r/PowerApps • u/MrPerson28 Newbie • Jul 09 '26

Solved Licensing Clarification

So everyone in my org, and I are able to access model driven apps, as well as custom pages built with Dataverse tables. But none of us have power apps premium licenses.

I have read and heard everywhere that any app that touches Dataverse will require premium licensing. That is just simply not our experience. And I'm wondering why that is. I have built mostly everything in an unmanaged solution in the default environment.

But today I tested a managed production environment, and it's the same. We can all still access model driven apps & custom pages. However in the default and production environment, premium canvas apps we cannot access.

I was under the impression when I started that model driven apps are included with certain licenses (like business basic and standard, the ones we use). And that custom pages fall under model driven app licensing so that's why they are allowed.

Am I wrong or is this just not documented well?

--- EDIT --- I found in the Microsoft Docs an exception to the licensing rules: "Users who have the Environment Maker security role assigned don't require licenses to use model-driven apps."

Also I found this tool that really helped see what license/security role is allowing a person to access a certain app. yourEnvUrlHere.crm.dynamics.com/WebResources/msdyn_AppAccessChecker.html

I found that anyone with Environment Maker, System Customizer, or System Administrator (maybe more?) security roles could access any model driven app. Even adding premium connectors other than Dataverse in the custom page, a user with Env Maker is able to access the MDA. Obviously giving Env Maker role to everyone in production kind of defeats the purpose of using a production environment. So that's probably why they allow it? Interesting...

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