Power Pages Authentication Methods: The Complete Guide (2026)

"Wait, why are we storing passwords in Dataverse? Don't we have Azure AD?" The question came from a security auditor during a partner portal review. I watched the project lead shift uncomfortably in their chair. The portal had been live for six months. Hundreds of external partners were logging in daily. And suddenly, we were all wondering the same thing. The answer? It's complicated. And it revealed something I see far too often: teams building Power Pages portals don't fully understand the five authentication methods Microsoft provides — and most choose the wrong one . The Problem With Power Pages Authentication Microsoft Power Pages is brilliant for building external-facing portals quickly. Customer dashboards, partner collaboration sites, employee self-service pages — all built on top of Dataverse with low-code tools. It's fast. It's powerful. But here's where it gets tricky: authentication . The moment you add user-restricted content, you need to answer a critical question: How wi