The question comes up in almost every first conversation: "Why not just WordPress? We know it, it's cheaper, and it can do everything."
Short answer: WordPress is fantastic – for blogs and marketing websites. For database-driven B2B customer portals? Not so much.
This article isn't a Microsoft sales pitch. It honestly shows when WordPress fits – and when it doesn't.
TL;DR – The Summary
Choose WordPress for:
- Content-heavy marketing websites
- Blogs with high publishing frequency
- Public company websites
- Small budgets (under EUR 20,000)
- Teams with WordPress expertise
Choose Power Pages for:
- B2B customer portals with login
- Database integration (ERP/CRM)
- Role-based access
- Case management and ticketing
- GDPR-critical applications
1. Architecture: Content vs Data
WordPress
Concept: Content Management System (CMS)
Strength: Managing articles, pages, media
- • Originally developed as a blogging platform
- • Optimised for content creation and management
- • Plugin ecosystem for additional features
- • Database model for posts and pages
Power Pages
Concept: Enterprise Portal Platform
Strength: Database interaction, business logic
- • Developed for database-driven portals
- • Native integration with Dataverse (enterprise database)
- • Low-code business logic
- • Relational data model with relationships
Bottom line: Do you primarily need content (text, images, videos)? Go with WordPress. Do you need database interaction (orders, tickets, customer data)? Go with Power Pages.
2. Security: Open Source vs Enterprise
WordPress: The Security Problem
new vulnerabilities in 2024 (+34% vs 2023)
infected WordPress websites in 2024
plugins removed for security reasons in 2024
Main risks:
- • Plugin vulnerabilities: Each plugin is a potential security gap
- • Update chaos: Core, theme and dozens of plugins must be regularly updated
- • No enterprise auth: SSO/MFA integration requires plugins
- • Self-responsible: Security monitoring, backups and patches are on you
Sources: Patchstack, "State of WordPress Security in 2025" – 7,966 new vulnerabilities were discovered in the WordPress ecosystem in 2024, primarily in third-party plugins, a 34% increase over 2023; 1,614 plugins were removed due to security concerns, with 1,450 classified as high or medium priority. Sucuri, "Website Security Report 2024" – Sucuri alone observed over 500,000 WordPress websites that became infected in 2024, with core, plugin and theme vulnerabilities responsible for nearly half of malware infections.
Power Pages: Enterprise Security
- • Managed security: Microsoft handles patches, updates and monitoring
- • Enterprise authentication: Native Entra ID (internal) and External ID (external), MFA, SSO
- • ISO 27001 certified: Enterprise compliance out of the box
- • Role-based access rights: Granular permissions at table/field level
- • EU hosting guaranteed: Data stays in Europe (GDPR-compliant)
Reality check: A hacked WordPress portal with customer data can cost you a EUR 50,000-500,000 GDPR fine – plus reputational damage.
3. Integration: APIs vs Native
| Integration | WordPress | Power Pages |
|---|---|---|
| CRM (Dynamics 365) | Custom API development (EUR 8k-17k) | ✓ Native integration |
| ERP (SAP, Navision) | Custom connector (EUR 13k-26k) | ✓ Power Automate (low-code) |
| SSO / enterprise auth | Plugin (approx. EUR 170/year) + config | ✓ Native Entra ID, 5-minute setup |
| Microsoft 365 | Plugins + API keys | ✓ Native (SharePoint, Teams, etc.) |
| Custom database | PHP development required | ✓ Low-code Dataverse views |
Bottom line: WordPress requires custom development for every integration. Power Pages has native Microsoft integration – saving EUR 17,000-43,000 in development costs.
4. Maintenance Overhead: Self-Managed vs Managed
WordPress: Maintenance Overhead
MONTHLY TASKS:
- □ Check and install core updates
- □ Update ~29 plugins (test individually!)
- □ Theme updates
- □ Security scans (malware, vulnerabilities)
- □ Check and test backups
- □ Performance optimisation (caching, DB cleanup)
Time effort:
8-12 hours/month = 96-144 hrs/year
At EUR 70/hr = EUR 6,720-10,080/year
Power Pages: Managed Platform
WHAT MICROSOFT MANAGES:
- ✓ Platform updates (automatic)
- ✓ Security patches (automatic)
- ✓ Infrastructure monitoring
- ✓ Backups and disaster recovery
- ✓ Performance optimisation
- ✓ Uptime guarantee (99.9% SLA)
Your effort:
Only: Maintain content and business logic
Approx. 2-4 hours/month
5. Total Cost of Ownership: 3-Year Comparison
| Cost position | WordPress (3 years) | Power Pages (3 years) |
|---|---|---|
| Initial development | EUR 35,000-70,000 | EUR 48,000 |
| • Theme development / templates | EUR 13,000-22,000 | Included in base |
| • Plugin setup and configuration | EUR 8,700-13,000 | Low-code configuration |
| • Security hardening | EUR 4,300-8,700 | Enterprise security included |
| • ERP/CRM integration | EUR 8,700-26,000 | Included in base |
| Hosting (36 months) | EUR 3,100-6,300 | Included in licence |
| Licences (36 months) | EUR 2,600-5,200 | EUR 18,900 |
| • Premium plugins | EUR 1,700-3,500 | — |
| • Power Pages licences | — | EUR 18,900 (EUR 525/month) |
| Maintenance and updates (36 months) | EUR 20,160-30,240 | EUR 0 (managed) |
| Security monitoring (36 months) | EUR 6,300-9,450 | EUR 0 (included) |
| Total Cost of Ownership (3 years) | EUR 67,160-121,190 | EUR 66,900 |
Surprise: WordPress is NOT cheaper. With an honest TCO calculation (including maintenance, security and integration) WordPress often costs more than Power Pages.
Decision Guide: What Suits You?
WordPress is right when...
- ✓ You need a content website (blog, news, marketing)
- ✓ No login area is required
- ✓ No ERP/CRM integration is needed
- ✓ You already have WordPress developers on the team
- ✓ Budget is under EUR 20,000 (simple website)
- ✓ You're willing to manage maintenance and security yourself
Power Pages is right when...
- ✓ You need a B2B customer portal with login
- ✓ Database integration (ERP, CRM, custom DB) is required
- ✓ Role-based access rights are needed
- ✓ GDPR-critical customer data is processed
- ✓ You already use Microsoft 365 / Dynamics 365
- ✓ You prefer a managed platform (less IT overhead)
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