A landing page is a single page with a single conversion goal. A microsite is a small, self-contained website — typically 3-10 pages — built for a specific campaign, product launch, or initiative. Microsites sit between landing pages and full websites in terms of scope, complexity, and cost. The question isn't which is "better" — it's which format matches the story you need to tell.
If you can make your case in a single scroll, use a landing page. They're faster to build, easier to optimize, and produce cleaner conversion data. But if your campaign requires multiple content types — a product story, customer case studies, an interactive demo, a comparison page, and a signup flow — a microsite gives you room to tell a richer story without the clutter of your main website.
When microsites make sense
Microsites excel in three scenarios: product launches where you want a dedicated experience separate from your main brand, campaigns with multiple audience segments that need different content paths, and complex products that require more education than a single page can deliver. Think of Apple's product launch pages, or how enterprise software companies create dedicated sites for major features. The microsite format lets you build an immersive experience without compromising your main website's structure.
The hidden cost of microsites
Microsites take 5-10x longer to build than a single landing page. They need navigation design, multiple page layouts, content for each page, and mobile optimization across all pages. They also split your analytics — tracking conversion paths across multiple pages is harder than tracking a single page. And they create maintenance burden: every page is a page that can become outdated. Before committing to a microsite, ask: can I tell this story effectively on a single long-form landing page instead? Often, the answer is yes.
The modern alternative: long-form landing pages
Many companies that would have built microsites five years ago now build long-form landing pages instead. A single page with distinct sections — hero, story, features, social proof, case study, FAQ, CTA — can deliver microsite-level depth without the complexity of multiple pages. Scroll-based storytelling, sticky navigation for page sections, and interactive elements let a single page do remarkably heavy lifting. This approach is especially effective when your primary goal is conversion rather than education or brand experience.