| Area | Govforms | Microsoft Power Pages |
|---|---|---|
| Who it’s for | Public‑sector and regulated teams across central government, agencies and local authorities who need GOV.UK‑style digital services with strong governance and UK hosting. | Organisations of all sizes that want data‑centric business portals and external websites built on Microsoft Power Platform and Dataverse. |
| Design & UX | Native GOV.UK and MOJ Design System components and patterns (start pages, task lists, check‑your‑answers, summary cards and more) so services look and behave like GOV.UK by default. | Drag‑and‑drop page builder with Bootstrap‑based layouts, themes and templates for modern business portals and external websites, but not specifically aligned to GOV.UK patterns. ([microsoft.com](https://www.microsoft.com/en/power-platform/products/power-pages/?utm_source=openai)) |
| Security & hosting | UK‑hosted platform with UK data residency for live services, designed around public‑sector security expectations, cookie‑free analytics and support for assurance processes. | Runs on Microsoft Azure with enterprise‑grade security, web application firewall, DDoS protection, role‑based access control and compliance with standards such as ISO and GDPR. ([microsoft.com](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/blog/power-pages/announcing-microsoft-power-pages-build-secure-low-code-websites-2/?utm_source=openai)) |
| Data & integrations | Deep Microsoft 365 integration for public‑sector workflows: SharePoint document libraries and lists, Dataverse, REST/HTTPS APIs, GOV.UK Notify email and SMS, Ordnance Survey data feeds and PDF generation. | Tight coupling with Dataverse, Power Automate, Power BI, Dynamics 365 and other Microsoft cloud services to expose and capture business data through secure portals. ([microsoft.com](https://www.microsoft.com/en/power-platform/products/power-pages/?utm_source=openai)) |
| Journeys & complexity | Built for multi‑page, transactional GOV.UK‑style services with complex branching, task lists, review and approval workflows, dynamic content via Liquid templates and repeatable patterns across many services. | Optimised for data‑centric portals—such as customer, supplier or member portals—with multi‑step forms, role‑based access to records and AI‑assisted build using Copilot. ([microsoft.com](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/blog/power-pages/microsoft-power-pages-is-bringing-the-new-standard-in-secure-ai-powered-capabilities?utm_source=openai)) |
| Environments & change | Separate Prototype, QA and Production environments with one‑click deploy, automatic version history, roll‑back and links to analytics for each environment, matching Alpha/Beta/Live ways of working. | Uses Power Platform environments and lifecycle management; admins manage sites through the Power Platform admin centre with diagnostics, capacity reports and governance tools. ([learn.microsoft.com](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/release-plan/2023wave2/power-pages/?utm_source=openai)) |
| Analytics & audit | Built‑in, cookie‑free performance analytics for every service with journey‑level, page‑level and field‑level metrics plus submission and action audit trails suitable for operational monitoring and assurance. | Analytics typically handled via Dataverse, Power BI and Azure monitoring; strong for enterprise reporting but requires additional configuration and licences to mirror GOV.UK‑style journey analytics. |
| Pricing mindset | Free while designing and testing; once live, simple per‑transaction pricing with a low, fixed UK support fee per service to keep budgeting and procurement straightforward for public‑sector teams. | Power Pages licences charged per authenticated and anonymous user capacity per site, on top of wider Power Platform and Dataverse licensing. ([microsoft.com](https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform/products/power-pages?utm_source=openai)) |
| Support & expertise | UK‑based live‑service support with SLAs, proactive monitoring and optional help from specialists in GOV.UK‑aligned service design, content and integration for complex public‑sector services. | Supported through Microsoft and partner ecosystem, with strong enterprise‑grade support and consultancy available via Power Platform and Azure partners worldwide. ([microsoft.com](https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform/products/power-pages?utm_source=openai)) |
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