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Cloud flow, agent flow or desktop flow? Which one to build

Three kinds of flow, three ways to pay. What each is for, how it's licensed or billed, what it can't do, and a quick way to pick: connectors and APIs, an agent's tools, or clicking through an app that has no API.

Power AutomateChoose · Comparison5 min read

Checked against Microsoft Learn · 7 sourcesHow we write guides

Power Automate cloud flows, Copilot Studio agent flows and Power Automate desktop flows all automate steps, and from a distance they look alike. They're licensed differently, managed in different places, and each has things it can't do. Choose before you build, because switching later isn't always possible.

The short answer

  • The systems have connectors or an API? Build a cloud flow.
  • The automation is a tool your Copilot Studio agent calls, or you want it billed per use instead of per user? Build an agent flow.
  • The only way in is the screen (an old desktop app, a website with no API, a terminal)? Build a desktop flow, and usually start it from a cloud flow.

Side by side

Cloud flowAgent flowDesktop flow
Built inPower AutomateCopilot StudioPower Automate for desktop
RunsIn the cloudIn the cloudOn a Windows machine you register
Talks to systems throughConnectors and APIsConnectors and APIsThe user interface: clicks, typing, screen reading
Paid for byPower Automate licences: the owner's or runner's licence, or a Process licence for the flowCopilot Studio capacity: Copilot Credits per action run. No individual licence neededPremium licence for attended runs; Process licence (or an add-on) for unattended runs
Premium connectorsNeed Premium or ProcessIncludedNot applicable
Sharing, co-owners, run-only usersYesNo. Agent flows can't be copied, shared, co-owned or given run-only usersYes
Must be in a solutionRecommendedYesRecommended
Call a desktop flowYesNo, not currentlyCan call other desktop flows

Cloud flows

The default choice for connecting services: "when an item is added, notify someone, update a record, file the attachment".

  • Licensing: Microsoft 365 licences cover standard connectors. A flow that uses premium connectors needs the right licence: the owner's for automated and scheduled flows, and each person who runs it for instant flows. Alternatively, give the flow a Process licence.
  • Strengths: sharing, co-owners, run-only users, child flows, and a huge connector catalogue.

Agent flows

Flows built in Copilot Studio, aimed at agents and business processes.

  • How they're billed:
    • each run consumes Copilot Studio capacity for every action it executes, billed as "agent flow actions" (Microsoft's rate table lists 13 Copilot Credits per 100 actions);
    • nobody needs a Power Automate licence;
    • runs triggered by an agent for a user with a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence aren't charged;
    • test runs, from the designer or the agent's test chat, don't use capacity.
  • When capacity runs out: new runs are blocked in that environment until capacity is added or pay-as-you-go is turned on. Runs already in progress finish normally. Watch usage in the Power Platform admin center under Licensing → Copilot Studio.
  • To use one as an agent tool: it needs the When an agent calls the flow trigger and a Respond to the agent action.
  • AI steps cost more: prompts and AI models in agent flows always use Copilot Credits, even in tests.

Warning

You can convert a cloud flow into an agent flow (in a solution, by changing its plan to Copilot Studio). It's one-way. You can't change it back, and it then loses sharing and run-only users. Check that before converting a flow other people run.

Desktop flows

Robotic process automation (RPA): the flow clicks and types through applications as a person would.

  • Use it only when there's no connector or API. UI automation breaks when screens change, and it needs a machine, a Windows session and credentials.

  • Attended or unattended:

    • attended runs use the signed-in user's session and need a Premium licence;
    • unattended runs sign in on their own and need a Process licence or an unattended add-on.

    The details, and the errors that go with them, are in Desktop flow won't run from the cloud.

  • Start it from a cloud flow, which handles the trigger, the data and the notifications, and keep the desktop flow to the screen work alone.

Mixed designs that work

  • A cloud flow plus a desktop flow: the cloud flow receives the request, then calls the desktop flow to type it into the old system.
  • An agent plus an agent flow: the agent talks to the user, and the agent flow does the dependable, step-by-step part, such as creating the record or sending the approval.
  • An agent plus a cloud flow: keep a cloud flow when its people need to share and co-own it. For an agent to call a flow directly, the flow needs to be an agent flow.

Sources