UiPath or Power Automate: differences, costs and uses

If your company runs on Microsoft 365 and the work mainly goes through Outlook, SharePoint, Excel and cloud systems with a connector, Power Automate is usually the logical start: simple cloud flows are already included in Microsoft 365, and Microsoft publishes its prices. UiPath fits better if software robots do the main work: a lot of work through screens, unattended robots (unattended RPA: they start by themselves and follow predefined rules) with queues and document processing. Both recommendations are our assessment, not a measurable fact. This comparison describes the situation on 24 October 2026; both products change quickly.

What the two platforms are

Power Automate is the automation service of Microsoft, part of the Power Platform. There are two kinds of automation. Cloud flows connect services through connectors: ready-made integrations with, for example, Outlook, SharePoint or a CRM. Desktop flows are software robots (RPA) that operate screens, built with the Power Automate for desktop program.

UiPath is a platform that specialises in automation with software robots. You build in UiPath Studio. The UiPath Robot runs the workflow. Orchestrator starts and schedules unattended robots (unattended RPA). An unattended robot starts automatically and does the work without an employee having to be present. It follows predefined rules. On an error or exception it can stop, send an alert or put the case to an employee. The run stays traceable. Orchestrator also distributes the work across the robots and stores login details centrally. There are also, among others, Integration Service (connectors), Document Understanding (getting data out of documents) and Automation Ops (governance rules).

An honest note: MeeuseSolutions works a lot with UiPath, but chooses the technology per process. Weigh our assessments in this article with that in mind. The facts about both products come from the official documentation and pricing pages. This comparison is about the cloud versions, UiPath Automation Cloud and Power Automate, as they are described on 24 October 2026.

The example: what the order process needs from a platform

The components that matter for a small business

Software robot through the screen

Both platforms operate screens in the same way: they recognise fields and buttons by attributes of the screen, and they can also work with image recognition. Power Automate for desktop runs on Windows 10 and 11 and on Windows Server, and is already installed on Windows 11. On Windows Home, you can build flows and run them locally, but not start them from the cloud. With UiPath, an employee starts an attended robot from UiPath Assistant, under their own account. An unattended robot starts from Orchestrator, under its own robot account.

Running unattended

For the example, this is the most important component: the robot must process orders without an employee having to be present. With Power Automate, you need a Process licence for this: one unattended robot, which runs one desktop flow at a time. The machine must be registered by a user with a Premium licence. According to Microsoft, an unattended flow runs only on a machine where all users are signed out. With Hosted Process, Microsoft supplies the virtual machine itself.

With UiPath, Orchestrator starts the unattended robot, at a fixed time or immediately. Orchestrator distributes the work across the available robots, and the administrator stores the login details as protected credentials. If you do not want to manage your own machine, UiPath also supplies virtual machines for unattended robots.

Both platforms have work queues: lists of work that the robot handles one by one. That is not the same as the review queue from the example, which is for employees. In Power Automate, an item that fails gets its own status for a technical error or for a business exception, and you can let technical errors be retried automatically. UiPath makes the same distinction. A queue in Orchestrator can also enforce unique references, so the same order is not processed twice.

In our view, unattended work is the component that UiPath has worked out furthest. Power Automate also has the main building blocks.

Reading documents

With Power Automate, AI Builder reads data from documents. That costs AI Builder credits. Note a change. According to Microsoft, the AI Builder credits that come with licences such as Premium are discontinued on 1 November 2026; existing credits stay valid until the end of the current contract term. New customers can no longer buy separate AI Builder capacity. They must buy Copilot Credits, the credit that Microsoft Copilot Studio also uses. So do not count on the 5,000 credits per month that are still listed with Premium.

UiPath Document Understanding classifies documents and gets data out of them, mainly from documents with a fixed or partly fixed layout. For free text and emails, UiPath has a separate service, IXP. Document Understanding can create a validation task in Action Center, so an employee reviews and corrects the data that was read. You decide yourself in the automation when that happens, for example when there is doubt. On its pricing page, UiPath mentions document processing at scale with the Standard plan. You can read how reading orders works and where it goes wrong in automating manual order processing.

