Power Apps or Fabrika?
Power Apps fits when your company lives in Microsoft 365 and has IT that runs Power Platform. Fabrika makes sense when you don't want to pay a licence for every user, want the code in your own Git, need people outside the company in the app, and want a person to read every change before it goes live.
Looking for a Power Apps alternative for a mid-sized company? Below is a point-by-point comparison, when each one fits, and how to switch. Sign-in with Microsoft Entra stays with you on Fabrika too.
Updated 28 September 2026
How do Power Apps and Fabrika differ?
Ten questions that decide it: who builds, where apps run, what the licences cost, how outside people get in, who reviews changes and what happens if you leave.
| Question | Power Apps | Contember Fabrika |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds | Power Apps People in the company and developers, in the Power Apps editor. Your IT runs the environments and the rules. | Contember Fabrika Your person with AI, your developer or agency. We can build the first app with you. |
| What an app is made of | Power Apps Canvas or model-driven apps in Power Platform, data usually in Dataverse. Solutions can sync to Git (Azure DevOps, GitHub), but they run only in Power Platform. | Contember Fabrika Ordinary code (TypeScript and React) in a Git repository your company owns. |
| Where it runs | Power Apps In Microsoft's cloud, in the environment region you pick. In the EU region, data stays in the EU and EFTA. | Contember Fabrika In your own installation on Cloudflare or Zerops, or AWS on request. The cloud account is registered to your company. |
| How you pay | Power Apps Per user. Premium is USD 20 per user per month, paid yearly (USD 12 from 2,000 seats), or USD 10 per active user per app per month on pay-as-you-go. Extra Dataverse capacity is USD 40 per GB per month. | Contember Fabrika A one-off setup and monthly operations priced by the number of apps, not per seat. You get the price in an offer after the first call. You pay for servers directly to the cloud provider. |
| Microsoft 365 licences | Power Apps Some Microsoft 365 licences include limited rights: apps on Microsoft 365 data with standard connectors. Dataverse and premium connectors need a standalone licence. | Contember Fabrika You don't need Power Apps licences. There's no per-user fee, the plan follows the number of apps. |
| People outside the company | Power Apps As guests in your Entra ID, with a licence that matches the app. For websites for outside users there's Power Pages, USD 4 per signed-in user per website per month on pay-as-you-go. | Contember Fabrika They sign in with a password, your staff with their company account. Part of an app can be public, a form for example. |
| Sign-in | Power Apps With a Microsoft Entra ID account. | Contember Fabrika With a company account via OIDC: Microsoft Entra, Google or Okta. Multi-factor authentication works as your company has it set up. No SAML. |
| Who reviews changes | Power Apps Your IT. Deployments through pipelines can require an approval. Target environments must be managed and need premium licences. | Contember Fabrika A person from Contember, for every change, before it goes live. Changes go through Git. |
| If you leave | Power Apps You export the solution as a .zip for another Power Platform environment. Dataverse data isn't in it and is exported separately. | Contember Fabrika Code, data, domains and the cloud account are yours. The system keeps running without us and the next developer picks it up from Git. |
| How you start | Power Apps The Developer plan is free for building and testing. Production use needs paid licences. | Contember Fabrika With a half-hour call. Within a few days, you get an offer. |
Details about Power Apps are as of 28 September 2026, from Microsoft's pricing page and documentation. Prices are from Microsoft's US price list in USD; what you pay may differ with your Microsoft agreement. If you spot something out of date, write to sales@contember.com.
Sources, checked 28 September 2026
When is Power Apps the better fit?
When your company lives in Microsoft and has IT that can run Power Platform.
- The company lives in Microsoft 365 and the apps mostly work with data from Microsoft 365, SharePoint or Dataverse.
- You have IT that runs the Power Platform environments, their rules and deployment through pipelines.
- You already pay for licences. For a simple app on Microsoft 365 data with standard connectors, the Microsoft 365 licence you have may be enough.
- You use Dynamics 365. Its licences include Power Apps rights for extending Dynamics.
- People want to put screens and forms together with a mouse, in an editor.
- The apps and data have to stay in Microsoft's cloud, in the EU region.
When does Fabrika make sense?
When you don't want a licence for every user, you want the code in your own Git, and someone who reads every change.
- You don't want to pay per user. At USD 20 a month for Premium, licences for 50 people cost USD 1,000 a month. On Fabrika you pay by the number of apps.
- People outside the company use the app too: suppliers, clients, contractors. They sign in with a password, with no licence and no guest account in your Entra ID.
- You want the app to be ordinary code in your own Git that any web developer can pick up.
- You don't have IT to run Power Platform and read every change. On Fabrika, that's our job.
- People are already building with AI in Lovable, Cursor or Claude Code and you need it in production. See Already building with AI.
- Microsoft 365 stays. People sign in to the apps on Fabrika with the same Microsoft Entra account.
Can we use both?
Yes. You keep using Microsoft 365 as you do today, and sign-in stays in Microsoft Entra ID. Apps that Power Apps handles well and that the licences you already have cover can stay where they are.
