Power Apps is the application builder of Microsoft Power Platform: Dataverse as the data store, 1,500+ connectors, Copilot-driven building and a per-user price, with the largest maker community in the category.
Every Power Apps cell carries its source number; the sources are listed at the foot of the page.
| Question | Power Apps | Lima SmartApps |
|---|---|---|
| Where the app's rows live | 'Power Apps uses Microsoft Dataverse to store and manage data' [2]. Virtual tables represent external data 'without data replication' for SQL Server, SharePoint, Microsoft Fabric (preview), Salesforce (preview), Oracle Database (preview), Snowflake, PostgreSQL and Azure Databricks (Learn, updated May 7 2026) [3]. | App screens read rows in place in the system that owns them (SAP, Oracle, Snowflake, Databricks, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday) through data handlers; the platform keeps definitions, instances and the log, and makes zero copies of source rows to build an app. |
| Reaching SAP and Oracle | SAP through the SAP ERP and OData connectors and Microsoft's SAP templates; Oracle Database as a virtual-table provider in preview [3][4]. | SAP S/4HANA and ECC through released read interfaces, change capture where allowed, BAPIs and IDocs for writes, inside SAP's published guidance (Notes 3255746, 382318, 2971304); Oracle Fusion through REST resources and BICC, EBS through JDBC and open interfaces. |
| Snowflake and Databricks | Snowflake and Azure Databricks as virtual-table providers; Microsoft Fabric in preview [3]. | Native connectors to Snowflake, Databricks and Microsoft Fabric; the Backbone lands history in a conformed model; decisions recorded beside it with MERGE. |
| Approvals and case work | Approvals through Power Automate flows; case-style apps built model-driven on Dataverse [2]. | Approval flows with levels, an alternate per level, delegation, series or parallel paths, a time limit per level and an escalation user; assignments; multi-party signatures; all on one engine. |
| Audit record | Dataverse auditing and Power Platform admin logs [2]. | Append-only, hash-chained log per instance: person, step, values, decision, notifications, write-back acknowledgement, app version; auditor self-service screen. |
| AI-assisted building | Plan designer turns a description into 'structured solution blueprints'; generative pages GA Nov 2025; agents 'write the full-stack code' for code apps; canvas authoring agent GA Sep 2026; Microsoft cites '60% higher success building with Copilot' [5][6][7]. | Drafts of levels, lanes, screens and criteria from a plain description; screens generated from rules and hierarchies; drafts pass the same validator, preview and gate; structure crosses to an external model, rows stay. |
| Pricing unit | Per user: Premium 20 per user per month billed yearly, 12 at 2,000+ seats; Developer plan free; Dataverse capacity 40 per GB per month [8]. | Platform capacity tiers (32C to 128C); apps, screens, instances and users included; the price is written before the work starts; pricing principles published. |
| Trial | 'Try for free'; Developer plan with 3 environments [8]. | A guided first-app session on your live data (about 30 minutes); the showcase estate for demonstrations; a self-service trial tier is a decision pending (see review notes). |
| Analyst placements 2025–26 | Gartner MQ Enterprise LCAP, Jul 2025: Leader (7th year) [7]. Forrester Wave Low-Code Platforms for Professional Developers Q2 2025: Leader [9]. Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice. Forrester TEI Power Platform (Jul 2024): 224% ROI, payback under 6 months [10]. | Analyst evaluation is the purpose of this page set; placements to date: none. |
Choose Power Apps when the organisation runs on Microsoft 365 and Teams, the makers are many and spread across departments, and the apps are departmental tools whose data can live in Dataverse or reach a listed virtual-table source. The per-user price, the templates and the community are the strongest in the category [7][8].
Lima SmartApps suit cross-functional processes on ERP, lake and application rows that should stay where they are, with approvals modelled as hierarchies, write-back through SAP's and Oracle's released interfaces, and one audit record per instance. The price is platform capacity with apps included, so a company-wide process is covered by the capacity.
The app catalogue shows forty app types with, for each, the objects read in place in SAP S/4HANA, Oracle Fusion, Snowflake and Databricks and the interface used for the write-back.
Facts change; re-check the sources at each review and re-date the page.
Every Power Apps statement is quoted or paraphrased from Power Apps's own pages or from dated analyst material, with a source number. The 'when to choose them' section is written to be true.
Yes. Many companies run several application platforms. SmartApps read and write the systems of record, so an app built elsewhere and an app built in Lima can act on the same SAP order through the same released interfaces.
Checked on September 16, 2026. Analyst placements, prices and release facts are the items most likely to change.
Bring one process. In the first session we register the data handlers on your systems and run the first screen in place, so the comparison is made on your data.