Connectors

Power Automate works with ready-made connectors and with custom connectors for an API that does not have a connector yet. Microsoft classifies them as standard or premium. With only Microsoft 365, you use the standard connectors, such as Outlook, SharePoint and Excel Online. For premium connectors, you need a Premium or Process licence.

In Integration Service, UiPath has a growing catalogue of ready-made connectors, with connections and triggers: an automation starts on an event in another system. For Microsoft 365, UiPath has activities that work through Microsoft Graph, among others for email, calendar, files in OneDrive, SharePoint lists and Excel workbooks. If you need an integration instead of a robot, first read RPA or API integration: which is the best choice?

Governance rules

With Power Automate, the administrator sets data policies: they classify connectors as Business, Non-business or Blocked. A flow that breaks the policy is suspended. According to Microsoft, a change usually takes effect within an hour, and in exceptional cases after 24 hours. Note: several admin pages, such as the lists of work queues and machines, are visible only to a user with a Premium licence.

With UiPath, the administrator sets policies in Automation Ops for Studio, Robot and Assistant. For example, they decide which package sources developers may use, which applications and websites an automation may operate, and to which addresses a robot may not send email. According to the UiPath documentation, governance is not included in the Basic plan.

Licences and official prices

The prices below come from the pricing pages of Microsoft and UiPath, checked on 24 October 2026. Microsoft states that the prices shown are for marketing purposes only and can differ from the actual catalogue price. UiPath shows only an amount with a $ sign, and does not say whether it includes or excludes VAT. The payment term is not shown either.

Two notes. For Basic, UiPath writes that the plan is changing and that a new offer is coming soon. And read the terms of the Community Agreement before you use the free Community plan for business processes; the documentation says that it is meant for individual developers and enthusiasts.

With the first set-up, you also need your own Windows machine. With both, there are costs for document processing (Copilot Credits) and for building and maintenance. For UiPath, we cannot make such a calculation: the prices of unattended robots and of the Standard plan are not on the pricing page. You can read which other costs count in what it costs to automate a business process.

So ask both suppliers, or their partners, for a price for exactly the same set-up. In your request, state:

1. The number of unattended robots that must run at the same time (one in the example).
2. The number of people who build, and the number who only handle tasks, such as reviewing exceptions.
3. The number of documents per month that must be read (in the example about 80 × 230 / 12 ≈ 1,530).
4. Whether you supply the Windows machine yourself or let the supplier supply it.
5. The term, the currency, and whether the price includes or excludes VAT.

Then compare the answers over three years, including building and maintenance.

Microsoft also offers pay per run through an Azure subscription, still in preview and only in dollars: $3.00 per unattended run. Process licences do not count in such an environment. Then your design determines the costs. If the robot starts separately for each order, that is 80 × 230 = 18,400 runs per year in the example, or $55,200. If one run per day processes all orders, it is 230 runs, or $690, but then the orders wait for that one run. Recalculate this for your own design before you choose.

Fit with Microsoft 365

Power Automate uses the same Microsoft accounts as the rest of Microsoft 365. Simple cloud flows with Outlook, SharePoint, Teams and Excel are already included in the Microsoft 365 licence. That makes it easy to get started. Microsoft counts Office 365 Outlook, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams and Excel Online (Business) among the standard connectors. But note the limits of the Excel connector, such as the maximum file size, and the fact that Microsoft does not support a flow and an employee writing at the same time; see Connecting Excel to ERP.

UiPath also works well with Microsoft 365, through the Microsoft 365 activities and Integration Service. But you then manage a second platform, with its own accounts, licences and governance rules. Our assessment: for a company that runs fully on Microsoft 365 and mainly connects Microsoft apps, Power Automate feels more natural. As soon as most of the work happens in other systems and through screens, such as in the ERP, a PDM system (product data management) for drawings and revisions or a customer's portal, the fit with Microsoft 365 counts for less.

