Microsoft Power Automate vs Okta Workflows (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Microsoft Power Automate if

• Fits if your company already pays for Microsoft 365 or Dynamics 365
• Works for teams where an old Windows program has no API and someone retypes its data every day

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you want bots running unattended, at $150 a bot a month, or $215 hosted
• Skip it if your desktop work isn't on Windows, because that's all the desktop app runs on, and not on ARM
• Tight if you're staying free, with standard connectors only and no sharing of flows
• Watch out: the phone app reached end of support on August 31, 2026, so mobile means the browser or Teams
• Watch out: the pricing page says the trial is 30 days, while Microsoft's licensing docs describe 90

Pick Okta Workflows if

• Fits if you already use Okta and want to automate joiners and leavers
• Works for an IT admin who wants no-code flows for identity tasks

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you do not use Okta, as it is sold inside its suites
• Tight if you pick Starter or Core Essentials, which cap you at 5 flows
• Watch out: you pay per user for the whole suite, not for Workflows alone
• Watch out: Professional and Enterprise prices are not published, and billing is annual

Microsoft Power Automate

• The free license and Microsoft 365 licenses cover standard connectors only; premium and custom connectors need Premium at $15 per user / month.
• Unattended desktop flows need a Process license at $150 per bot / month, and the machine must be registered by a Premium user.
• The desktop app runs only on Windows 10, Windows 11 and Windows Server, and devices with ARM processors are not supported.
• The standalone iOS and Android app reached end of support on August 31, 2026; Microsoft points mobile users to the browser portal and Teams.

Okta Workflows

• It is bundled into Okta Workforce Identity suites, so you pay per user for the whole suite, not for Workflows alone.
• Flow counts are capped by suite: 5 on Starter and Core Essentials, 50 on Essentials, and a maximum on Professional and Enterprise.
• Professional and Enterprise prices are not published; Okta asks buyers to contact sales.
• Okta says its suites are billed annually, so the per-month figures are not available month to month.

Microsoft Power Automate

Cloud flows

Automated, scheduled and instant flows connect cloud apps, and on-premises services through a data gateway. Microsoft cites more than 1,400 prebuilt, certified connectors, and custom connectors can be built.

Desktop flows (RPA)

Power Automate for desktop builds or records flows that operate Windows and web applications through their interfaces. Attended runs happen with a person present; unattended runs need a Process license.

Copilot authoring

Copilot in Power Automate creates, edits and extends flows from a natural-language description, in both the cloud designer and the desktop app.

Process and task mining

Analyzes how a process actually runs to find steps worth automating. Premium includes 50 MB of mining data per user, and a tenant-wide add-on provides 100 GB.

Microsoft 365 integration

Flows can be built and run from inside Teams, Excel, SharePoint and OneDrive. Microsoft 365 licenses include the right to create and run cloud flows with standard connectors.

Governance and hosted machines

Managed Environments and data loss prevention policies give admins control over flows. Hosted Process runs unattended bots on virtual machines that Microsoft manages.

Okta Workflows

No-code flow builder

Build automations with clicks instead of code, using if-this-then-that logic across multiple APIs and pre-built templates.

Connector Builder

Create your own connector to link apps that have no ready-made one, using the Connector Builder.

Lifecycle and group management

Automate group memberships and account changes during employee or partner onboarding and offboarding.

Inactive-user clean-up and reports

Find inactive users and act on their accounts, or generate audits and reports on a schedule.

Security responses

Act on suspicious activity, lock a user's device on offboarding, and configure flows that help prevent account takeovers.

Low-latency inline hooks

A low-latency mode lets flows run during sign-in, for tasks such as token enrichment or SAML assertion changes.

Microsoft Power Automate

• Power Automate Free$0

  Free license described in Microsoft's licensing docs: cloud flows with standard connectors only, no sharing, and desktop flows run locally in attended mode.

• Power Automate Premium$15

  per user / month, paid yearly

  Cloud flows with standard, premium and custom connectors, attended desktop flows, process and task mining with 50 MB of data, and 250 MB of Dataverse database capacity.

• Power Automate Process$150

  per bot / month, paid yearly

  One bot for unattended desktop flows, or a license for a cloud flow that any number of users can run, with up to 250,000 actions a day.

• Power Automate Hosted Process$215

  per bot / month, paid yearly

  Unattended desktop flows on a virtual machine that Microsoft manages and hosts on Azure, so there is no machine of your own to maintain.

• Process Mining add-on$5,000

  per tenant / month, paid yearly

  Add-on for the Premium plan only: 100 GB of process mining data, with 2 GB of Dataverse database and 1 TB of file capacity.

Okta Workflows

• Starter$6

  per user / month, billed annually

  Suite with single sign-on, MFA and Universal Directory. Includes 5 Workflows flows.

• Core Essentials$14

  per user / month, billed annually

  Okta suite priced between Starter and Essentials. Includes 5 Workflows flows.

• Essentials$17

  per user / month, billed annually

  Adds lifecycle management and access governance to Starter. Includes 50 Workflows flows.

• ProfessionalCustom

  Everything in Essentials plus device access and identity threat protection. Maximum flows; sold through sales.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Everything in Professional plus API access management and an access gateway. Maximum flows; sold through sales.