ForwardThis vs Power Automate
Power Automate and ForwardThis solve different problems. Power Automate is Microsoft's flow builder: a cloud flow is designed once, wired to a trigger, and from then on it runs on its own inside the Microsoft 365 tenant a company is already paying for. ForwardThis has nothing to design: you forward an email, write what you need, and it happens. Recurring high-volume flows favour Power Automate, and where a Microsoft 365 licence already covers the job, staying put is usually the right call. Varied one-off jobs favour ForwardThis.
ForwardThis and Power Automate, side by side
How it works
Setup
Runs without you
Pricing unit
Free plan
Paid from
Apps
Undo
Power Automate pricing and limits checked 5 September 2026.
Which one fits how you work?
Choose Power Automate if
A Microsoft 365 licence already covers it. Cloud flows on standard connectors come with the work account, so for jobs that stay inside SharePoint, Outlook, Teams and OneDrive the tool is bought and paid for.
The work repeats. A flow designed once and triggered thousands of times is exactly what Power Automate is built for, and nobody has to forward anything for it to run.
The job needs branching, retries and a run history. Cloud flows have conditions, loops, scopes and error handling that ForwardThis has no equivalent for.
Something has to be driven through an application with no API. Desktop flows automate the screen itself, attended or unattended, which ForwardThis cannot do at all.
Choose ForwardThis if
The work starts as an email and looks slightly different every time. There is no flow worth building for a job that happens once.
Nobody wants to own a flow. There is no designer, no connection to reauthorise and no run history to read, because nothing was built.
The apps are not all Microsoft. Nothing is split into standard and premium connectors here, so an app either works or it does not, and the answer never depends on the licence.
You want to see a message before it goes out, and undo reversible work for 24 hours after it lands.
What a single forwarded email does
The trigger is the email you forward. There is no editor and nothing to design in advance. This whole job is one email. In Power Automate it would be a flow you build first.
Brightline Facilities
Signed service agreement attached
brightline-contract.pdf
Your instructions
Save the signed contract under Contracts/Brightline, add Brightline to the Renewals list ending 31 March, and remind me a month before.
OneDrive
Save brightline-contract.pdf
Contracts / Brightline
SharePoint
Add "Brightline" as a new item
Renewals / Ends 31 March
Outlook Calendar
Set the renewal reminder
28 February
You receive a confirmation email once complete, with an undo button that works for 24 hours.
Setup in 30 seconds.
What is ForwardThis?
ForwardThis is an ops assistant for your inbox. It turns email into action, without the hassle. Compatible with over 145+ of the apps you use every day.
Works with any email
Compatible with any personal or professional email provider. Gmail, Outlook and more.
145+ apps
Works across all the apps you already use every day. With more being added every month.
Setup in seconds
No complex setup, apps to install or workflows to build. Sign up, forward, done.
Secure & private
ForwardThis only acts on the emails you send it, and no data gets retained after actions have been completed.
Try it with a real email.
Forward any work email to the address below and see what ForwardThis can do. No signup required.
Occasional product emails may follow.
Workflows from this page, ready to run
FAQs
- Is ForwardThis a Power Automate alternative?
- For the admin that arrives in your inbox, yes. The signed contract above is saved under Contracts, added to the Renewals list and given a reminder a month before it ends, from one forwarded email, with nothing built first. For flows that sit on a trigger and run inside a Microsoft 365 tenant, no. Power Automate is built for that and ForwardThis deliberately is not.
- Power Automate is already in the Microsoft 365 licence. Why pay for anything else?
- Often you should not. If the job repeats and a standard connector reaches it, a cloud flow costs nothing extra and is the right answer. The work ForwardThis is for is the other kind: the request that arrives by email, is slightly different every time, and would take longer to build a flow for than to do by hand.
- Can I use both?
- Yes, and most Microsoft 365 teams should. Power Automate for the flows that repeat exactly, ForwardThis for the emails that need a judgment call.
- How does the pricing actually compare?
- The models measure different things. Power Automate is licensed per person: cloud flows on standard connectors come with a work or school account, Premium is $15 per person a month billed annually for premium and custom connectors, and unattended robots are licensed per bot on top. ForwardThis is priced per action: one forwarded email is one action, however many things it asks for, free for 10 a month and $15 a month for 100. Recurring high-volume flows favour Power Automate; varied one-off jobs favour ForwardThis.
- Which one has more integrations?
- Power Automate, by a distance: Microsoft counts more than 1,400 prebuilt connectors against 145+ for ForwardThis. The catch is that they are tiered, and premium and custom connectors need a paid licence on top of Microsoft 365. ForwardThis covers the everyday tools; if one app decides it for you, look it up on both sites.
- Does ForwardThis have triggers?
- It has exactly one, and it is the email you forward. Nothing happens unless you send that email, so nothing runs overnight, nothing loops, and there is no flow to republish or debug when a connection expires. Every action traces back to an email somebody chose to send, and you give up unattended automation, which is the thing Power Automate does best.