Key Limitations of Microsoft Power Automate (as of August 2025)

Microsoft Power Automate is a powerful tool for automating business processes, but like any platform, it comes with a set of limitations. Understanding these constraints is essential to designing efficient, scalable, and compliant workflows—especially as your automation strategy grows in complexity. 

Here are the most important limits you need to know: 

1. Switch Cases Each Switch action supports a maximum of 25 cases. If you need more, consider using nested Switches or alternate logic like parallel branches or conditionals. 

2. Actions per Workflow A single flow can contain up to 500 actions. For complex workflows, you may need to split logic into separate flows or use child flows to stay within this limit. 

3. Nesting Depth You can nest actions (e.g., conditionals or loops) up to 8 levels deep. Going beyond this will result in a design error. 

4. Variables per Flow Each flow can define up to 250 variables. This includes all variable types (string, integer, object, etc.). 

5. Flows per User Each user can own up to 600 flows (non-solution flows). To scale further, consider using solution-aware flows or managing flows across teams. 

6. Run Duration A flow instance can run for a maximum of 30 days. If your process exceeds this, break it into smaller parts or use state-tracking mechanisms. 

7. “Apply to Each” Loop Limit Low-tier plans: up to 5,000 items Higher-tier plans: up to 100,000 items For large datasets, batch processing or data pagination is recommended. 

8. API Request Limits Per User (Premium): 40,000 requests/day Per Flow: 250,000 requests/day Exceeding these can cause throttling or flow failures. Monitor usage closely and optimize where needed. 

9. Concurrency Control Concurrency is set to 25 by default, but can be adjusted up to 100 for certain triggers and connectors. This helps control parallel execution for better performance and resource management. 

10. Minimum Recurrence Interval The shortest recurrence for a scheduled flow is 60 seconds. Need faster execution? Consider event-driven triggers instead of polling. 

💡 Pro Tip: Design for Scalability If you hit a limit: Break flows into modular child flows Split logic across multiple flows Rethink design patterns to improve performance and reliability 

Final Thoughts Power Automate is evolving rapidly, but staying aware of its current limitations ensures your automations are both robust and future-proof. Regularly review documentation and monitor flow performance—especially if you're building mission-critical workflows.