Nintex vs Power Automate: how to choose, from a team that implements both

“Why would we pay for Nintex if we already have Power Automate?” is one of the first questions we hear. It is a fair question, and the honest answer is: sometimes you should not. We implement both platforms, so we have no reason to push one. Here is how we decide.

The short version

• Power Automate is Microsoft’s automation service. Basic use comes with work and school accounts, and the full feature set needs Power Automate Premium or capacity licenses.
• Nintex is a process automation platform: workflows, forms, document generation, e-signature, RPA, and process mapping, sold as one platform (Nintex Automation CE in the cloud, Nintex Automation K2 self-hosted).
• Power Automate usually wins when the process lives inside Microsoft 365 and the approvals are simple to moderate.
• Nintex usually wins when the process needs complex forms, generated documents, and signatures together, or spans Microsoft 365, Salesforce, and other systems.
• Many companies use both. That is a valid architecture, not a failure to choose.

What you get with Power Automate

Microsoft’s licensing documentation is the place to start, because the license defines what you can build:

• Power Automate Free, for work or school accounts: create and run cloud flows (without sharing them) and run desktop flows on your own machine, with standard connectors only, such as SharePoint, Outlook, Teams, and Excel. Other Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 licenses include a limited set of Power Automate capabilities.
• Power Automate Premium (per user): premium and custom connectors, one attended RPA bot, process and task mining, AI Builder credits, and Dataverse storage.
• Power Automate Process (capacity): assigned to a cloud flow so it can use premium connectors regardless of who runs it, or to a machine as an unattended bot.
• Power Automate Hosted Process: RPA on Microsoft-hosted machines, with no infrastructure to manage.

The trap we see most often: a flow is built on a personal account with a premium connector, works in testing, and then needs a license nobody budgeted. Check the connectors first.

What you get with Nintex

Nintex brings the whole life of a process into one platform:

• Nintex Workflow for routing, approvals, escalations, and integrations.
• Nintex Forms for web and mobile forms with rules, validation, and look-ups.
• Nintex DocGen to generate documents from your data, including directly from Salesforce.
• Nintex eSign, formerly Nintex AssureSign, for e-signature.
• Nintex RPA for systems without an API.
• Nintex Process Manager to map and document how the process really works.

In 2026 Nintex also announced Nintex Solutions, which packages related workflows, forms, and documents with versioning and promotion between environments, and Nintex Orchestration and Agent Designer for AI agents with people in the loop. We cover those in Nintex Automation Cloud is now Nintex Automation CE.

Side by side

	Power Automate	Nintex
Where it shines	Microsoft 365: SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, Excel	End-to-end processes across Microsoft 365, Salesforce, and other systems
Forms	Microsoft Forms, Power Apps	Nintex Forms, built for complex rules
Document generation	Through connectors and add-ons	Nintex DocGen, on the same platform
E-signature	Through third-party connectors	Nintex eSign, on the same platform
RPA	Power Automate for desktop (Premium, Process)	Nintex RPA
Licensing	Per user, per flow, or per bot	Platform subscription
Hosting	Microsoft cloud	Nintex cloud, or self-hosted with Nintex Automation K2

Five questions that decide it

1. Where does the process live? If every step is in SharePoint, Teams, and Outlook, start with Power Automate.
2. Does it produce documents that must be signed? Contracts, onboarding packets, and quotes generated from data and sent for signature are where Nintex saves the most work.
3. How complex is the form? Many conditional sections, calculations, and look-ups favor Nintex Forms.
4. Who will maintain it? If your IT team already builds in Power Platform, that skill set matters. If business analysts will design and change the processes, the Nintex designer is usually easier to review together.
5. What do you already own? Count the Power Automate Premium licenses and any Nintex subscription before buying anything new.

A real pattern: both, each where it fits

A common setup in our projects: Power Automate handles the many small Microsoft 365 automations, such as saving email attachments to SharePoint, notifications, and simple approvals, while Nintex runs the handful of processes that generate documents, collect signatures, and need an audit trail. Each tool does what it is best at, and nobody pays for premium capabilities they do not use.

If you still have SharePoint 2010 or 2013 workflows, note that SharePoint 2013 workflows stopped running in SharePoint Online on April 2, 2026. Those need to be rebuilt in one platform or the other.

How we can help

Costa Consulting Group is a Nintex partner with certified consultants, and we build with Power Automate every week. We start with your process, not a product. See our Power Automate consulting and Nintex consulting services, or book a discovery call and bring one process; we will tell you which platform fits it and what licenses it needs.

Sources

• Microsoft Learn, Types of Power Automate licenses, updated September 2026.
• Nintex, Nintex advances agentic business orchestration with unified platform and Nintex Solutions, August 26, 2026.
• Nintex, Nintex eSign.

Licensing terms belong to each vendor and change often. This article reflects public information as of October 2026; confirm current terms before you buy.