PowerApps Portal: The Successor to Microsoft Dynamics Portal

In case you have been reviewing Microsoft's new pricing for its Dynamics products which was released this month and have been unable to find Dynamics Portal, it has been rebranded as PowerApps Portal and shifted to the PowerApps side of the Microsoft product family.


Rebranding the portal product underscores the importance of app scenarios involving external users such as customers and suppliers.  It also provides a simpler interface than Dynamics 365 for occasional users.

The new portal pricing is based on the number of unique users who log into the portal each month (for authenticated users) and on the number of page views for anonymous users.  "A login provides an external authenticated user access to a single portal for up to 24 hours. Multiple logins during the 24-hour period count as 1 billable login. Internal users can be licensed either by the PowerApps per app or per users plans, or a qualifying Dynamics 365 subscription."

Pricing starts at $200/mo. for 100 daily logins and $100/mo. for 100,000 page views.  Volume discounts are provided. For most customers, these monthly bills will be modest, but they add a degree of unpredictability which may give pause to Microsoft customers who deal with the public, especially government agencies and utilities with millions of constituents. Imagine if a portal were provided for electricity shutdowns in the current California wildfires, and that millions of people accessed them on a daily basis.  If one million people anonymously accessed a single page each day, the monthly cost would be $30,000 before volume discounts.  If 100,000 people logged in once in a month, the monthly bill would be $200,000 before volume discounts.

Under previous subscriptions, one portal was provided per instance to Dynamics 365 subscribers at no charge and additional portals were available at a fixed monthly price.