Table of Contents
Introduction to Power Platform tools for app and website development
The Power Platform is a set of powerful tools that can be used for different purposes:
- Power Automate: Process Automation
- Power BI: Business Intelligence
- Power Apps: Business Applications development
- Power Pages: external-facing websites
While each business need can lead to different decisions and each solution could use a different combination of tools, in this blog we will try to cover some of the considerations to keep in mind when evaluating the “Power Pages vs Power Apps” question and which platform might be a better fit.
Power Apps main target audience is internal users with accounts under a specific tenant (ie, they have a Microsoft 365 subscription) – ideal for use cases that involve end-to-end internal business processes such as Time off requests, project tracking or expenses submissions. In contrast, Power Pages is designed for creating websites that usually target external users to use it, like customers or suppliers.
Power Apps is used for internal app development, whereas Power Pages is the go-to tool for building public or external-facing portals.
What is Power Apps?
Types of Power Apps
When developing in Power Apps there are two options available:
- Model-driven Apps
- Canvas Apps
As the name suggests, a Canvas app starts with a “canvas” where developers drag and drop and configure buttons, controls and overall design. Working with Canvas Apps means using a “You get what you see” approach, this means that whatever is placed in the canvas and whatever is configured by the developers, this is what the end user will see. Canvas apps can connect to many different data sources, from the Microsoft ecosystem and outside it, such as:
- SharePoint lists
- Dataverse
- Microsoft Excel
- SQL Server (on premises, Azure)
- Oracle Databases
- MySQL Databases
- Salesforce
- Hubspot
- SAP
- Custom APIs
- And the list could go on
If our data will reside in Dataverse and if we want to leverage all Dataverse capabilities, model-driven apps are a great option, since they have out-of-the-box integration with Dataverse and will automatically recognize all data types and any relationship between tables we have going on in the data model. Model-driven apps are also amazing and optimized for transactional operations and spreadsheet-like behaviour. A model-driven app is a business application that is driven and built on top of a data model. One of the main differences with Canvas App is that Canvas Apps focus on custom UI design, while Model-Driven Apps are driven by the data structure and the relationships between entities.
If you want to learn more about the differences between Model-driven apps and Canvas Apps, make sure to check out our blog on this topic.
What is Power Pages?
The main point to highlight about Power Pages is that it allows you to build websites meant to be used mainly by external users such as customers or suppliers. If someone outside the organization needs to interact with your business, Power Pages is the perfect tool for this purpose.
Key features and capabilities
Some of the main key features for Power Pages portals are:
- Low-code development with a drag and drop design Studio. When creating a website through Power Pages, the main base of the site can be built through a user-friendly website builder that allows developers to add sections and components such as buttons or text labels.
- High customization through web development tools such as Liquid, JavaScript and CSS. Even if Power Pages is by nature a low-code tool, it can be customized and coded just like any other website built from scratch by a team of pro developers
- Power Pages uses Dataverse as the underlying data platform
- Data access management and web role access. Using a set of out-of-the-box tools from Dataverse, different tables, forms and views can be quickly integrated and added to a Power Pages website and the level of access to the records of these tables are defined by web roles managed from the portal configuration.
- Easily implement authentication methods through user and password, Microsoft Entra ID, Google or Linkedin.
And much more! To learn more Power Pages features, head to our blog focused on this topic.
Are Power Pages replacing Power Apps Portals?
Yes. Power Apps portals were not only renamed to Power Pages but also got a huge improvement in design experience and capabilities once they were removed from being a part of Power Apps to being its own Power Platform product. Power Apps Portals Studio was officially retired in February of 2024. All Power Apps portals were migrated to Power Pages.
Power Pages vs Power Apps: main differences
Purpose and target users
We have briefly go over this point on the first section of this blog, each of the tool has an “ideal” target user:
- Power Apps is for internal app users. By internal users, we mean licensed within your Microsoft 365 tenant (usually all employees).
- Power Pages is for external web users. An external web user is someone who doesn’t have a licensed account under your tenant, and that may not even have a Microsoft 365 account (usually external people to your company such as customers, suppliers or social media followers).
Above is just a general guideline, and it may be that Power Pages portals are required for internal or licensed users, for example to create a Service Desk portal.
Front-end experience: web vs app
When interacting with Power Pages, end users are doing it through a phone or desktop from a web browser, to use Power Pages users do not need to download anything regardless of the device they are using. It’s like any other website in the world wide web. Depending on the website configurations users may not be required to sign in or they can use for example a Google account to authenticate to the website.
