# The 3 Types of Power Apps

Given there's a variety of different things that fall under the category of 'apps', Microsoft has made this process simplistic by abstracting away all that complexity and defining the 3 major types of apps. These being:

## Canvas Apps

Canvas Apps are more or less your traditional type of apps - the ones that you think of when the word is brought up; mobile or web applications. With Canvas apps, you're given **an environment that looks like PowerPoint** where you have **complete control over the design decisions for the app** and you can add and configure how it looks and works easily.

**You start off with a blank canvas**, so you're completely free to go whichever direction you want. For interaction with data, you simply hook that up by adding a connector to link and communicate with the app. Any sort of program logic or backend linkage can be done using those `formulae` that Excel uses, giving you immense flexibility when building.

![Canvas App example](/files/-MAX8n1525aiJm01nEgO)

## Model-driven Apps

Model-driven Apps are **a level up from the custom-built designs that the Canvas Apps provide**. With model-driven apps, the formulaic logic is taken care of without worry, and the elements within your app is dependent on the data you give it.

So model-driven apps take this data and transform it into an interactive manner (be it a table, graph or whatever). You simply need to take care that the data is sorted properly and managed in a manner so the relationships within the data are clear. Power Apps can then easily generate an application for you, with the different modules being built using the data relationships.

![Model-driven App example](/files/-MAXAVNhPh6HhbVO6NxE)

## Portals

Portals cover the final piece of the puzzle, where they fill in the gap for websites or application spaces that contain user-based activities; such as managing your finances, analysing your data, etc. So portals exist as websites that can deliver a unique user experience with profiles and the functional data that comes with.

![Portal App example](/files/-MAXBmP0AOQcSDGYORG7)


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