What is Microsoft Power Pages?

Power Pages is the newest product to join the Power Platform family and is a low-code SaaS platform that enables you to create and host enterprise-grade external-facing websites. Power Pages empowers business users and subject matter experts to design and build websites without relying on development teams.

The Power Pages platform is hosted on Azure to leverage the security, high availability, and scalability capabilities Azure offers. Business Data in Power Pages websites is securely stored in Microsoft Dataverse and is encrypted in transit and at rest.

 

Power Pages replacing Power Apps portals

As of October 12th, Power Apps portal became Power Pages. Over time Microsoft will be deprecating Power Apps portal features in favour of their modern equivalent in Power Pages, and therefore encourages customers to migrate to the new platform as soon as possible. You can find more information about upcoming changes and deprecations in Power Apps portals here.

For existing customers, if their agreements expire BEFORE March 31st 2023, they can renew their Power Apps portals SKUs for one more term. If the agreement expires AFTER March 31st 2023, they must transition to Power Pages licensing at the end of their term.

For new customers, Power Apps portals per login and per page view SKUs will be still available to purchase until March 31, 2023. After that, new customers must purchase Power Pages SKUs. Some of the key differences Power Pages licensing offer include:

  • PAYG is available for Power Pages
  • Power Pages is available standalone, no base/pre-requisite licenses are required
  • Dataverse storage is included in Power Pages subscription licenses and PAYG
  • No Dataverse capacity is required to provision a website

Power Pages Licensing

There are two licensing models available for Power Pages; Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) and Power Pages subscription licenses. The licensing is capacity based offers two types based on the user type: Authenticated users per website per month and anonymous users per website per month.

 

Authenticated Users

An authenticated user accesses the Power Pages website by logging in and authenticating through an authentication provider. Authenticated users per month are calculated by the number of times unique users login into the website. Unique users are identified by their ID which is mapped to their contact record that’s stored in the Microsoft Dataverse contact table, so if they log in multiple times throughout the month they are only counted as a single user.

You can use subscription licenses or PAYG for authenticated users. For subscription licenses, you need to purchase enough licenses for the anticipated number of users that will be logging in to the website. With PAYG, you will be billed based on the actual number of users that accessed the website during the month.

The Power Pages authenticated users’ subscription licenses are available in capacity packs of 100 (100 users per capacity pack). There are 3 tiers of pricing available based on the number of capacity packs purchased.

 

Capacity Pack Tiers

Capacity Packs Minimum purchase

Number of users
(100 users/capacity pack)

Tier 1

1 pack

100+ users

Tier 2

100 packs

10,000+ users

Tier 3

1,000 packs

100,000+ users

 

Anonymous Users

An anonymous user is a user who accesses the website and browses the content without logging in. The anonymous users per month count I calculated based on the number of unique users that access the website during the month, based on the user’s unique user ID that is stored in a browser cookie. If the user accesses the website consistently from the same browser multiple times in the month, they will only be counted as one user. However, if the user accesses the website from a new browser, an incognito browser, or clears their browser cookies, a new user ID will be generated, and they will be counted as a different user.  

There are some scenarios where a user who accesses a website anonymously will not be counted as an anonymous user, such as if a user accesses an anonymous page on the website like the sign-in or register page, and then sign-ins. In this scenario, the user will only be counted as an authenticated user and not as an anonymous user. You can find a list of other scenarios here.

You can use subscription licenses or PAYG for anonymous users. For subscription licenses, you need to purchase enough licenses for the anticipated number of users that will be accessing the website during the month. With PAYG, you will be billed based on the actual number of users that accessed the website during the month.

The Power Pages anonymous users’ subscription licenses are available in capacity packs of 500 (500 users per capacity pack). There are 3 tiers of pricing available based on the number of capacity packs purchased.

 

Capacity Pack Tiers

Capacity Packs
Minimum purchase

Number of users
(500 users/capacity pack)

Tier 1

1 pack

500+ users

Tier 2

20 packs

10,000+ users

Tier 3

200 packs

100,000+ users

 

Power Pages Trial

Microsoft offers a free 30-day trial for Power Pages which you can sign up for by going to https://powerpages.microsoft.com/ and selecting ‘Try it for free’.

After the 30-day trial has ended, you can convert the trial site to a production site.

 

Licensing FAQs

Can you use PAYG and subscription licenses in the same environment?

Power Pages subscription licenses can't be used in a pay-as-you-go environment.

 

Are charity and education licenses available?

Yes, you can purchase charity and education Power Pages subscriptions. See the Dicker Data pricelist for the subscription prices.

 

Can you convert an environment from using Power Pages subscription licenses to PAYG?

Yes, you may switch from Power Pages to Pay-as-you-go. If an environment already has Power Pages Authenticated user/Anonymous user pre-paid capacity assigned and is enabled for pay-as-you-go, all the pre-paid capacity is ignored and not consumed. You can reallocate the prepaid capacity to a different environment as mentioned here.

 

Is an Azure subscription required to provision Power Pages?

You do not need an azure subscription if you are using Power Pages subscription licenses. You do need an azure subscription for a PAYG environment.

 

Do unused licenses carry over to the next month?

No, unused Power Pages subscription licenses do not carry over to the next month.

 

What happens if you reach the license limit? E.g., if you have purchased enough licenses for 250 users, but 275 users access the environment in the month?

The website wouldn't stop working but Microsoft works on a trust-based relationship, so the customer needs to purchase enough for the maximum number of anticipated user count to be compliant with the license use terms.

 

Can you purchase a combination of Authenticated and Anonymous user capacity packs?

Yes, you can use both anonymous and authenticated capacity packs.

 

Are there any Power Pages use rights included in other subscriptions?

Yes, authenticated users with the following licenses are granted rights to power pages. This applies to internal users only.

  • Power Apps Per App license: Access 1 Power Pages website
  • Power Apps Per User license: Access unlimited Power Pages websites
  • Dynamics 365 enterprise licensed users: Access unlimited Power Pages websites. The websites must map to the licensed Dynamics 365 application context and map to the same environment as the licensed Dynamics 365 application.

More information about:

Power pages blog: What is Power Pages? | Power Pages (microsoft.com)

Documentation: Microsoft Power Pages documentation | Microsoft Learn

Pricing page: Power Pages Pricing | Microsoft Power Pages

What’s new: New and planned features for Power Pages, 2022 release wave 2 | Microsoft Learn

Licensing FAQ: Power Platform licensing FAQs - Power Platform | Microsoft Learn