When which choice makes sense

The points below are our assessment, based on the facts above. Weigh them yourself, keeping in mind that we work a lot with UiPath.

And sometimes neither. If your ERP has a usable API or a standard connector, an integration is often better than a robot. If there are only a few cases per week, a platform often does not pay off.

Limitations and drawbacks of both

• Power Automate: complicated licensing rules. What you may do with the Microsoft 365 licence, with Premium and with Process differs per component. A premium connector in a flow needs a different licence than a standard connector.
• Power Automate: document processing is changing. New customers pay for document processing with Copilot Credits instead of AI Builder credits. So calculate the costs per document again.
• Power Automate: one flow at a time per robot. If two desktop flows must run at the same time, you need two Process licences.
• UiPath: few public prices. Outside Basic, everything is on request, and Basic will change soon.
• UiPath: an extra platform. Next to Microsoft 365, you manage accounts, licences and policies in a second environment.
• Both: a robot is still a robot. Screen changes need maintenance, on any platform. Read more in what maintaining a software robot costs.
• Both: fast changes. Names, plans and prices change often. Check the pricing pages and terms at the moment you decide.

Decision framework

Questions to ask internally

• Which systems are involved, such as the ERP, the PDM system and customer portals, and do they have a connector in Power Automate or in UiPath Integration Service?
• How much of the work goes through screens, and must it run unattended?
• Which licences do we already have? For example Microsoft 365, or Premium licences already?
• How many documents per month must be read, and how different are they?
• Who builds and who manages? A colleague who makes flows themselves, or an outside specialist?
• What does each set-up cost over three years, including building, maintenance and machines?

What weighs most

What weighs most is where the work is: between Microsoft apps and cloud systems with a connector, or in the screens of other systems. After that come the number of unattended robots, the number of documents and who does the management. The brand name only comes after that. First choose the approach per process step, and only then the platform.

Testing and outside help

Both suppliers offer a trial period: UiPath mentions 60 days for Standard, and Microsoft has a free trial of Power Automate. Test with your own process and your own documents, not with a demo. Outside help makes sense if you combine unattended robots, document processing and an ERP, or if you want to compare the costs over a few years. Then ask someone who knows both platforms, and ask how they justify their preference. You can read more about how we work with UiPath on the page about the UiPath specialist.

Conclusion

Power Automate and UiPath can both automate the order process from the example. The difference is in the environment: Power Automate fits what a Microsoft 365 company already has and has public prices. In our view, UiPath is stronger when several unattended robots do the main work through screens and with documents, but you only see the price in a quote. Choose the platform based on where the work is, test with your own process, and check the prices again at the moment you decide.

Sources

• Microsoft: Power Automate pricing (in Dutch) (checked on 24 October 2026)
• Microsoft Learn: Types of Power Automate licenses
• Microsoft Learn: Deep dive on specific licenses (Power Automate)
• Microsoft Learn: Prerequisites and limitations (Power Automate for desktop)
• Microsoft Learn: Run unattended desktop flows
• Microsoft Learn: Get started with Power Automate in Windows 11
• Microsoft Learn: Manage work queues
• Microsoft Learn: Pay-as-you-go meters
• Microsoft Learn: Licensing and AI Builder credits (page date 8 October 2026, checked on 24 October 2026)
• Microsoft Learn: Data policies (Power Platform)
• Microsoft Learn: List of all Standard tier connectors
• UiPath: Pricing (checked on 24 October 2026)
• UiPath Documentation: Unified Pricing, licensing plan framework
• UiPath Documentation: Community plan
• UiPath Documentation: Orchestrator, robots
• UiPath Documentation: Automation Cloud Robots, VM
• UiPath Documentation: Queues and transactions
• UiPath Documentation: IXP
• UiPath Documentation: Automation Ops, governance
• UiPath Documentation: Document Understanding, validation service
• UiPath Documentation: Integration Service
• UiPath Documentation: Microsoft 365 activities