SharePoint Foundation Active Directory
Integrating Active Directory with SharePoint Foundation
There are two ways of synchronizing Active Directory with our SharePoint plans. You may pick a suitable plan depending on the number of users and other factors. Our example considers the case for 20 users.
SharePoint Online Plan
If you are looking at an affordable option, we would recommend you go for our SharePoint Online Plan. Starting at just $5.50 per user per month, you will save more money for 20 users by opting for this option.
What you get in it?
It comes with all the features of SharePoint Foundation as well as extra space. Every user gets 1 TB of One Drive for Business. The SharePoint site itself would have around 1 TB of space. Add to that, there is additional 500 GB space that further gets added to the overall space as you add more users. The other key feature is that SharePoint Online allows Active Directory synchronization.
The drawback with the SharePoint Online Plan is that you cannot have a public facing site or a public facing page. Also, you cannot give access to anonymous users. It further restricts you to use your domain name for the SharePoint Site. However, you can have unlimited external users on SharePoint Online.
With your current user base of 20, the price works out to be around $110 per month.
SharePoint Foundation Plan
Active Directory integration works with our SharePoint Foundation offering. The plans start at $249 per month with unlimited users. You will also need a VPN device set up on a dedicated VPN. This comes at an additional price of $75 per month and a one-time setup fee of $250.
What you get in it:
You get a dedicated front-end server and a shared database server. You will also need a VPN connection established between either sides. It gives you access to the front-end as an administrator allowing you to install applications of your choice. The SharePoint site can be up to 20 GB. What else? You can also get to use the SharePoint URL and a domain of your choice.
If you have a SharePoint site which is a public facing site/anonymous access or you want to use your own domain name for the SharePoint site, flex plans are best for your business. As the number of users keep increasing, the cost per user comes down significantly. So if you have a large user base or plan to add more users, flex may turn out to be a really affordable option, as well.