Implementing a corporate portal can cost millions of dollars, but the companies that deploy them say they're worth every penny. Thankfully, small businesses don't need hefty IT budgets to create portals. Several low-end options provide some of the same features found in high-priced products, for far less money. They're not only cheaper but easier to deploy, since they usually don't require technology upgrades or much in the way of administration.

Most low-end portals (priced from free to $100,000) are content portals, which let users share and disseminate content; they can include rudimentary applications such as calendars and address books. A hosted portal lets a company avoid adding expensive hardware and software components to its network infrastructure.

Homestead Technologies, whose personal Web site builder won a PC Magazine Editors' Choice, recently debuted a business product called Homestead Professional ($29.95 and up,, which serves a dual role: It lets companies build their own Web sites and create password-protected hosted portals. Homestead acts as an intranet site. But since users can add elements such as polls or downloadable documents and files, a small business could use it as a bare-bones portal.

Small businesses that want a hosted portal but are leery of sacrificing features can consider OnePage, which offers both hosted and licensed versions of its products. OnePage's Content Connect ($100,000 and up, lets individuals collect any type of Web content–Web pages, documents, audio and video files–and share it with others. A pull option automatically updates content.

q, a portal for SOHO users from Q Media Group Network (free;, lets people download content, store it in what Q Media calls an Internet Organizer, and share it with others who use q.

Small-business portals from Brain Ranger ($400 and up, include an entry-level content management tool and integrated applications such as interactive charts and competitive analysis.

Snippets ($25,000 and up, combines data and documents culled from POP3 e-mail servers, the Internet, and internal file servers, then displays the result in a user's customizable "dashboard" desktop interface. The portal can perform data analysis, caching, and automatic content updates or alerts.

A portal with a twist, AskMe Enterprise 5.3 ($300 per seat, uses a Q & A format to let people exchange information. Users post questions that experts within the company answer; responses are saved as FAQs.

Companies that see rapid expansion in their future may want to stick with low-end versions of high-end software. Microsoft SharePoint Team Services, Oracle Corp.'s Portal Online, Sybase's Enterprise Portal, and IBM Corp.'s Enterprise Information Portal are good options.