AI-built apps for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace companies

Most small and mid-size companies run on one of two suites. Email, calendars, documents and file storage live in either Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and the suite is the closest thing the company has to an IT department. So when the team starts asking for a dispatch board, an inspection checklist or a purchase approval flow, the natural first question is: can our suite do this?

Both suites have an answer. Microsoft has Power Apps. Google has AppSheet. Meanwhile, a new wave of AI app builders promises to build the same tools from a typed request. This guide compares the three paths for companies already on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace: what each is built for, what it costs as listed in October 2026, who pays, how people sign in, what has gone wrong, and how to choose.

Why the suite question matters

Your suite already holds your people. Every employee has an account, and when someone leaves, that account is turned off. Any new tool your team uses should respect that: people should sign in with their work account or be invited and removed as cleanly, and the company should be able to see what tools exist and who uses them.

That matters because employees are not waiting. Microsoft and LinkedIn's 2024 Work Trend Index found 78% of AI users bring their own AI tools to work. Pax8's Q3 2026 survey of small and mid-size businesses found 67% of AI-engaged businesses have built AI solutions now in regular use, and 35% discovered shadow AI, meaning AI tools in use without the company's approval, in the past six months. Deloitte's 2026 UK survey found 63% of working adults knowingly use generative AI for work, and 31% of those users do so without their employer's knowledge.

The tools are coming either way. The choice is whether they live somewhere the company can see.

The Microsoft path: Power Apps

What it is built for

Power Apps is Microsoft's platform for building business apps, part of the wider Power Platform. It fits companies that have an IT team or a dedicated builder willing to learn it, and that want apps close to the rest of their Microsoft setup. It rewards investment: someone who learns Power Apps well can build a lot.

What it costs

As listed on Microsoft's Power Apps pricing page in October 2026, Power Apps Premium is $20.00 per user per month, paid yearly, and the people who run the apps need a license too, not just the people who build them. Microsoft Learn lists a pay-as-you-go option at $10 per active user per app per month, where an active user is anyone who opens the app at least once that month. Microsoft Learn also says the Power Apps per app plan has not been available to new customers through some purchasing channels since January 2, 2026.

For a company rolling an app out to a field crew, that means the cost is set by headcount. Ask your Microsoft partner exactly which of your current licenses cover which scenarios before you budget.

What has gone wrong

UpGuard found 38 million records exposed across 47 Power Apps portals in August 2021. Microsoft first called the behavior "by design." The broader lesson for any platform: what is public or private by default matters more than what can be configured.

Where Microsoft is heading

Microsoft's own research shows how quickly agents, AI that carries out tasks, are spreading through its suite. Its 2026 Work Trend Index reported that active agents in Microsoft 365 grew 15 times year over year, and that 86% of AI users treat AI output as a starting point. In its 2025 edition, 82% of leaders called it a pivotal year to rethink strategy and operations, and 81% expected agents to be integrated within 12 to 18 months. For Microsoft companies, AI in the suite is a given. Building custom workflow tools is still a separate decision.

The Google path: AppSheet

What it is built for

AppSheet is Google's no-code app builder. It turns data, often a Google Sheet, into a mobile or web app. It fits Workspace companies that already keep operations data in Sheets and have someone comfortable configuring an app from it.

What it costs

As listed on AppSheet's pricing page in October 2026, plans are $5 (Starter), $10 (Core) or $20 (Enterprise Plus) per user per month, and every app user, including guests, needs a license. The big advantage for Workspace companies: AppSheet Core is included in most paid Google Workspace plans, so many staff may already be covered.

Governance

Okta, Active Directory and OIDC sign-in, plus governance policies, are Enterprise Plus only, per AppSheet's pricing page. A Workspace company that wants to control who can create apps, or sign in through another identity provider, should price Enterprise Plus.

The AI app builder path

AI app builders such as Lovable, Bolt, v0 and Replit build an app from a typed request in minutes. They do not require learning an editor, which is why employees often reach for them first. For a suite company, three things stand out.

• They sit outside the suite. Each is its own account, its own billing and often its own hosting.
• Work-account sign-in is usually a higher tier. Single sign-on (SSO) is what lets staff log in with their Microsoft or Google account. As listed in October 2026, Lovable offers SSO from its Business plan; Bolt, Replit and GlideOS list SSO on Enterprise; and v0 lists SAML SSO on Enterprise.
• They meter building. Credits or tokens are used by every AI attempt, including fixes. None of these lists a per-user charge for people who only use the finished apps.

