Power Apps alternative
The Power Apps alternative for teams not on Microsoft 365
Power Apps is excellent if your company lives in Microsoft 365, Dataverse and SharePoint and someone owns the licensing spreadsheet. Outside that world it is a hard sell: per-user or per-app licences, Power Fx formulas, and a builder that assumes an IT department.
Emberblocks is the small-team version: connect Postgres or Airtable, drop blocks on a grid, set roles, publish. There is no licence matrix, and builders never pay.
Builders are always free. Facts about Microsoft Power Apps on this page were last checked on against Microsoft Power Apps's own site. Tell us if something is out of date: hello@emberblocks.com.
Why people look for a Power Apps alternative
Licensing
Power Apps is licensed per user or per app per month, on top of Microsoft 365 and often Dataverse capacity. Emberblocks plans include app users and never charge for builders.
Microsoft gravity
Power Apps is best with Dataverse, SharePoint and Excel. If your data is in Postgres, Supabase or Airtable, Emberblocks starts there.
The builder
Canvas apps are a pixel canvas with Power Fx; model-driven apps need Dataverse. Emberblocks is blocks on a grid over your tables.
Time to first app
Templates open in the editor without an account, and Ember drafts a first version from a description.
External users
Sharing a Power App outside the tenant needs guest accounts or a separate portal product. Emberblocks has roles, public links and app users from your own data.
Publishing
Every publish is a versioned snapshot you can inspect and roll back, with a stable and a latest channel.
Emberblocks vs Power Apps at a glance
| Capability | Emberblocks | Power Apps |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in database | Yes | Dataverse |
| Connect your own Postgres | Yes | premium connector |
| Airtable as a source (two-way) | Yes | connector, premium |
| Google Sheets as a live source | No | connector |
| No code required | Yes | Power Fx expected |
| Formula language | Yes | Power Fx |
| Field-level permissions | Yes | Dataverse security roles |
| Workflows and automations | Yes | Power Automate |
| Versioned publishing with rollback | Yes | app versions |
| Public links without accounts | Yes | No |
| Offline edits queued on phones | Yes | canvas apps, yes |
| AI drafts the first version | Yes | Copilot |
| Builders never pay | Yes | No |
| Paid plans priced by | app users | per user or per app |
| Custom domains | not yet | No |
| SSO / SAML | not yet | Microsoft Entra |
Emberblocks cells reflect what ships today. Power Apps cells were checked against Power Apps's public pages on the date shown at the top of this page; "unverified" means we could not confirm it and would rather say so than guess.
What you get in Emberblocks
Your data, live
Start on a built-in database, your own Postgres (Supabase, Neon, RDS, anything that speaks Postgres) or an Airtable base. Apps read and write live rows, so there are no exports to keep in sync.
Blocks on a grid
Drag tables, cards, record pages, kanban boards, calendars, maps, timelines, charts, stats, forms, buttons, comments, activity feeds, file viewers, signatures, barcodes and embeds onto a grid and wire them to tables. What you arrange is exactly what your team gets.
Real field types
Fields include text, email, phone, URL, number, boolean, date, date-time, time, duration, select, multi-select, reference, multi-reference, image, file, signature, address and JSON. Barcode scanning and signatures work in the browser without a native app.
Workflows
Workflows run when a row is created, updated or deleted, on a schedule, or from a button; steps update records, send email, call webhooks, branch on conditions and run code.
Roles and permissions
Roles decide which views a user sees and which fields they can read or edit; app users can be loaded from a table in your own data.
Publishing like software
Every publish is a versioned snapshot you can inspect and roll back, with a stable and a latest channel.
Phones and offline
Published apps are responsive, install on a phone's home screen, and queue edits made offline until the connection is back.
AI where it helps
Ember drafts a first version of an app from a plain-language description, and end users can ask questions of the data in plain language when you turn it on.
Where Power Apps is still the better pick
- Your company runs on Microsoft 365 and needs Entra sign-in, conditional access and Dataverse governance. Emberblocks has no SSO yet.
- You already pay for Power Apps through an E5 or similar bundle.
- You need hundreds of premium connectors: SAP, Dynamics, SharePoint, SQL Server. Emberblocks connects Postgres and Airtable.
- Native-feeling offline canvas apps for field teams with no coverage. Emberblocks queues offline edits but is a web app.
How to move from Power Apps
- 1
Bring the data
Connect the Postgres database the data already lives in, point Emberblocks at the Airtable base, or export a CSV and import it into a built-in table. Column types are detected on import.
- 2
Let Ember draft the app
Describe the tool in a sentence or two. Ember proposes tables, views and workflows; you review the plan before anything is created.
- 3
Rebuild the screens you actually use
Most teams find a third of their old views were never opened. Rebuild the ones that matter as blocks on a grid; the table, kanban, calendar and map blocks cover most of them.
- 4
Set roles, then publish
Decide who sees which views and fields, publish a versioned snapshot and send the link. Roll back in one click if something is off.
Questions
- Can Emberblocks read SQL Server or SharePoint lists?
- Not directly. Emberblocks connects Postgres and Airtable and imports CSV. If your data is in SQL Server, export it or replicate it to Postgres first.
- Does Emberblocks support Microsoft sign-in?
- Users sign in with email and password or Google today. SSO with Microsoft Entra is not available yet.
- How is Emberblocks priced?
- Builders are always free. Paid plans are priced by the number of people who sign in to your published apps: Starter $29, Pro $79 and Business $199 a month billed yearly. Every new workspace starts with a 14-day Pro trial, no card needed, and there is a free plan after that. Full details on the pricing page.
- Do I need to write code?
- No. Blocks, a spreadsheet-style formula language and visual workflows cover most internal tools. A run-code workflow step is there when you want it, and an MCP server lets AI assistants build and query apps for you.
- What does Emberblocks not do yet?
- Custom domains, SSO and an Enterprise plan are not available yet. There is no live Google Sheets connector (import the sheet as CSV instead). Apps run in the browser and install to the home screen; there are no App Store or Play Store builds.
Try it on your own data.
Every workspace starts with a 14-day Pro trial without a card. You can also open a template in the editor first and sign up only when you want to keep it.