UiPath and Microsoft Power Automate are the two RPA (robotic process automation) platforms we are asked about most. Both can automate repetitive work, but they come from different places and suit different businesses. Here is how to choose, based on the automations we build for clients.
The short answer
- Choose Power Automate if your business already runs on Microsoft 365, most of your processes live in Outlook, Excel, SharePoint, Teams or Dynamics, and you want to start small at a low cost.
- Choose UiPath if you need to automate complex work across many desktop and legacy applications, process large volumes of documents, or run dozens of robots with central control and audit trails.
- Use both if you are a larger organisation: Power Automate for everyday Microsoft 365 workflows, UiPath for heavy back-office automation.
What each tool is
UiPath
UiPath is a dedicated automation platform. Developers design automations in UiPath Studio (business users can use the simpler StudioX), and robots run them either on a person's computer when triggered (attended) or on servers around the clock (unattended). Orchestrator schedules robots, stores credentials securely, manages queues and keeps logs of every run. UiPath is particularly strong at automating old desktop software, terminal screens and virtual desktops such as Citrix, and its Document Understanding features extract data from invoices and forms.
Microsoft Power Automate
Power Automate is part of Microsoft's Power Platform. It has two halves: cloud flows, which connect online services through hundreds of ready-made connectors (Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, Dynamics 365, Salesforce and many more), and desktop flows, built in Power Automate Desktop, which click and type through Windows applications like a person would. Because it sits inside the Microsoft ecosystem, it inherits Microsoft 365 sign-in, security and data policies.
Side-by-side comparison
| UiPath | Power Automate | |
|---|---|---|
| Best at | Complex, high-volume automation across desktop, legacy and web apps | Workflows inside Microsoft 365 and cloud apps; simpler desktop tasks |
| Learning curve | Moderate to steep for advanced work; very capable once learned | Gentle for cloud flows; desktop flows take some practice |
| Integrations | Large activity library plus API calls to almost anything | Hundreds of connectors; premium connectors need premium licences |
| Desktop & legacy apps | Excellent, including Citrix and terminal screens | Good for standard Windows apps |
| Document processing | Mature Document Understanding with AI models | AI Builder models for forms, invoices and receipts |
| Governance at scale | Orchestrator: queues, schedules, credential vaults, detailed logs | Power Platform admin centre and environments |
| Licensing | Per robot or user; a free Community edition exists for individuals and small teams | Per user or per bot; Power Automate Desktop is free for attended use on Windows |
Licence prices for both products change regularly, so check the current price lists before you budget. What matters more than the list price is how many robots or users you need and whether you can reuse licences you already pay for.
When Power Automate is the better fit
- Approvals, notifications and hand-offs between people, for example leave requests, purchase approvals or customer onboarding steps tracked in SharePoint.
- Moving data between Microsoft 365 apps: saving email attachments to SharePoint, updating Excel trackers, posting summaries to Teams.
- Small desktop automations that one person triggers, such as filling a form in an internal Windows application from an Excel sheet.
- Teams that want business users to build and maintain simple flows themselves.
When UiPath is the better fit
- Back-office processes with high volumes, such as processing hundreds of invoices or orders a day, where reliability and retry handling matter.
- Automations that span many systems: an ERP, a banking portal, a government website and a legacy desktop app in one process.
- Work that runs unattended overnight or around the clock on a schedule or a queue.
- Organisations that need detailed audit logs, credential vaults and central control over many robots.
Costs people forget
The licence is rarely the largest cost. Budget for the time to map and redesign the process, build and test the automation, and, most importantly, maintain it. When a website or application changes its screens, a robot may need updating. Automations built with clean error handling, logging and selectors that tolerate small changes cost far less to keep running.
How to start
- List candidate processes that are repetitive, rule-based and high volume. Our article on RPA use cases for small businesses has ten good starting points.
- Estimate the hours saved per month for each and pick one with clear, measurable benefit.
- Check your existing licences. If you already pay for Microsoft 365, a Power Automate pilot may cost very little.
- Run a pilot for four to six weeks, measure the results, then decide whether to scale on the same platform.
Not sure which platform suits your processes? Our team builds automations on both UiPath and Power Automate. We can review your processes and recommend the most cost-effective option. See our RPA & automation services or ask for a free consultation.
