How does CDS licensing work?

[TandyWine]

Our company is just beginning to use Sharepoint and PowerApps.  So far we have only stored data in Sharepoint.  But I expect as the applications and usage grows, that we will look for other options to store data.  It's been suggested that we look at Common Data Services as storage for data.  I am struggling to understand how licensing works for CDS.  We've been instructed to create initial power apps and flows with a "workflow services" account and then share the flow/apps with developers to make changes, and share with users as needed.  If we want to store data back in CDS, who has to have a license?  Does just the "workflow services" account need the license?  Or does every user who uses the app that stores back to CDS need a license.  

It's budgeting time so our IT managers are wanting to know what to include for next year.  So I've just begun looking into how using CDS might impact our budget.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks for your time.

[mohsinkhalid]

Hi Tandy;

Glad to know you are starting your journey with the platform. License model has been simplified a lot in the past year but more way to go. Basically which ever used intends to access the data in CDS will need a license, the type of license will be determined by what applications they would be using, for example if they only intend to use two power apps then it will covered in the power apps per app license, but if they would like to create apps and have unlimited number of apps access I would recommend the power apps per user plan, more details in the link.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/powerapps-flow-licensing-faq

[v-jefferni]

Hi @TandyWine ,

Do you want to know licensing guide of Powe Apps with CDS?

First of all, for the latest information on licensing requirements for entities, see the Power Apps licensing guide in

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/common-data-service/data-platform-entity-licenses#m...

In short words, everyone who would utilize CDS data/entities need a Power Apps license as per you have not Dynamics 365 licensing but Sharepoint. The difference among creators/developers/end users is the quantity of apps they would deal with. Creators and developers would need a Per Use plan, end users may need per app plan if they use no more than 2 Apps.

Hope it helps, if you have further questions please let us know.

Best regards,

Community Support Team _ Jeffer Ni
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution  to help the other members find it.

[TandyWine]

Thanks for the reply. All of our users have Office 365 E3 licenses. Does that license include CDS?

[TandyWine]

Thanks for your reply. Because our users have all Office 365 E3 licenses, I interpret that to mean they can run all power apps and power automate flows for data stored in the Office 365 realm (Sharepoint).  But if we wish to store data in CDS, I'm struggling to understand what licensing we need there.

[v-jefferni · Accepted solution]

Hi @TandyWine ,

Sorry to say but O365 licenses do not contain any CDS use rights in Power Apps.

So the point is, anyone in your organization who would like to use Power Apps with data in CDS would need a standalone Power Apps license. As for which license to be assigned to the end user, it depends on the number of Apps he will use.

Best regards,

Community Support Team _ Jeffer Ni
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution  to help the other members find it.

[HSheild]

@TandyWine , you have been given some good advice here but also it is also good for you to understand that CDS has additional data capacity (data storage) licensing costs of you exceed the storage you get with the Power App user licenses. If you go with Power App per User licenses then usually you will not need extra data capacity.  If you have all Power App per App licenses then you might find that you will exceed the built in data capacity. It is always best to get at least 1 per User license as this adds 10GB of storage to your environment.

Hope that helps