Power Apps vs AppSheet vs a Custom Internal App: What a 40-User Business Pays in 2026

Short answer: for a 40-person business, Microsoft Power Apps Premium costs about $9,600 a year ($20 per user per month, paid yearly) and Google AppSheet Core about $4,800 a year ($10 per user per month), at prices read from each vendor's own page on 14 October 2026. Both are good starting points when the app is simple forms and approvals on data you already hold in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. A custom internal app, built once by a senior team, costs $15,000 to $50,000 for a first production version and carries no per-user fee. The subscription is rarely the whole bill, so the sections below put the licence, the builder and the three-year total side by side.

If you want a range for your own app first, the AI development cost calculator gives one in about a minute.

Published prices, side by side

How to read these numbers. Subscription prices are the vendors' published list prices on the date shown, before taxes, overages, add-ons and seat growth. The custom-build figures are KUMO's published bands for the build only: hosting, model usage, third-party fees and ongoing engineering ($5,000 to $10,000 per month if you have no engineers) sit on top, and we say so wherever a total is compared. A standard tool is the right answer when your workflow fits it; configuration is enough when the gap is small; a custom build is justified only by a specific complexity named on this page, not by preference.

Microsoft's page says displayed prices are for marketing purposes and the checkout price is the actual price, so confirm yours. AppSheet lists no annual discount, so its figures are displayed monthly prices only.

What 40 users actually cost

Take a common case: 40 staff use the app every day, and one person builds and maintains it. Using the prices above:

These totals are the licence only. Someone still has to design the data model and screens. Upwork's page for AI workflow specialists says freelance help generally costs $30 to $150 per hour, with multi-app integration builds listed at $2,500 to $8,000 per project and end-to-end automation systems at $10,000 to $40,000 per project (page dated October 2026, read 14 October 2026). Add that to the table before comparing it with a one-off custom build.

Two facts fall out. First, Power Apps at 40 premium users reaches $28,800 over three years, which sits inside the Starter band, so seat cost alone can justify a build once the app is stable and central. Second, the cheap rows are cheap because the platform is not doing the hard part: the data design, the permissions and the integrations still need an owner.

Which route fits your app

Four questions decide this faster than any feature list.

1. Where does your data live? If the business runs on Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, Power Apps is the natural fit; if it runs on Google Workspace and Sheets, AppSheet is. Moving data into a platform that your email and files do not use adds work.

2. Which connectors does it need? Microsoft states that apps on standard connectors work with a Microsoft 365 licence, while premium connectors (SQL Server and Azure SQL are among the examples it lists) and Dataverse need a standalone licence for every user. An app that looks free on day one can cross that line the first time it needs a database.

3. Does it touch customers? An internal tracker can live with platform limits. A client portal or anything with logins for people outside the company needs permissions, branding and support that get expensive on per-user plans. AppSheet counts signed-in and guest users as users to license.

4. How central is the process? If the business stops when the app stops (dispatch, order handling, billing approvals), you want the data in a database you own, an audit trail and a way to change the app without breaking the process. That is where platforms start to cost more in workarounds than they save.

Signs you have outgrown the platform

Most businesses do not start custom; they arrive there. The usual signals are licence cost growing faster than headcount, limits hit every month, staff keeping a second spreadsheet because the app cannot do one step, a customer-facing view held together with shared links, and one person who is the only one who understands the app. If two or more apply, price the move before the next renewal. No-code vs custom app development covers the wider trade-off, and Retool vs Airtable vs a custom internal tool prices the same decision for teams on other platforms.

What a custom internal app includes at KUMO

KUMO builds internal apps and portals for 10 to 100 person businesses that have no engineers of their own. A Starter Build ($15,000 to $50,000) is a launched first production version: the screens your team uses every day, a database you own, roles and permissions, an audit trail, one or two integrations, deployment into your own cloud account, and a handover another engineer can continue from. Two to three months is typical, and the code is yours from day one. If you are moving off a low-code platform, no-code to custom explains how the move is staged so the business keeps running, and AI workflow automation covers apps that mostly move data between systems.

KUMO's founders built Volopay's first production version as its founding engineers, and the FLIN case study walks through another production build from scoped brief to launch. Neither is an internal-app case study, so the proof here is adjacent: the overlap is role-based access, approvals and data that several teams edit at once.

To get a band for your own app, book a free 30-minute call with an engineer. Bring a list of the screens your team uses today and the systems the app must connect to.

FAQ

How much does Power Apps cost per user? Power Apps Premium is listed at $20 per user per month, paid yearly, or $12 at a 2,000-seat minimum, on Microsoft's pricing page read 14 October 2026. Apps that use only standard connectors can run on a Microsoft 365 licence, but premium connectors and Dataverse need a standalone licence.

How much does AppSheet cost? AppSheet lists Starter at $5, Core at $10 and Enterprise Plus at $20 per user per month on its pricing page read 14 October 2026. The page says Core is included in most paid Google Workspace plans.

Is Power Apps cheaper than building a custom app? At first, yes. At 40 premium users it costs $9,600 a year, or $28,800 over three years, which is inside the $15,000 to $50,000 range of a custom first version. A custom app also has hosting and maintenance costs, so compare three-year totals, not the first invoice.

How much does a custom internal app cost in 2026? A first production version from a senior team costs $15,000 to $50,000 and typically takes two to three months. Apps with several integrations or a client portal run $50,000 to $100,000. Ongoing engineering is $5,000 to $10,000 per month, or less once the app is stable.

When should we move off Power Apps or AppSheet? When licence cost grows faster than headcount, limits are hit every month, staff keep side spreadsheets, customers need logins, or only one person understands the app. Two or more of those is the time to price a move.

Last verified 14 October 2026. Power Apps prices from microsoft.com Power Apps pricing and learn.microsoft.com Power Platform licensing FAQ, AppSheet prices from about.appsheet.com/pricing, freelance rates from upwork.com/hire/ai-workflow-specialists, all read on that date. Yearly and three-year totals are KUMO's arithmetic on those published prices. KUMO bands are KUMO's published prices.