AWS Directory Service vs Okta Workforce Identity comparison

AWS Directory Service vs. Okta Workforce Identity

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

AWS Directory Service

Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)

16th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Okta Workforce Identity

Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Single Sign-On (SSO) (3rd), Authentication Systems (5th), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (6th), Access Management (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category, the mindshare of AWS Directory Service is 1.8%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Okta Workforce Identity is 13.3%, up from 13.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)

Featured Reviews

Basa Saiteja

Consultant at Infosys

A valuable access management system with a user-friendly and straightforward setup

The solution is scalable, and we can scale according to our needs. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten. In our organization, our access to our AWS comes from IAM. We use AWS consoles using our credentials and don't have route access, so each person will log in through our IAM programmatic access, and everyone on our team can work on cloud. Over 10,000 people in our organization utilize the solution.

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Tor Nordhagen

Executive Director at Semaphore

Extremely easy to work with, simple to set up, and reasonably priced

The drawback of this solution is that in our shops, many staff members sometimes have to be borrowed from one shop to another and the solution does not really support having multiple roles. The user experience we would like to have when a person works in shop A which pays their salary is that they should have access to pretty much everything. Maybe you have somebody who is a manager in that shop A, he should be able to order new wear, he should be able to change the pricing, he should be able to empty the cash registry, and ship it to the bank. But when for instance, in COVID, people had to fill in for people in shops where a lot of people were sick, then they had to actually use user accounts of people that work in shop B. If you were employed in shop A, you could not work in shop B without borrowing somebody else's user ID and password. Which is really bad. We haven't been able to work around that and Okta Workforce Identity does not have a solution for it. We are now piloting their identity governance solution. Obviously, it's easy to give somebody access, give them an account, and give them roles, but it's hard to maintain that. For example, if you moved from, say working in a shop to working in a warehouse. But why do you still have all this shop access? The solution has until now not had anything to really support the process of taking away access. But now we are in a better release program of Okta's identity governance solution. Although it's very basic, the solution has started on a journey, but identity governance is something that Okta Workforce Identity really needs to improve. The ability or the options in the solution for changing the look and feel are not good enough because in our partner portal, essentially what they have is an ugly admin interface. The admin interface is good enough for us technical people because that's all we need. We work with the product and we're able to see the data but when it comes to presenting the service portal, Okta Workforce Identity does not have any capabilities really for making it look pretty. To add branding and different graphical user interface elements than Okta basic for essentially delegated admin for the business-to-business portal is horrifying because you're essentially using the tech admin. The only option we had and used, was to take the tech admin console and strip it. so that a vendor that has some goods that are sold in the shops, when they want to add a user on their side, say a driver or a packer on their side who should know how much they've packed in a truck to come to our warehouse, then the user interface that this vendor is using, these functional people will then have to use an extremely basic user interface.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature is ease of use."

"Provides good performance and availability."

"The solution integrates well with other tools, particularly through single sign-on, allowing users to connect to various applications using just one password, including email."

"Two-step authentication is very useful and important."

"We can provide specific access to people based on what they need from our accounts."

"The most valuable feature of AWS Directory Service is cost-cutting features."

"AWS handles everything on the backend requiring minimal legwork from our team. We only require a dedicated database administrator while depending on Amazon for RDS."

"The support is very good. I would rate the technical support as a nine out of ten."

More AWS Directory Service pros

"My total rating for Okta is ten out of ten."

"One of the most beneficial features of the solution is the user provisioning and the de-provisioning feature."

"I find the provisioning features and the integration with other applications useful."

"It's easy to use and straightforward."

"Having a single sign-on to all our applications."

"It is a very stable solution."

"The most valuable features are ease of operation and visibility."

"It has a wide range of MFA options. I prefer "Okta Verify" out of them all."

More Okta Workforce Identity pros

Cons

"The solution lacks certain features."

"I would like to grant partial access to a table contained in a database without having to provide full access to the whole database."

"Currently, there is no option to integrate our on-premises Cisco AWS Directory Service, requiring some manual configuration."

"Some of the security protocols are difficult to understand."

"Our only complaint is that you cannot integrate your Exchange server. Or, if you are planning to install an Exchange server on your Amazon EC2 instance, then you need to configure Active Directory on EC2 instance. We would like for this limitation to be lifted."

