Create and manage environments in the Power Platform admin center
An environment is a space to store, manage, and share your organization's business data, apps, and flows. An environment is a container to separate apps that might have different roles, security requirements, or target audiences. Power Apps creates a single default environment for each tenant that's shared by all users in that tenant.
Who can create environments?
Your license determines if you can create environments.
To determine which license a user has, sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center and follow the steps in Assign licenses to multiple users on the Active users page.
To create an environment, these requirements must be true:
The user has a license that allows environment creation. This requirement is waived for service administrators such as Power Platform admins and Dynamics 365 admins except for trial (standard) environments; see #2.c later.
License Trial Production Microsoft 365 Plans No No Dynamics 365 Teams Plans No No Power Apps Developer Plan No No Dynamics 365 trial Yes (one) No Dynamics 365 Plans Yes (one) Yes Power Apps plan Yes (one) Yes Power Apps trial Yes (one) Yes Power Automate plan Yes (one) Yes Power Automate trial Yes (one) Yes Microsoft Copilot Studio trial plan Yes No Microsoft Copilot Studio plan No Yes
You can also create a developer environment. For more information about developer environment, see Create a developer environment.
The tenant, or user with email trials, must have:
At least 1 GB of database storage capacity available for production and sandbox environments.
For subscription-based trial environments, each offer-based trial (also known as "admin trial") subscription entitles the tenant to three subscription-based trial environments. Only tenant-level admins can provision trial (subscription-based) environments.
For standard trial environments, the user needs a license providing per-user entitlement for trial environments (refer to the previous table). This requirement applies to tenant-level admins as well.
Note
Sign up for a free, standard Power Apps trial to get the necessary license. Trial with Dynamics 365 apps:
- Go to the Dynamics 365 free trial page and select an applicable app.
Trial with no apps:
- Go to the Power Apps trial page.
- Go to Power Apps and select Try for free.
Tenant policy must allow environment creation. For more information, see Control who can create and manage environments in the Power Platform admin center.
Create an environment in the Power Platform admin center
An environment provides storage for apps, flows, data, and various other resources. When users create an app in an environment, that app can connect to any data source, including connections, gateways, and flows.
How you want to use environments depends on your organization and the apps you're trying to build. For more information, see Environments overview.
You can store app or business data in a database with Microsoft Dataverse. You can create a database with Dataverse in any environment.
Create an environment with or without Dataverse:
Some important considerations when creating a new environment
Why create an environment with a database?
When you create a production or sandbox environment with a Dataverse database, you can add Dynamics 365 apps, such as Dynamics 365 Sales and Field Service. During the creation process, select Yes for Enable Dynamics 365 apps.
Currently, if you don't select Yes for Enable Dynamics 365 apps when you create a database, you can't make this change later or install Dynamics 365 apps on this environment. However, you need a Dynamics 365 license to select Yes for Enable Dynamics 365 apps.
Foe more information about Dataverse, see What is Dataverse? and Why choose Dataverse?
Why create an environment without a database?
If you don't need Dynamics 365 apps or need Dataverse, and you're creating canvas apps with Power Apps or flows with Power Automate using other data sources, create the environment without the Dataverse database.
Enabling Dynamics 365 apps isn't reversible
Once you create an environment, if you don't select Enable Dynamics 365 apps at the time of database provisioning, you can't make this change later or install Dynamics 365 apps on this environment.
Dynamics 365 apps and trial type environments
Important
Currently, Dynamics 365 apps can't be enabled for environments that are trial type environments. For more information about Power Platform environment types, go to Power Platform environment types.
When you create or use an environment URL, it can't be the same URL as a deleted or changed environment. Wait for at least 24 hours to pass, after the environment deletion or change, to use the URL.
Create an environment with a database
You create a database to use Dataverse as a data store. The Dataverse is a cloud scale database used to securely store data for business applications built on Power Apps. Dataverse provides not just data storage, but a way to implement business logic that enforces business rules and automation against the data.
For more information, see Why use Dataverse?
Prerequisites
To create an environment with a database, you need at least:
- 1 GB of available database capacity
For Dynamics 365 finance and operations apps, you need at least:
- 1 GB of available operations database capacity
Steps
Sign in to the Power Platform admin center as a Dynamics 365 admin or Power Platform admin.
