [Standard](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/teams/) | Free plan |
| OneDrive for Business | Standard | Free plan |
| Gmail | [Standard](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/gmail/) | Free plan |
| Google Sheets | [Standard](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/googlesheet/) | Free plan |
| Google Drive | Standard | Free plan |
| Google Calendar | Standard | Free plan |
| Slack | [Standard](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/slack/) | Free plan |
| Trello | Standard | Free plan |
| Asana | Standard | Free plan |
| Jira | [Premium](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/jira/) | Free plan |
| Smartsheet | Standard | Free plan |
| Notion | Premium, independent publisher | Free plan |
| Zoom | Premium, independent publisher, preview | Free plan |
| Dropbox | Standard | Free plan |
| Box | Standard | Free plan |
| Docusign | Standard | Free plan |
| Mailchimp | [Premium](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/mailchimp/) | Free plan |
| HubSpot | [Premium](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/hubspotcrm/), independent publisher, preview | Free plan |
| Salesforce | [Premium](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/salesforce/) | [Premium](https://zapier.com/apps/salesforce/integrations) |
| Pipedrive | Premium | Free plan |
| Zendesk | Premium | [Premium](https://zapier.com/apps/zendesk/integrations) |
| Freshdesk | Standard | Free plan |
| Typeform | Standard, preview | Free plan |
| Calendly | Premium, preview | Free plan |
| SurveyMonkey | Premium | Free plan |
| Twilio | Standard | Free plan |
| SendGrid | Standard | Free plan |
| Stripe | [Premium](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/stripe/) | Free plan |
| Shopify | Premium, independent publisher, preview | [Premium](https://zapier.com/apps/shopify/integrations) |
| WooCommerce | Premium, third-party publisher | Free plan |
| QuickBooks Online | No connector found | [Premium](https://zapier.com/apps/quickbooks/integrations) |
| Xero | Premium, third-party publisher, preview | [Premium](https://zapier.com/apps/xero/integrations) |

Unlinked rows come from the same sets of pages: Microsoft's at learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/ and Zapier's at zapier.com/apps/. "Independent publisher" and "third-party publisher" mean the connector page names someone other than Microsoft or the app's own maker as publisher. "Preview" is Microsoft's label for a connector not yet generally available. For QuickBooks Online we searched [Microsoft's list of Power Automate connectors](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/connector-reference/connector-reference-powerautomate-connectors) and found only a QuickBooks Time connector.

## Power Automate gates 14 of the 35 apps, Zapier 6

Guess how many of the 35 sit behind a paywall on each side. On Power Automate, 14 are Premium and one has no connector at all. On Zapier, 6 are Premium. The five Microsoft 365 apps in the table are all Standard on Power Automate, and SharePoint is the one Zapier keeps for paid plans.

The pattern is plain. Microsoft and Google apps are Standard on Power Automate, and so are Slack and Trello, while Jira is Premium. Every CRM and online-store app in the table is Premium, as are Stripe and SurveyMonkey. For HubSpot, Shopify, Notion and Zoom, every connector we found in Microsoft's list comes from an independent publisher, not Microsoft or the app's maker.

## Excel is where Zapier does something Power Automate does not

The Excel Online (Business) connector's [reference page](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/excelonlinebusiness/) lists actions only, from adding and updating rows to running Office Scripts. It lists no trigger. So a Power Automate flow cannot start on the Excel connector because a row appeared. The usual route is a schedule that reads the table, and that read returns 256 rows by default unless you turn on pagination.

The connector also caps files at 25 MB and warns that a file "may be locked for an update or delete up to 6 minutes" after the connector last used it.

[Zapier's Excel app](https://zapier.com/apps/excel/integrations) has four triggers, among them New Row and Updated Row, polling every 15 minutes on Free. Its catch: "Only files on OneDrive for Business (available with Office 365 and Sharepoint server) are supported." A workbook on a personal OneDrive won't work.

So if the job starts when someone types a row into a shared workbook, Zapier fits it directly. Power Automate needs a scheduled flow that compares rows, or a different starting point such as a SharePoint list or Microsoft Forms.

## Three flows priced at four volumes

We wrote a 39-line Node.js script with Zapier's Professional tiers and Microsoft's Premium price, both read on October 21, 2026. It priced three hypothetical flows, each a common office job.

Zapier figures are the cheapest yearly-billed Professional tier that holds the tasks, without pay-per-task overage. Power Automate figures are the extra cost on top of Microsoft 365.

**Flow 1: an invoice email arrives in Outlook; save the attachment to SharePoint and post in Teams.** Two actions, so two Zapier tasks a run, and SharePoint makes it a paid plan anyway.

| Runs a month | Zapier tier | Zapier a year | Power Automate a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Pro, 750 tasks | $239.88 | $0 |
| 300 | Pro, 750 tasks | $239.88 | $0 |
| 1,000 | Pro, 2,000 tasks | $588.00 | $0 |
| 5,000 | Pro, 10,000 tasks | $1,548.00 | $0 |

**Flow 2: a new Trello card posts a message in Slack.** One action, one task a run.

| Runs a month | Zapier tier | Zapier a year | Power Automate a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Free | $0 | $0 |
| 300 | Pro, 750 tasks | $239.88 | $0 |
| 1,000 | Pro, 1,500 tasks | $468.00 | $0 |
| 5,000 | Pro, 5,000 tasks | $1,068.00 | $0 |

