Whisk vs Microsoft Power Apps
Microsoft Power Apps builds apps inside Microsoft's world. People drag screens together, the data is kept in Microsoft's Dataverse or SharePoint, and everyone logs in with their Microsoft account.
Whisk runs apps that your AI coding assistant writes in ordinary code. Logins, a database and backups are included.
If your business runs on Microsoft 365 and your IT team wants everything there, Power Apps is a good fit. If you want to describe a tool to an AI and own what it builds, Whisk is the better fit.
At a glance
| Power Apps | Whisk | |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds it | Business users and IT, in Power Apps Studio, increasingly with Copilot | Your AI coding assistant (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and others), in ordinary code |
| How you pay | Per user: Premium is $20 a month per user for unlimited apps, or $10 per active user per app | Per live app, flat: one app free, then from $49 a month for 10 apps, with unlimited members |
| People outside the company | Guests each need a paid seat; customer portals use Power Pages, priced per signed-in user per site | Customer users are unlimited, including on the free app |
| Database | Dataverse, with a small allowance per paid seat; extra storage costs about $40 per GB a month | Each app gets its own Postgres database |
| Backups | Kept 7 days (28 on some production setups); restores go to a separate environment, and you can't download a copy | Backed up; restore it yourself on paid plans; export the database whenever you like |
| Leaving | Apps only run on Microsoft's Power Platform; moving data out needs exports or migration tools | Your code is in your own repository; export the database and files at any time |
Prices are in US dollars, from Microsoft's pricing page and Whisk's in October 2026.
How pricing compares
Power Apps charges per person. Ten staff on Premium is $200 a month, whatever they build. Customers who sign in to a portal are charged separately through Power Pages, from $200 a month per 100 signed-in users for each site.
Whisk charges per live app, with no charge per staff member or per customer. One app is free. Starter is $49 a month for 10 live apps, so those same ten staff could use ten different tools for $49.
There's one big exception. If Power Apps already comes with a Microsoft or Dynamics plan you pay for, it may cost you nothing extra. Check that before you compare.
Stay with Power Apps if
- Your business already runs on Microsoft 365, Teams and SharePoint, and you want apps to sit right alongside them.
- The people building are business users who won't use an AI coding assistant.
- Your IT team needs Microsoft's central controls and compliance certificates across every app.
- Power Apps already comes with Microsoft plans you're paying for.
Look at Whisk if
- You want to describe a tool to an AI assistant rather than build screens by hand.
- Clients, customers or contractors need to sign in, without paying for each one.
- You want ordinary code and a standard Postgres database you can take with you.
- You don't want your apps tied to one vendor's seats and storage prices.