In the navigation pane, select Environments, and then select New.
Enter the following settings:
Setting Description Name The name of your environment. Region Choose a region for the environment. Get new features early Select Yes for early release cycle. Type Choose production, trial, or sandbox. Purpose A description of the environment. Add a Dataverse data store Select Yes. Pay-as-you-go with Azure Select Yes to link this environment to an Azure subscription to pay for select Power Platform services such as Dataverse and Power Apps. Select Next.
Enter the following settings:
Setting Description Language The default language for this environment. For more information, see Dataverse language collations. URL Enter your organization name. Organization URLs must be unique. If your organization name is already reserved in the destination datacenter, it won't be available. Currency The base currency used for reporting. Enable Dynamics 365 apps Select Yes and make a selection to automatically deploy apps such as Dynamics 365 Sales or Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. You must have an appropriate Dynamics 365 license to select Yes. If you don't select Yes at the time of database provisioning, you won’t be able to make this change later nor be able to install Dynamics 365 apps on this environment. Deploy sample apps and data Select Yes to include sample apps and data. Sample data gives you something to experiment with as you learn. You must select No for Enable Dynamics 365 apps for this setting to appear. Security group Select a security group to restrict access to this environment. For open access, select None.
This field is now required.Select Save.
Create an environment without a database
You can create an environment without a database and use your own data store.
Prerequisites
You need 1 GB of available database capacity.
Steps
Sign in to the Power Platform admin center as a Dynamics 365 admin or Power Platform admin.
In the navigation pane, select Environments, and then select New.
Enter the following settings:
Setting Description Name The name of your environment. Region Choose a region for the environment. Get new features early Select Yes for early release cycle. Type You can choose production or trial. Purpose A description of the environment. Add a Dataverse data store Select No. Pay-as-you-go with Azure Select Yes to link this environment to an Azure subscription to pay for select Power Platform services such as Dataverse and Power Apps. Select Save.
Setting an environment refresh cadence
You can indicate how often you prefer an environment to receive updates and features to Microsoft Power Platform services. You have two options to choose from after creating an environment.
| Service | Setting | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas app authoring | Frequent | Get access the latest updates and newest features multiple times per month. |
| Moderate | Get access to updates and features at least once per month. |
Set refresh cadence
Sign in to the Power Platform admin center as a Dynamics 365 admin or Power Platform admin.
In the navigation pane, select Environments, and then select an environment.
Select Edit.
Under Refresh cadence, choose the cadence type.
Select Save.
The refresh cadence doesn't change when you receive updates for:
- Microsoft Power Platform
- Dynamics 365 Sales
- Dynamics 365 Customer Service
- Dynamics 365 Marketing
Note
- By default, environments are in the frequent cadence. Creating and editing canvas apps receive updates once per week. When apps are published, they receive the corresponding runtime version.
- If you chose the moderate cadence for an environment, all creating and editing of canvas apps receive updates once per month. When apps are published, they receive the corresponding runtime version.
FAQ
Who can access environments?
Users can access resources in an environment if they have:
A license granting usage rights for the resource being accessed in an environment. For example, a user with a Power Apps per user plan can access premium apps shared with them in any environment.
Licensing overview for Microsoft Power Platform highlights usage rights included with different licenses.
Permissions to access a resource. For example, a user can only access Power Apps that are shared with them.
Learn how to share Power Platform resources:
Why do I no longer see Preview (United states) region?
This region is no longer available as a choice. It has been replaced with the Get new features early setting when the United States region is selected.
Preview or early release cycle capabilities are available for environments in other regions, in addition to the United States.
What are the new trial limits for Power Apps customers?
The new trial limits are one per user.
Can a Microsoft 365 licensed user manage and create environments?
No, Microsoft 365 licensed users can't manage environments.
If I create an environment in the Dynamics 365 admin center, does it appear in the Power Platform admin center?
Yes, environment appears in both admin centers.
What is the Power Apps production environment limit?
Provisioning environments is based on database capacity.
Previously, the limit allowed two environments per Power Apps Plan 2 license. Now, you only need 1 GB of available capacity to provision. All environments with or without Dataverse consume at least 1 GB capacity.
See also
Dataverse storage capacity
Control user access to environments: security groups and licenses