Power Apps or custom development?
The right answer depends on users, integrations, licensing, UX expectations and expected lifetime, not on loyalty to a technology.
01
When Power Apps is a strong choice
Power Apps is especially effective for internal applications where users already work in Microsoft 365, fast iteration matters and the solution connects closely to SharePoint, Dataverse or other Microsoft services.
- internal authenticated apps
- fast iteration
- Microsoft 365 integration
- mobile and browser use
02
When custom development is better
For public products, highly tailored UX, large transactional workloads or products that should remain independent of Microsoft licensing, custom development is often cleaner.
- public customer applications
- highly custom UX
- large or unpredictable load
- platform-independent product strategy
03
The hidden factor: operating the system
Development time is only part of the decision. Release management, monitoring, licensing and who will maintain the system in two years matter just as much.
- lifetime cost
- licensing
- ALM and releases
- internal capability