Microsoft Power Apps vs Salesforce Platform comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Sep 4, 2022

We performed a comparison between Microsoft PowerApps and Salesforce Platform based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Users of both solutions find deployment to be straightforward, easy, and simple.
  • Features: Users of both products are happy with their stability and scalability.

    Microsoft PowerApps users find that the solution is simple to use and flexible. Users would like to see more RPA functionalities and better documentation.

    Users of Salesforce Platform like the solution’s reporting tools and customization capabilities. Users mention that the documentation could be better, and feel that its ability to integrate with other products could be improved.
  • Pricing: Microsoft PowerApps users find the pricing to be reasonable. Users of Salesforce Platform express mixed reviews.
  • Service and Support: Microsoft PowerApps have good experiences with support. Users of Salesforce Platform share mixed opinions on it.

Comparison Results: The two solutions are very comparable. Microsoft PowerApps has slightly better ratings regarding the service and support.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Power Apps vs. Salesforce Platform Report (Updated: March 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"We like that this solution allows us to fully define our test environments, and link them using different code. This means we can do different tests, but with one basic structure, and then export the data and use it in other platforms.""For our purposes, it is quite scalable.""The solution is very good. It's very full. You can do almost anything.""We get feedback on a real-time basis, which is actually very useful for us.""It is stable and reliable.""If you want something that you can use for cellphones, multiple tablets, and things like that, you can use PowerApps for the front end. It gathers all the information, and the information goes somewhere else.""When I am developing any user UI, it gives me complete flexibility. I can manage in any way I want.""The cloud aspect has been great. We don't have to do a lot of research in order to begin integrations. It's so easy to integrate with other solutions."

More Microsoft Power Apps Pros →

"We use this solution to track customer activities, opportunities and contact information.""One of the main features of the solution is it is flexible.""The solution's stability is fine. There are no issues with Salesforce's stability.""The presentation is clear and easy to comprehend.""I like it because of the fact that it lets me know what I'm working on and what I've recently worked on. It also helps me and allows me to do tracking. If I want to go out and find out how many times I've touched customers, I can find that information out. It tracks such information, and we use it. If we send any type of promotions out, it tracks who gets those promotions and how they've responded to those promotions.""It is a great platform. It's definitely an improvement from the GCP application that we were using previously.""Most of the apps allow you to try out the product before buying it. The trial period depends on the product and varies from a week to 30 days.""I like the reports and the dashboards. Since I'm a managing partner, I use the reports and dashboards to understand my team's contact management, opportunity management, and account management activities. We use Pardot for marketing campaigns."

More Salesforce Platform Pros →

Cons
"The editor in the Web browser could be improved because it can be difficult to implement the commands in the buttons.""Microsoft could streamline monitoring and management. In addition, it should be easier to put the solution in different environments. For example, you should be able to move from a dev environment to a production environment seamlessly.""We'd like to see more integration capabilities in the future.""There are occasional performance challenges.""The solution must provide more integration with third-party applications.""In an upcoming release, I would like to see custom APIs, better integration with other solutions, and more connectors available.""Technical support could be faster, and more accurate.""The area where this product can be improved is the documentation. When we get stuck it's with the documentation when we are not able to find the codes we need."

More Microsoft Power Apps Cons →

"When we're documenting information such as notes, and so forth, if we were to go back to the same case all notes go missing.""Salesforce Platform operates as a cloud system, and within our organization, numerous internal systems handle data processing. While real-time data retrieval is feasible through services, achieving real-time communication poses some challenges.""They should provide access to data quality tips and tricks to make it better.""The integration of Salesforce with other solutions could be improved.""The reporting functionality is not very intuitive.""Salesforce also did not integrate well with some of the other systems that we had.""What could be improved in the Salesforce Platform is the price. The platform is too expensive. The implementation time for the platform is also longer than expected, so that's another area for improvement.""An improved UX may be helpful in the solution's next release."