That is a reasonable trade for a founder. For a company that wants its tools visible, governed and tied to how people already sign in, it means paying for the top tier or accepting a separate island of accounts.

Side by side

A worked example

As an example, picture a 35-person landscaping company on Google Workspace. The owner wants a crew daily report: each crew lead logs the properties visited, hours, materials used and photos, and the office sees it by end of day.

• AppSheet is a natural first try because Core is likely included in the Workspace plan. The office manager connects it to the existing job sheet and configures the app. It works well if the data stays simple and someone keeps the sheet tidy.
• Power Apps would mean adding Microsoft licensing to a Google company, which rarely makes sense.
• An AI app builder gets a report screen up in an hour, but crew leads need accounts in a separate system, and photo storage, access rules and the bill all need watching.
• A business AI platform lets the office manager describe the report, the roles (crew lead, office, owner) and the end-of-day view, and get a checked tool with roles built in.

The same company on Microsoft 365 would run the same reasoning with Power Apps first. In both cases, the deciding questions are who will build, how many people will use it, and who checks it.

Mistakes suite companies make

Companies on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tend to make the same few mistakes when they start building tools.

• Assuming apps are included. A suite license and an app-building license are often different things. Confirm before you promise the crew a new tool.
• Building on a spreadsheet nobody owns. Sheet-based apps are only as reliable as the sheet. When someone renames a column or sorts the wrong range, the app breaks quietly.
• Letting each department pick its own builder. Sales uses one AI tool, operations another, HR a third. Six months later nobody can list the company's apps or who can see them.
• Pricing the pilot, not the rollout. Ten licenses for a pilot look small. The same tool for every technician, driver or store clerk is a different budget.
• Skipping offboarding. People are removed from the suite when they leave, but not always from the separate tools they were invited to.
• Treating governance as an Enterprise-only problem. Roles and a record of who did what matter at 20 people as much as at 2,000.

Each of these is avoidable with a short plan: one sanctioned place to build, a clear list of apps and owners, and pricing that does not change when you add the crew.

How to choose

1. Check what you already own. Ask your Microsoft partner or Google admin which app licenses your current plan includes.
2. Count builders and users separately. Licensing every app user changes the math for a field crew or a store team.
3. Decide who will build. A dedicated builder can learn Power Apps or AppSheet. Several managers each building their own tools need plain-language building.
4. Require clean access. Staff should be invited and removed cleanly, with roles that limit what each person sees.
5. Ask about defaults. Is a new app private by default?
6. Bring shadow tools into the open. Ask your team what they already use, and give them a sanctioned place to build.
7. Ask for onboarding. Find out who will help your team pick and build the first three tools.

How FORGE handles it

Your suite stays your suite. Email, documents, files and meetings stay in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. FORGE is where your team builds the workflow tools the suite does not give you: dispatch boards, daily reports, inspection checklists, approval flows.

Your managers describe the work in plain words. A panel of top AI models plans each tool, a dedicated AI crew builds it, and every piece is checked for quality and security before it is saved, with the tool checked at every step. Most teams have their first real tool the same day, and FORGE builds web, mobile and desktop apps.

Every app lives inside your company, which gives your team a sanctioned place to build instead of scattering tools across personal accounts. People join by invite only, roles (owner, admin, builder and app user) decide who sees what, and there is a complete record of who did what.

App users are free, so the crew lead, the technician and the store clerk never need a license to use a tool. You pay $49 a seat a month for each person who builds, with 3 builds included. Changes are a small fraction of a build and only count when something changes. Packs of 10 builds are $150, a build FORGE fails is free, owners get alerts at 80 and 100 percent, and nothing ever bills by itself. Our team onboards you ourselves, starting with a workflow workshop.

To see what your first tools would look like next to the suite you already use, talk to us, or see how it works.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Microsoft Power Apps pricing
2. Microsoft Learn: pay-as-you-go meters
3. Microsoft Learn: pricing and billing SKUs
4. UpGuard: Power Apps portals data exposure
5. Google AppSheet pricing
6. Microsoft Work Trend Index 2026
7. Microsoft Work Trend Index 2025
8. Microsoft and LinkedIn Work Trend Index 2024
9. Pax8 SMB AI Pulse Report Q3 2026
10. Deloitte UK: GenAI workforce survey
11. Lovable subscription plans
12. Bolt.new pricing
13. v0 pricing
14. Replit pricing
15. GlideOS pricing