What is a portal, horizontal portal, and vertical portal? What is the difference between a portal and a site? Any place that one can visit on the world wide web is a site, more specifically, a website. A website with large number of links to other websites is a portal. It is normally used as an entry point for most people accessing the world wide web. A portal with information and links to websites featuring diverse subjects is a horizontal portal e.g. www.indiatimes.com and www.mantraonline.com. A portal having links and information focused on a particular subject is a vortal or a vertical portal e.g. www.quicken.com, www.nuptialknots.com, or www.jguru.com.