In almost every first meeting with a new client, there comes a moment when someone asks: "couldn't this be done better in .NET?" or "wouldn't we be safer with custom development?" It's a fair question. And the honest answer is that it depends — but not on the technology. It depends on what you're trying to solve.
The mistake I see over and over
One company says: "we want Power Platform because we heard it's fast." Another says: "Power Platform? That's not real development." Both are wrong about the same thing: they've chosen the tool before defining the problem.
Before talking technology, you need to answer a few questions. What process are you trying to digitize? How many people will use it? What systems does it need to connect with? How often do requirements change? I've seen 6-month custom development projects for things Power Apps solves in 3 weeks. And the opposite: people forcing Power Platform into cases where they clearly needed code.
Where Power Platform wins, no contest
Standard internal processes. Approvals, forms, document management, email automations, operational dashboards. If your users already work in Microsoft 365, if the process is reasonably predictable, and you need something working in weeks — not months — Power Platform is the sensible choice.
Specific cases where I've seen the biggest impact: a factory managing production with Excel and paper, an admin team processing invoices by hand for hours daily, executives needing a weekly PowerPoint that took someone half a day to prepare. All of that now runs on Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI. No servers to maintain, no developers to rotate.
The cost? In my experience, 3 to 10 times less than the custom development equivalent. And delivery goes from months to weeks.
Where Power Platform falls short
There are clear limits. Thousands of concurrent transactions, very complex business logic with real-time integrations, pixel-perfect UIs, or a product you're selling to third parties. For that you need code. Power Platform is an internal process platform, not a product-building framework.
You also need custom development when you want total control over architecture, performance, and the deployment cycle. If your engineering team already has a mature stack and experience, forcing Power Platform would be a step backward.
What works best: not choosing just one
The projects with the best results use both. Power Platform handles the bulk of internal processes — that 70-80% that doesn't justify months of development — and custom code is reserved for core systems where you need real scalability.
Plus, Power Platform connects to custom APIs through custom connectors. It's not a binary decision. You can validate an idea in Power Apps in 2 weeks, and if it grows to a point where it needs more muscle, you migrate just that part to code. I've walked that path with clients several times and it works.
The real question
Under 500 users, Microsoft ecosystem, evolving requirements, and you need it now? Power Platform. SaaS product for 10,000 concurrent users with algorithmic logic? Custom development.
Most mid-sized companies fall in the first group. And most have been waiting months for IT to build them something they could have working in a month. That wait has a cost nobody calculates — but the company pays every day.