Power Platform Bad Decision Week Day 5 – Premium Licenses? Nah, Just Hope Nobody Notices the Popup

Welcome to Day 5 of Power Platform Bad Decision Week, where we spotlight all the well-intentioned shortcuts and half-baked decisions that somehow make it into production. Today, we’re talking about a classic: skipping out on Premium licenses and crossing our fingers that end users just “click past” the popup. Spoiler alert: they notice. And they absolutely complain.

“It Works for Me”: The Developer’s Defense

Every Power Platform enthusiast has been there. You’re building an app or flow, everything’s humming along, and suddenly, you realize you’ve used a Premium connector. Maybe it was Dataverse, maybe it was an HTTP request, or maybe—just maybe—you meant to avoid it, but that one sneaky action crept in. What now?

Instead of reassessing the design, some developers shrug and say, “Well, it works for me.” Of course it does—you’ve got a developer environment and a Power Apps Per User Plan. Your end users? Not so lucky. But hey, maybe they won’t mind that ominous popup warning them they’re not licensed to use the app properly, right?

This attitude, while common, is the first step toward a support nightmare. When users can’t run the app or the flow errors out silently, you can’t blame them for throwing the laptop out the window—or sending a snarky ticket to IT.

“Just Dismiss It”: The Governance Gamble

Let’s talk governance, or rather, the lack of it. In many organizations, Power Platform adoption is a free-for-all. The dev team has tools, but governance? Not quite. There are no guardrails to stop Premium connectors from being used, no policies to route apps for review, and definitely no warnings during development. So it’s easy to fall into the trap of building “free” solutions that aren’t actually free.

Some decision-makers justify skipping Premium licenses because they’re “too expensive” or “not in the budget.” Instead of properly budgeting for licenses, they gamble on ignorance. The plan? Hope nobody notices, and if they do, ask them to dismiss the popup. After all, how bad can it be?

Turns out, pretty bad. Users quickly learn to mistrust the platform, and what starts as a clever cost-saving hack can undermine your entire low-code strategy.

When UX Goes Off the Rails

A critical yet underestimated aspect of this licensing workaround is the impact on user experience. Imagine launching a sleek, intuitive app designed to simplify work—but before it loads, users are greeted with a popup that says they don’t have the right license. Nothing says “professional solution” like an access denial message at launch.

Even worse, the app might technically open, but key functionality won’t work. A form won’t submit, a button won’t trigger the right flow, or users get random errors they can't explain. This erodes trust and sends the message that Power Platform is unreliable, when really, it’s just being misused.

You only get one first impression. If that impression is a license error, your app might never recover—no matter how useful it is.

“It’s Just a Proof of Concept”: The Slippery Slope

Another common rationalization is the infamous “It’s just a PoC.” You know the one. A quick and dirty prototype, not meant for production—until it ends up there anyway. It starts as a small internal app demoed at a team meeting, and before you know it, it’s business-critical and 50 people are using it daily.

But there’s still no Premium license. And now, there’s no turning back without either rewriting the app entirely or finally paying the piper. Retrofitting licensing and governance into a live app is like changing an airplane engine mid-flight—risky, expensive, and likely to cause turbulence.

The lesson here? Treat every build like it could scale, and plan for licenses accordingly. If you need Premium connectors, be honest about it up front. You’ll thank yourself later.

Doing It Right Doesn’t Have to Hurt

All this may sound like a dire warning—and it is—but there’s good news: you can do this right without killing your momentum or your budget. It starts with transparency. Know what connectors are Premium. Use the licensing guides. Talk to your Power Platform admin or business sponsor before finalizing the app design.

Better yet, make licensing a core part of your governance process. Include a licensing review during app submissions. Provide developers with guidelines and alternatives to Premium connectors when possible. And when Premium is truly necessary, be prepared to make the case for why it’s worth the investment.

A licensed app that works 100% of the time is infinitely better than a “free” app that breaks half the time.

The Real Cost of “Hoping No One Notices”

In the end, avoiding Premium licenses doesn’t save money—it just defers the cost and multiplies the pain. You’ll spend more time explaining errors, rewriting broken apps, and rebuilding trust than you ever would have spent on proper licensing.

Power Platform is a powerful, flexible toolkit. But like any tool, it works best when used responsibly. So next time you see that Premium connector, don’t cross your fingers. Cross-reference the licensing guide—and build with confidence.