16.1 What Are Portals?
Portals are a mechanism in Creator for exposing specific application components to external users who are not licensed Creator users (e.g., customers, vendors, partners). A portal is configured separately from the main Creator application and has its own URL and branding. Types of portal access:
- Public: Open to anyone with the link—no authentication required.
- Private: Requires portal user registration/login.
- Restricted: Access restricted to invited users only.
16.2 Portal URL Options
- Default Domain: Hosted on Zoho's creator domain (e.g.,
creatorapp.zoho.com/...). - Custom Domain: The portal is accessible from the organization's own branded domain (e.g.,
portal.companyname.com). Custom domain verification is done via CNAME, TXT record, or file upload (Setting Up Custom Domain). Available on Enterprise plans; add-on for Standard and Professional.
16.3 Portal Features
- SAML-Based SSO: Portal users can authenticate via their organization's identity provider using SAML 2.0. A new SP Logout URL field was added in March 2026 for SAML configuration (March 2026 Release Notes).
- MFA Trust Days (February 2026): Administrators can configure MFA trust duration for portal logins (0–30 days, default 7 days) (February 2026 Release Notes).
- Changing Portal User Email (February 2026): Super Admins and Admins can update portal user email addresses (February 2026 Release Notes).
- Payment Acceptance: Portal users can complete payment transactions within the portal.
- Record Comments: As of November 2025, portal users can add record-level comments, enabling collaboration with internal users.
- Permission Sets: Portal-specific permission sets control which forms, reports, and fields portal users can access. Limits: 10/app (Standard), 50/app (Professional), 250/app (Enterprise).
- Private App Store (Zoho MDM): Creator apps can be published to Zoho's MDM (Mobile Device Management) for private distribution to employees. Available on Enterprise; add-on for Standard and Professional.
16.4 Portal Users
Portal users are external users accessing Creator via a portal. Pricing: 3 free portal users included with all paid plans; additional users available as a per-month add-on (billed annually for yearly subscriptions).