Move the ones to Fabrika where per-user licences would cost you most, where outside people need access, or where you need your own logic and reviewed changes.
How do you move from Power Apps to Fabrika?
We can't take a Power Apps app over, because it only runs in Power Platform. We build it again as code. Here's what we know today:
The app becomes the brief
The screens, forms, fields, roles and Power Automate flows you have make a very precise brief. The new app follows them, it's just ordinary code.
Dataverse data is exported separately
A solution export doesn't include data. You can export a table from a model-driven app to Excel, though the export size is limited by rows, columns and lookups. We'll go through how to get your data out on the first call.
Sign-in stays
People keep signing in with their Microsoft Entra account. Fabrika connects it through OIDC, and multi-factor authentication works as your company has it set up.
No need to move everything at once
Power Apps can keep running until the new app takes over. You can move one app at a time and renew licences only for the people who still need them.
If an app is built on SharePoint lists or Excel files, we'll decide together on the first call what happens to the data.
What does Power Apps have that Fabrika doesn't?
Some of this Fabrika doesn't have at all, some it handles differently.
- A drag-and-drop editor
- You put screens and forms together with a mouse. On Fabrika you build with AI on top of code, and changes go through Git.
- The Microsoft world, connected
- Direct ties to Microsoft 365, Dataverse and Dynamics 365, and ready-made connectors, including to systems in your own network. On Fabrika every integration is built in the app's code.
- Running on Azure
- Power Apps runs in Microsoft's cloud, and in the EU region keeps data in the EU and EFTA. Fabrika runs on Cloudflare or Zerops, or AWS on request. Not on Azure.
- Management right in Entra ID
- Access to an environment can be bound to an Entra ID security group, and you manage licences in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Fabrika connects to Entra through OIDC but doesn't provision accounts automatically through SCIM.
- Rolling back to a previous version
- Pipelines can redeploy a previous solution version. Fabrika doesn't have that as a ready-made feature.
- Starting on your own, for free
- The Developer plan is free for building and testing, and you can start without talking to anyone. Fabrika starts with a half-hour call and an offer.
When isn't Fabrika for you?
We'd rather say it up front than at the end of a call.
- Your company lives in Microsoft 365, your IT runs Power Platform and what it can do is enough for your apps. A second platform doesn't make sense then.
- A simple app for a few people on Microsoft 365 data and the licences you already pay for are enough.
- Running on Azure or your own servers, SAML sign-in or a certified supplier is a hard requirement.
- People want to put apps together with a mouse and you don't want anything to do with code or Git.
What people ask about Power Apps and Fabrika
What's a Power Apps alternative for a mid-sized company?
It depends on what you want to avoid. If you live in Microsoft 365 and have IT that runs Power Platform, Power Apps is usually the most sensible choice. If you don't want to pay per seat and want the code in your own Git and the apps in your own cloud account, look at Fabrika. More options side by side in the comparison.
How much does Power Apps cost?
According to Microsoft's price list, Premium is USD 20 per user per month paid yearly, or USD 12 from 2,000 seats. On pay-as-you-go it's USD 10 for each user who opens an app in a given month, for each app separately. Extra Dataverse capacity costs USD 40 per GB per month. Since 2 January 2026, the Power Apps per app licence is no longer sold to new customers through some purchasing channels.
Do we have to leave Microsoft 365 for Fabrika?
No. You keep using Microsoft 365, and people sign in to the apps on Fabrika with the same Microsoft Entra account. What changes is where the apps run and who reviews their changes.
Does Fabrika support sign-in with Microsoft Entra ID?
Yes, through OIDC. Multi-factor authentication then works as your company has it set up in Entra. Anyone without a company account, an outside contractor for example, uses a password. We don't support SAML.
Will you take over an app built in Power Apps?
Take it over, no. A Power Apps app only runs in Power Platform, so there's no code we could run elsewhere. Build it again, yes. The existing app works as a very precise brief, and we'll go through what to do with the data on the first call.
Power Apps has deployment approvals and Git. Why would we need you?
Power Platform gives you the process: pipelines with an approval step and syncing to Git. Someone on your side still has to read each change and understand what it does. On Fabrika that's our job, for every change, before it goes live.
Suppliers and clients need to use the app too. How does that work?
In Power Apps you invite them as guests into Entra ID, and they need a licence that matches the app. For websites for outside users, Microsoft has Power Pages. On Fabrika, outside people sign in with a password and part of an app can be public, a form for example. There's no per-user fee.
We only have Microsoft 365, not Power Apps Premium. Is that enough?
For apps on Microsoft 365 data with standard connectors, often yes: some Microsoft 365 licences include limited rights for that. Premium connectors, model-driven apps and Dataverse need a standalone Power Apps licence. The exact terms are in Microsoft's licensing guide.
Not sure whether Power Apps is enough?
Half an hour is enough. Tell us what you want to build, how many people will use it and what you already have in Microsoft 365. If Power Apps works better for you, we'll say so.