Can You Use Power Apps To Create a SQL Database?
Learn How to Rapidly Create a SQL Database with Power Apps
When working with a large dataset, the limitations of spreadsheets quickly become apparent. Manual updates across multiple sheets lead to inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and a growing risk of data errors. Databases offer a more structured and dynamic way to manage such data relationships. Power Apps, Microsoft’s popular low-code environment offers a simple way to build applications. But can you also use PowerApps to create a SQL database from scratch?
In this post, we’ll explore how Power Apps can serve as a front-end for a SQL database. We’ll also discuss the trade-offs, ease of use, and potential alternatives, helping you decide if Power Apps is the right solution for your database needs.
Power Apps and SQL: How Does It Work?
Power Apps can integrate with SQL databases, enabling users to connect to existing data sources for building apps.
However, creating and managing the SQL databases themselves typically happens outside of Power Apps, often through platforms like Dataverse, Azure or other dedicated database management systems. Power Apps provides connectors for SQL Server and MySQL, for example, but most of these are classified as premium features, requiring additional licensing costs.
For data storage, Power Apps is more naturally aligned with SharePoint Lists, a simpler data storage option akin to spreadsheets. While SharePoint Lists are easy to set up and work well for basic data-driven apps, they lack the robust relational capabilities found in true relational databases. This makes Power Apps better suited for simpler data models and less ideal for applications requiring complex data relationships or advanced querying. Understanding these limitations helps in choosing the right tool for your data needs.
Connecting a SQL Database to Power Apps
As just described, Power Apps does not give you full database modeling capabilities. However, it can be used to connect to a SQL database. To do so, follow these four steps:
- Sign in to Power Apps.
- In the left-hand navigation menu go to Connections and select New Connection.
- Select Azure database for MySQL, for example, to add a new connection.
- Enter the server’s name, database name, and authentication information for your Azure Database for MySQL database. Select “Create” to establish a connection to your database.
You can now use Power Apps to build interfaces for your SQL database.
3 Reasons Not to Use Power Apps for SQL
Though Power Apps is a popular tool, it may not fit every use case. Here are three reasons not to use Power Apps for SQL database applications:
Costs
Power Apps comes at a high cost for multiple users and advanced features.
Power Apps offers simplicity and rapid prototyping but quickly becomes costly as your app scales. Premium features like SQL, Dataverse, and automation with Power Automate are behind a paywall. If your app requires multiple users or complex backend processes, licensing costs can rise exponentially, making it less suitable for large-scale or cost-conscious projects.
Limited Relational Database Capabilities
While Power Apps works well with simple data models, such a SharePoint lists, it struggles with relational databases. It can filter data but lacks robust querying capabilities. Some users create workarounds by integrating Power Automate to handle queries, but this approach adds complexity and reduces efficiency. For more sophisticated relational data management, traditional databases offer better functionality.
Additionally, Power Apps has limitations on the number of records it can handle efficiently. By default, Power Apps retrieves up to 500 records per data source, which can be increased to a maximum of 2,000 records through app settings. However, working with large datasets beyond this limit can lead to performance issues and may require complex workarounds, such as using multiple collections to manage data.
Furthermore, certain advanced database operations, like complex querying and merging data from multiple sources, may not be fully supported or could require additional configurations when using on-premises SQL databases with Power Apps. For instance, merging queries in dataflows can be challenging if one of the queries comes from an on-premises source
Cost Predictability and Premium Features
Many valuable Power Apps connectors, including key database integrations, are behind premium plans. Future pricing changes or separate fees for Power Apps outside of Microsoft 365 are possible, making long-term cost predictability a challenge for mission-critical applications.
In summary, before committing to Power Apps, review your data model, connectors, and licensing needs to determine if Power Apps aligns with your project’s complexity and budget.
Overall, if the objective is to move data into a relational database, such as MySQL or SQL Server, then Power Apps may not be right tool. Luckily, other tools, similar to PowerApps offer more advanced data modeling features. Let’s explore these next.
Alternative Ways to Create a SQL Database
As just discussed, when it comes to creating an SQL database, Power Apps offers connectivity but does not provide native tools for modeling, creating, or managing the database directly. This can be limiting if your application requires a robust relational data structure or advanced querying capabilities. Fortunately, alternative low-code platforms are available that offer comprehensive database development features.
For example, Five is a low-code development platform designed to empower users with full database modeling, creation, and management capabilities built directly into the development environment.
Unlike Power Apps, Five allows users to design their data structure visually, define complex relationships between tables, and implement advanced SQL-based logic without leaving the platform. This approach gives developers more control over how data is stored, queried, and manipulated, making it a powerful choice for building custom, data-intensive applications.
By integrating database creation with app development, platforms like Five eliminate the need to rely on external tools or premium connectors for essential database functionality. Additionally, Five provides built-in tools for generating reports, dashboards, and user interfaces that seamlessly connect to the SQL database, ensuring that the data management process is both efficient and scalable. This comprehensive feature set makes Five a robust alternative for businesses seeking more flexibility and performance from their low-code applications.
3 Reasons to Use Five for SQL
Five makes SQL simple. Here are three reasons to use Five rather than Power Apps for SQL database applications:
SQL Made Simple
Every application developed in Five comes with an integrated, fully customizable and cloud-hosted MySQL database. To create a new database from scratch, no other tool or external service is required. Five lets you create tables, fields and relationships. Data can be imported into a database table as a CSV file. All of this happens without writing any code.
In addition, users can query their database in standard SQL. Queries can be written (think SELECT * FROM) or build in point-and-click. This makes Five a great tool for both SQL novices and experts.
Low Total Cost of Ownership & Cost Predictability
Five offers a fourteen-day free trial and affordable plans starting from as low as US$29.99 per month and application, including 10 end-users. Higher plans include unlimited end-users. These subscription costs apply to a single application per month. This makes Five’s licensing ideal if cost predictability is important to you.
Flexibility and Speed
Though the initial learning curve for a tool such as Five is steeper, investing the time is worth it. Five is extremely flexible, meaning even complex use cases can be developed in its platform. Yet, flexibility does not come at the expense of speed. For example, Five auto-generates a responsive user interface for your application. Going from a SQL database to a basic UI with forms, charts, dashboards or PDF reports can be achieved in just a few minutes.
Also, the skills required for Five, such as SQL, are useful whether you are working in Five or another tool. SQL is a universal database language, and understanding its workings is a great skill to have.
Conclusion: Power Apps and SQL – It’s Possible (But Not Ideal)
To conclude: yes, Power Apps can be used to create applications connected to a SQL database. However, Power Apps is not the right tool for creating a SQL database from scratch. Moreover, Power Apps more easily integrates with SharePoint lists, which do not overcome the limitations of Excel.
To build a web application with its own dedicated SQL database, consider tools such as Five, which makes SQL simple and is an all-in-one solution for database and user interface creation.
Next Steps
To learn how to create a database application with Five, follow our step-by-step guide here.
