Cloud Flows vs Desktop Flows ⚙️

Power Automate automates two very different worlds: APIs and services (cloud flows) and the user interface of apps (desktop flows / RPA). Knowing which is which, and whether you run attended or unattended, decides how you build and which license you buy.

TL;DR: Cloud flows run in the cloud and connect apps/services through connectors (digital process automation). Desktop flows are RPA that drive the UI of desktop/web apps, running attended (with a signed-in user) or unattended (on a machine, no user). Building/managing desktop flows needs Power Automate Premium; unattended runs need a Process (bot) license.

Cloud flows vs desktop flows

flowchart TD
    A["What are you automating?"] --> B{"Does the target have an API<br/>or connector?"}
    B -->|Yes| C["Cloud flow<br/>connects via connectors"]
    B -->|No, only a UI| D["Desktop flow (RPA)"]
    D --> E{"Does a person need<br/>to be signed in?"}
    E -->|Yes| F["Attended<br/>free if run locally,<br/>Premium if cloud-orchestrated"]
    E -->|No| G["Unattended<br/>Power Automate Process"]

	Cloud flow	Desktop flow
Automates	APIs, services	App/website UI
Runs where	In the cloud	A Windows machine
Triggered by	Event, manual or schedule	Manually or by a cloud flow
Category	Digital process automation	Robotic process automation
Typical use	Approvals, data sync	Apps/sites with no API

🔸 They combine well. A common pattern is a cloud flow that triggers a desktop flow: the cloud flow orchestrates and connects to services, the desktop flow handles the app that has no API.

Attended vs unattended RPA

🔸 Attended: the desktop flow runs alongside a signed-in user on their machine. Good for human-in-the-loop tasks and interactive automation.

🔸 Unattended: the desktop flow runs on a machine with no user present, for example overnight batch processing. Unattended runs require Process capacity or an unattended entitlement.

Where AI-driven automation fits

🔸 AI Builder infuses AI into cloud flows (document processing, prediction, prompts) and is included as capacity with Power Automate Premium.

🔸 Newer AI-driven “computer use” automation lets a Copilot Studio agent drive app UIs from natural-language instructions, reading the screen with vision instead of hard-coded selectors (preview). See Computer use (CUA) in Copilot Studio for how it compares to classic RPA.

Licensing: Premium vs Process

🔸 Opening the Power Automate for desktop app and running a desktop flow manually, locally on your own Windows 10/11 PC, without a cloud flow or the Power Automate portal orchestrating, triggering or monitoring it, is free. No Premium license needed for that scenario.

🔸 Power Automate Premium is a per-user license at $40/user/month. It’s required once desktop flows are built, triggered or managed through the Power Automate cloud service, for example a cloud flow that starts a desktop flow, or attended RPA tracked in the cloud run history. It includes attended RPA, all premium and custom connectors, AI Builder capacity, custom actions, UI element collections, and process mining.

🔸 Power Automate Process is a per-bot license at $150/bot/month. It licenses a single automation bot for unattended RPA, or cloud flows using DPA, and can be accessed by unlimited users in the organization. It licenses the flow/machine, not the user.

🔸 Hosted Process works like Process, but for a Microsoft-hosted machine so you don’t manage your own VM for RPA.

⚠️ Process license and child flows. A Process license assigned directly to a cloud flow does not automatically cover its child flows. To share one Process license across cloud flows, add up to 25 solution-aware parent and child flows to a flow group. (Assigning Process capacity to a machine lets eligible cloud flows inherit the plan.)

📌 Legacy note. The old per-flow plan ($100/flow, min. 5) and the unattended RPA add-on ($150/bot) were removed from the price list on February 1, 2024. Process is the successor for unattended RPA.

Which license do I need?

Scenario	License
Run manually, purely local, no cloud orchestration	Free
Built/triggered via a cloud flow or the portal	Premium (per user)
Attended RPA tracked in cloud run history	Premium (per user)
Unattended RPA, your own machine	Process (per bot)
Unattended RPA, no VM to manage	Hosted Process

🛠️ FAQ

What’s the real difference between cloud and desktop flows? Cloud flows talk to APIs/services through connectors; desktop flows drive the user interface of apps that have no API. Use cloud flows first, and desktop flows where there’s no API to call.

Do I need Premium just to build a desktop flow? Not if you just open Power Automate for desktop and run it manually on your own PC. Premium is required once the desktop flow is built, triggered or managed through the Power Automate cloud service, for example the Power Automate portal or a cloud flow.

Does one Process license cover all my flows? No. It licenses one automation bot. For cloud flows, a directly-assigned Process license doesn’t automatically cover child flows; use a flow group (up to 25 solution-aware flows) or assign Process capacity to the machine.

Can free/seeded Power Automate run RPA? Standard cloud flows with standard connectors can be covered by seeded/Microsoft 365 entitlements, but RPA (desktop flows), premium connectors and AI Builder need Premium or Process.

🔗 Related

🔸 Computer use (CUA) in Copilot Studio, AI-driven UI automation vs classic RPA.

🔸 All Power Automate tips

🔸 Knowledge base overview

Licensing figures reflect Microsoft Learn at time of writing. Always confirm current pricing and terms in the Microsoft Power Platform Licensing Guide.