On the other hand, Users are required to sign in to their Microsoft 365 account when working with Power Apps. And when users work with Power Apps, they are interacting with an application that can be accessed through the Power Apps mobile app or an app that can be used from a web browser.
Security, permissions and user access
- Canvas apps allow connections to multiple data sources such as Microsoft Excel, SharePoint, SQL or Dataverse – to enable users to access the data and the apps, the developers need to set up the datasource and grant permissions along with granting access to the app itself.
- Model-driven apps are connected to Dataverse and the access to the app and to the data depends on the role users are granted inside the tenant and the Power Platform environment.
- For both Canvas apps and model-driven apps, users must be authenticated within the tenant to access the data and the app.
- Power Pages uses Dataverse as its underlying data platform. Tables must be added to the portal and each table needs to be configured with a level of permission and the type of actions each type of users will be allowed to perform.
Power Pages is built for external user access, offering features like Azure AD B2C integration, authentication via Microsoft, Google, or LinkedIn.
Data storage: Dataverse in both tools
Licensing and cost considerations
Power Apps and Power Apps have different pricing structures:
- Power Apps pricing depends on the type of connectors used (Standard or Premium) and the number of users who will interact with the app.
- Power Pages pricing depends on if users will have to register and sign in or if no authentication is required in a website.
If working with Standard connectors (SharePoint or Excel) only, users can use a Power Apps app as an extension of their Microsoft 365 account. If the app uses Premium connectors (Dataverse or SQL), the Power Apps prices go as follows:
Learn more about Power Apps pricing in our blog dedicated to this topic.
You can also watch our video on Power Apps premium apps here:
Use case comparison: which tool to choose and when
Internal business apps (Power Apps)
Any business process that requires a form or an interface for users to interact with can be benefited from using Power Apps, it’s ideal to replace physical forms, legacy solutions, or that typical Excel spreadsheet we share with other team members.
Power Apps is good for simple forms and processes such as:
- Vacation requests
- Overtime approval
- Timesheet submissions
However, it’s also ideal for platforms that automate end-to-end processes such as:
- CAPEX Management and Project Tracking
- Customer Relationship Management platform
- Accounts Payable or Invoice Processing
Customer or vendor portals (Power Pages)
Any process that requires external or unlicensed users to interact with a business process through a website can be a good fit for Power Pages.
Some examples are:
- Homepage for showcasing services or products
- Portal for submitting support requests for a Managed IT Services providers
- Self-service customer portals (download invoices, view order history)
- Self-service supplier portals (update purchase order delivery status, upload invoices, view payment status)
- Insurance claim documents submission
- Supplier Onboarding Platform
Can I use Power Pages internally?
Yes, you can! Power Pages is primarily designed for external-facing websites and portals, but it can for sure be used internally within an organization, for example, if a user needs to submit a request to the service desk and they lost access to their Microsoft 365 account, a public portal might end up being really useful.
Power Pages can be used for both external and internal scenarios depending on your needs, and Power Pages websites can be set to be used publicly (anyone can view it) or privately (only authenticated users under your tenant can open it and interact with it).
Can Power Pages and Power Apps work together?
Integrating both tools for unified solutions
Since both Power Pages and Power Apps can connect to Dataverse and both integrate really well with Power Automate and other tools under the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, they can be used in conjunction to create end-to-end solutions.
For example, external users can submit information and upload documents through a portal, and an internal process can be set up with Power Apps (either with Canvas apps or model-driven apps) to review and approve the information sent by the external party.
Examples of combined use in real projects
As Microsoft says about the Power Platform, its products are Better together. And we have truly witnessed this statement – we combined Power Apps, Power Pages and Power Automate together to streamline supplier onboarding process for a company with multiple sites across the world.
You can read the full use case here, but as a quick summary, this is how Power Pages came together with Power Apps to deliver a powerful solution.
- Power Pages: website for suppliers to register and submit generaal information, address, bank data and upload documents.
- Power Apps: model-driven app to manage internal review and approval process.
- Power Automate: send automatic notifications and integration with third-party apps to create supplier profiles in the accounting system.
Another great example of how these tools are better together is a self-service customer portal we developed for an insurance broker company that operates in Central America:
- Power Pages: website that allows policyholders to file, track, and manage insurance claims by creating new refund requests and uploading supporting documentation.
- Power Apps: canvas app to manage document and insurance policies review.
- Power Automate: send automatic notifications to customers after each claim moves forward in the process.
Get Expert Guidance for Power Platform Implementation
Choosing between Power Pages and Power Apps, or knowing when to use both together, can depend on each specific use case. If you’re unsure where to start, contact us to see how we can help you plan, build, and deploy successful Power Platform projects.