More Salesforce Platform Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "If you start to use any premium connectors that are not stored in a SharePoint list or on an Excel workbook, then it costs $4 per user per month. If you want unlimited, it's about $16 per month for unlimited apps, and unlimited connectors."
  • "The company has a subscription where you can use certain features for free, but there are features that require a premium subscription to use."
  • "The enterprise-level costs a great deal of money, and you have to purchase additional licenses to scale it."
  • "We use the Office 365 package, and Microsoft PowerApps is a part of the package. We don't pay any separate price for this. There are no additional costs. We just pay for the Office 365 package."
  • "There are two licensing costs, one is pay-as-you-go, or you can develop it for one year."
  • "This is not an expensive product and there are no licensing fees."
  • "It is not expensive. There is no licensing cost."
  • "The pricing is too expensive and the licensing system is complicated. There are many pages of instruction on how to do the calculations for the price."
  • More Microsoft Power Apps Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Costly, but it is the top product in SaaS/PaaS. Pricing is more for large to enterprise level companies."
  • "Pricing and license differ and depend on how much license you are purchasing from them."
  • "It is an expensive program."
  • "The licensing is per user per month, which we took out a contract on a long time back. It's really an okay price for what solutions are available and for how many features and what kind of functionality you get."
  • "The solution is a bit expensive."
  • "It is expensive. Licensing is on an annual basis."
  • "It is quite expensive. Its developers come at a premium cost, which makes it expensive."
  • "It is expensive."
  • More Salesforce Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: I think it depends on your use case. If your organization uses Microsoft Enterprise products, PowerApps will work better in your environment. Similarly, if you have a Salesforce integration in… more »
    Top Answer:Hi Netanya I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp.  Because ServiceNow has a very strong module (Performance Analysis) reporting which will… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft Azure App Service is helpful if you need to set up temporary servers for customers to run their programs in locations that other cloud providers do not cater to. When servers are closer to… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform is not easy or intuitive to deploy. The difficulty will be impacted by the type of application that you are trying to use the platform to build. Organizations that… more »
    Top Answer:At my organization, we have only used Salesforce Platform's low-code builder. The reason for this is not because we do not like the pro-code option, but because we do not see the need of using it… more »
    Top Answer: I work at a big organization, and we pay for Platform Plus - the more expensive version of Salesforce Platform. We were using Platform Starter before, however, it became inefficient for our growing… more »
    Ranking
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    34,175
    Comparisons
    27,083
    Reviews
    35
    Average Words per Review
    562
    Rating
    7.8
    Views
    8,134
    Comparisons
    7,390
    Reviews
    29
    Average Words per Review
    439
    Rating
    8.2
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    PowerApps, MS PowerApps
    Salesforce1, Force.com, Salesforce App Cloud
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Power Apps is a rapid application development software and low-code development platform. The solution consists of a suite of apps, services, connectors, and a data platform. It provides an environment for building custom apps which is suitable for different businesses.

    Microsoft Power Apps allows users to not only build applications, but also connect them to Microsoft's other sources, including the underlying data platform Microsoft Dataverse, as well as online and on-premise sources such as SharePoint, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365. The applications built using Microsoft Power Apps have a responsive design that makes them suitable for work in browsers and on mobile applications on different devices.

    The no-code side of the product makes it suitable for complete beginners to app building, allowing them to easily create fully functional applications with many features. The solution also has a specialized platform for developers where specialists can access data and metadata, create custom connectors, integrate with external data, and apply business logic. The solution allows users to create three types of apps: canvas, model-driven, and portal. They are made using:

    • Power Apps Studio: Canvas apps are designed through Power Apps Studio. This app designer is suitable for complete beginners, as the app creation process resembles the building of presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint.

    • App Designer: Model-driven apps are created through App Designer. The creation process allows users to define the sitemap and add components to build the application.

    • Power Apps Portals Studio: This is a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) design tool. It is suitable for portal applications, as it allows users to add and configure web pages, forms, components, and lists.

    Microsoft Power Apps Features

    The three different design tools of the solution, Power Apps Studio, App Designer, and Power Apps Portals Studio, come with various features which allow users to utilize the tools. Some of these features include:

    • Common Data Service (CDS): The data storage feature of the solution allows users to store and manage the data used for business applications securely. The data within the feature is stored among a set of entities, including a base set of standard entities as well as user-made custom ones, using Power Query. The data within CDS can be used to build apps.

    • Cloud connectivity: Microsoft Power Apps has the ability to connect with various types of cloud services. It can connect with MS CDS, as well as SQL, DropBox, and Google Drive.

    • Sharing feature: The tool has a feature for sharing built applications. Users can share the app they have created with users within the same organization as them.

    • Role-based feature: The product allows organizations to assign their employees roles within the platform. This is done to create customization based on the assigned roles, potentially eliminating issues that a completely free access can create.

    • AI automation: The tool has a feature that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI). It provides users with an AI builder and pre-built AI components to facilitate the application building process.

    • APIs feature: Microsoft Power Apps facilitates the app-building process through application program interfaces (APIs).

    • Collaboration support: The tool supports collaboration within the organization in the application building process. Through this feature, multiple employees can contribute to the creation of an app.

    Microsoft Power Apps Benefits

    The product brings various benefits to organizations and individuals who utilize it. Some of the biggest advantages of Microsoft Power Apps include:

    • The solution saves time for organizations by eliminating manual coding and providing ready-to-use solutions.

    • Applications built on the product can be made compatible with various platforms, including the web, Windows, Android, and iOS.

    • The premium connectors and wide integration of the platform allow developers to use data from Microsoft and from third-party services to build their applications.

    • The no-code capability enhances mobility and innovations within companies.

    • The AI feature of the product allows companies to increase their productivity through prebuilt AI scenarios.

    • The tool offers various ways to follow the data from the created applications, allowing companies to benefit from the reports of the performance of their apps.

    • Professional developers receive a platform to follow crucial metrics and access the application development in detail.

    • Power Apps can be connected across the entire Microsoft Power Platform, allowing organizations to utilize all features that the provider offers.