**Flow 3: a new Salesforce lead becomes a row in an Excel table and a Teams message.** Salesforce is Premium on both tools. On Power Automate this is an automated flow, so one Premium license for the owner covers it.

| Runs a month | Zapier tier | Zapier a year | Power Automate a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Pro, 750 tasks | $239.88 | $180.00 |
| 300 | Pro, 750 tasks | $239.88 | $180.00 |
| 1,000 | Pro, 2,000 tasks | $588.00 | $180.00 |
| 5,000 | Pro, 10,000 tasks | $1,548.00 | $180.00 |

Power Automate's limit is actions per day, not money. Microsoft counts "every trigger and action execution" as one, and the [licensing FAQ](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/power-automate-licensing/faqs) sets 6,000 a day for Microsoft 365 users and 40,000 for Premium. At 5,000 runs a month, flows 1 and 3 use about 500 a day, so neither comes close.

One license covers many flows. The $180 for flow 3 also pays for every other automated flow the same owner builds with premium connectors. A second Zapier flow adds tasks to the same bill.

## Where Power Automate costs more than its price

Power Automate on Microsoft 365 rights runs on what Microsoft calls the [Low performance profile](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/limits-and-config). A failed action gets "up to two retries" there, against 12 on Premium. A flow without a trigger for 90 days "might be turned off", unless its owner has a premium license.

If the owner leaves the company, the flow "reverts to the Low performance profile". A premium flow whose owner loses the Premium license is downgraded, and turned off after 14 days if nobody acts, the FAQ says.

The connector gaps cost time too. The HubSpot connector names an independent publisher and carries Microsoft's preview label, which marks a connector not yet generally available. If your CRM is on that list, you pay $180 a year and still depend on that connector.

Zapier's costs are easier to see. Every action is a task, so a long flow at high volume climbs tiers fast: flow 1 at 5,000 runs costs $1,548 a year. When tasks run out, Zapier either moves you to pay-per-task billing or pauses your Zaps until the next period. A Professional plan has one seat; sharing connections across a team means the Team plan, from $69 a month.

## What this means for you

The decision starts with a list of the apps in the flow, not with the tools' feature pages.

- **Every app is Standard on Power Automate:** build it there. On Microsoft 365 it costs nothing extra at any of our volumes. Add a co-owner so the flow survives a departure.
- **One app is Premium on Power Automate:** compare $180 a year for one owner license with Zapier's tier for your task count. Zapier comes out cheaper only on its Free plan: one action, at most 100 tasks a month and no app Zapier marks Premium. Its cheapest paid tier, $239.88 a year, costs more than one license. Check Microsoft's multiplexing example before you rely on one license: if the flow emails the people who start it, they need licenses too.
- **The flow must start on a new Excel row:** Zapier does that directly, if the workbook is on OneDrive for Business or SharePoint. In Power Automate, move the input to a SharePoint list or Microsoft Forms.
- **Your app has no Microsoft connector, or only one from an independent publisher** (QuickBooks Online, HubSpot): Zapier is the simpler route, on a paid plan for QuickBooks. Our [Zapier, Make and n8n price comparison](/articles/zapier-make-n8n-cost-one-workflow/) shows whether a third tool is cheaper.
- **The other side is Google, not a third-party app:** read our [Apps Script and Power Automate comparison](/articles/apps-script-vs-power-automate/) first.

Before you build, run the flow through our [payback formula](/articles/automation-payback-formula/). A free tool still costs the hours to fix it. For a worked Power Automate flow on the free license, see [saving Outlook attachments automatically](/articles/save-outlook-attachments-automatically/). More is under [automation](/topics/automation/).

Write the flow's apps in one column and their class in the next. Microsoft's own column decides most of these choices before the Zapier price matters.

## How we made this

We read Microsoft's connector reference pages for 35 apps, its licensing FAQ, limits page and pricing page, and Zapier's pricing page and app pages, all on October 21, 2026. The connector classes and Zapier prices were taken from those pages with a script, and the three flows were priced by a second script we ran on those figures. The flows are hypothetical: we did not build or run them on either tool, because we have no Microsoft 365 tenant or paid Zapier account for testing.

## Sources

- Microsoft Learn, [Power Automate licensing FAQ](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/power-automate-licensing/faqs) (updated September 22, 2026; read October 21, 2026)
- Microsoft Learn, [Limits of automated, scheduled, and instant flows](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/limits-and-config) (updated July 17, 2026; read October 21, 2026)
- Microsoft, [Power Automate pricing](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-automate/pricing) (read October 21, 2026)
- Microsoft Learn, [List of Power Automate connectors](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/connector-reference/connector-reference-powerautomate-connectors) and the reference page of each connector in the table, among them [Excel Online (Business)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/excelonlinebusiness/) (read October 21, 2026)
- Zapier, [Plans and pricing](https://zapier.com/pricing) (read October 21, 2026)
- Zapier, app pages for each app in the table, among them [Microsoft Excel](https://zapier.com/apps/excel/integrations) and [Microsoft SharePoint](https://zapier.com/apps/sharepoint/integrations) (read October 21, 2026)