Power Automate, part of Microsoft's Power Platform since 2016, covers more ground than a typical cloud integration tool: standard cloud-to-cloud automation sits alongside desktop robotic process automation, added through Microsoft's 2020 acquisition of Softomotive, letting the same platform automate both SaaS app integrations and legacy desktop software that has no API to connect to.
AI agents have since been layered into that combined foundation, letting a flow include a generative step, summarizing a document or drafting a response, alongside its traditional trigger-and-action logic. Deep ties to the rest of the Power Platform, Power Apps, Power BI, Dataverse, mean a flow built here can plug directly into a custom business app or dashboard built with Microsoft's other low-code tools.
A free tier covers limited personal use, and paid plans start around $15 a month per user for full cloud and desktop automation. For an organization already using Microsoft 365 and other Power Platform tools that needs both cloud integrations and legacy desktop automation under one licensing umbrella, Power Automate's combined RPA-plus-cloud-flow scope covers more ground than picking separate tools for each.