    Reviews from Real Users

    An IT Specialist (INFOSEC) at a government appreciates this tool because it is low-code, low learning curve, and reduces manpower.

    Rafael T., a data engineer at NTT Security, likes Microsoft Power Apps, because it is great for making apps quickly, has helpful support, and integrates with Power BI.

    Salesforce Platform is a tool that provides application building with open application programming interfaces (APIs), integration tools, back-end services, starter templates, and developer environments. With a low-code interface, users are able to build applications and benefit from automated processes. The product helps customers to increase work productivity and save on IT costs through efficient, easy-to-understand, methods for creating applications.

    Salesforce Platform allows companies to build and operate intelligent applications at scale and share them with employees and customers in real time. The tool secures companies' data while connecting and synchronizing it simultaneously across their Customer 360 accounts. The main components of the product are:

    • Application development: With low code, companies can build applications faster and automate their businesses.

    • Automation: The product can connect with Salesforce Genie, allowing employees to create seamless processes.

    • Security: The Shield component allows companies to secure their data and build applications.

    • Hyperforce: Companies have the option to scale globally and serve customers locally, providing secure, private, and agile solutions.

    • Einstein Intelligence: Organizations can utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to create personalized experiences for customers, potentially increasing companies’ growth.

    • Sandboxes: Salesforce Platform offers developers secure development environments where they can test, build, and deploy changes before rolling out final products.

    Salesforce Platform Features

    Also referred to as a “drag and drop app builder," this solution offers various features for customers to create intelligent applications and build personalized services for clients, partners, and employees within the apps.

    • Mobile feature: The mobile feature of Salesforce Platform allows users to build applications for mobile as well as turn already-made apps into mobile apps instantly.

    • AI: Through AI, users are able to personalize their applications, utilizing the smart assistant of the platform (called Einstein). The creation of customized services for clients can drive engagement and scale customer experience.

    • Vision feature: The Vision feature also utilizes Einstein Platform, where users can take advantage of Einstein Prediction Builder, Bots, Vision, and Language to create AI-powered applications.

    • Data protection: Salesforce Platform offers a data protection feature called Salesforce Shield. With it, companies can monitor app and data use, automate security policies, run compliance audits, and encrypt sensitive data.

    • Privacy and identity feature: Salesforce Customer Identity is a feature for privacy that offers user access through a single login. The feature provides a seamless user experience while maintaining a high level of security.
    • Community feature: The community feature of the product offers a digital experience platform where companies can create secure portals, applications, and websites.

    • Builder feature: The application building feature of Salesforce Platform offers various ways for users to create apps, including through low-code builders and pro-code tools.

    Salesforce Platform Benefits

    The benefits of using Salesforce Platform include:

    • Compared to manual coding products, Salesforce Platform is simpler for beginner users who want to develop a product.

    • The tool requires a low amount of coding, making it a quick and agile way to develop applications.

    • The adaptable design of the platform offers multi-layered security which maintains data accessible to users while protecting it from outside sources.

    • The product can be incorporated with various platforms and coding languages for application development.

    • The platform can be used to create applications compatible with large database systems like MySQL and Oracle.

    • Salesforce Platform allows collaboration between users, as it offers simultaneous access to various users at the same time.

    • Salesforce Platform is compatible with desktop databases such as Microsoft Access.

    Reviews from Real Users

    A vice president at a healthcare company values Salesforce Platform because it is flexible and user-friendly with helpful pre-built schemas.

    Peter G., a senior technical consultant at a tech services company, rates Salesforce Platform highly because it is intuitive, quite easy to learn, and stores all kinds of relevant sales information.

    Sample Customers
    TransAlta, Rackspace, Telstra
    ADP
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company25%
    Manufacturing Company13%
    Insurance Company9%
    Construction Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company12%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Government10%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company33%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Non Profit5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise50%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise68%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise29%
    Large Enterprise35%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise67%
    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Power Apps vs. Salesforce Platform
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Power Apps vs. Salesforce Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Microsoft Power Apps is ranked 1st in Rapid Application Development Software with 35 reviews while Salesforce Platform is ranked 9th in Rapid Application Development Software with 29 reviews. Microsoft Power Apps is rated 7.8, while Salesforce Platform is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Microsoft Power Apps writes "Low-code, low learning curve, and reduces manpower". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Salesforce Platform writes "Offers out-of-the-box features and provides a wide range of capabilities under what they call "No code," "Low code," and "Pro code" options". Microsoft Power Apps is most compared with Mendix, Oracle Application Express (APEX), ServiceNow, Appian and Pega BPM, whereas Salesforce Platform is most compared with Oracle Application Express (APEX), Microsoft Azure, Appian, ServiceNow and Amazon AWS. See our Microsoft Power Apps vs. Salesforce Platform report.

    See our list of best Rapid Application Development Software vendors and best Low-Code Development Platforms vendors.

    We monitor all Rapid Application Development Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.