Both can use Dataverse, but the way they work is pretty different.
Canvas App:
You start with a blank screen and drag-and-drop everything yourself — buttons, text boxes, images — wherever you want, kind of like designing a slide in PowerPoint. Dataverse is just one option for storing your data — you could also use Excel, SharePoint, SQL, or something else instead. So the design and the data are two separate things you connect together.
Model-Driven App:
Here it’s the opposite. You don’t design the screens yourself — the app builds itself automatically based on your Dataverse tables and relationships. And the big thing to remember: model-driven apps can’t work without Dataverse. It’s not a choice, it’s required. The whole app is built on top of it.
Simple way to remember it:
- Canvas app → you design it, Dataverse is optional
- Model-driven app → Dataverse builds it for you, and it’s required
Interview tip: They might ask “Can a canvas app work without Dataverse?” — Yes, it can. But “Can a model-driven app work without Dataverse?” — No, it always needs it.