"Currently, there is no option to integrate our on-premises Cisco AWS Directory Service, requiring some manual configuration. If AWS Active Directory Service provided additional domain controller functionalities, like other on-premises Active Directory, it would be very helpful."

"I would like to see better integration with other business solutions."

"To get CloudWatch to monitor your memory and storage, you have to do some configuration within your server, which sometimes results in errors."

More AWS Directory Service cons

"There should be automated aggregation and complete classification processes included in it."

"We've not had any problems with Okta."

"Okta Workforce Identity can improve by having more features in governance."

"Okta should have at least a local peering partner for countries that align with or comply with GDPR, so there are no compliance or audit questions."

"Application updates are lacking. Customer support needs to be improved."

"We have experienced some challenges in integrating this solution with Scope and Cognito."

"There are some issues with the interface that can be improved."

"The error logging could be improved. Okta doesn't provide enough details when you are troubleshooting an issue. It's often difficult to fix it from our end, so we always need additional support from Okta."

More Okta Workforce Identity cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing depends because with AWS there are two types of directory objects: 30,000 and 500,000. It varies. AWS provides the pricing calculators so we can get an estimate from there as per the company requirement of how many users and objects that we need to create. So we can go to that portal, put in the data, and get the quotation. There are no extra licensing fees. It's all included."

"AWS' pricing is fair, and costs can be cut if you look carefully at when you're using it."

"We pay an annual subscription fee."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"The cost per user for this solution is really high and could be reduced."

"The solution's pricing model could be better for SMBs."

"The price of this product could be lower."

"License is around US$20,000 annually."

"The price of Okta Workforce Identity is reasonable."

"The solution is not the cheapest but not the most expensive. They are in the middle rating."

"The price of Okta Workforce Identity is competitively priced. We pay annually for the use of the solution."

"It could be a bit too pricey for small companies. Okta Workforce Identity can add a lot of benefits, but smaller companies may not have a lot of applications that need to be managed by Okta Workforce Identity. In larger organizations, there are more departments, applications, and users to manage. Okta Workforce Identity adds a bit more value to those bigger organizations. In addition to standard licensing fees, there are also additional costs for things"

More Okta Workforce Identity pricing and cost advice

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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) solutions are best for your needs.

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845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Healthcare Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Directory Service?

The most valuable feature of AWS Directory Service is cost-cutting features.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Directory Service?

The pricing is very good because it is low and there is no management cost. You do not need to hire any system administrator to manage your Active Directory.

What needs improvement with AWS Directory Service?

Currently, there is no option to integrate our on-premises Cisco AWS Directory Service, requiring some manual configuration. If AWS Active Directory Service provided additional domain controller fu...

What do you like most about Okta Workforce Identity?

Okta has introduced the Universal Directory. It has custom attribute capability and user permissions to read/write on their profiles or hide them. Profile sources and identity profile sourcing are ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Okta Workforce Identity?

Pricing for Okta is reasonably not that much, however, I don't have access to the commercial aspect.

What needs improvement with Okta Workforce Identity?

Okta should have at least a local presense for countries that align with or comply with GDPR or data sovereignty, so there are no compliance or audit questions. There are integration issues with Of...

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)

Download AWS Directory Service product report

Okta Workforce Identity

Download Okta Workforce Identity product report

Also Known As

AWS Managed Microsoft AD

No data available

Overview

AWS Directory Service lets you run Microsoft Active Directory (AD) as a managed service. AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory, also referred to as AWS Managed Microsoft AD, is powered by Windows Server 2012 R2. When you select and launch this directory type, it is created as a highly available pair of domain controllers connected to your virtual private cloud (VPC). The domain controllers run in different Availability Zones in a region of your choice. Host monitoring and recovery, data replication, snapshots, and software updates are automatically configured and managed for you.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Okta Workforce Identity is a comprehensive identity and access management (IAM) solution designed to enhance security and streamline user experiences for businesses of all sizes. As a cloud-based platform, it offers a suite of tools that simplify user authentication, authorization, and management across a variety of applications and services.

Core Features

Single Sign-On (SSO): Enables users to access multiple applications with a single set of credentials, enhancing convenience and reducing password fatigue.
Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Provides robust security by requiring additional verification factors, which can adapt based on the user's location, device, and behavior.
Lifecycle Management: Automates user account creation, updating, and deactivation, ensuring access rights are current and compliant with company policies.
Universal Directory: A centralized directory service that supports user and group management across various applications, simplifying administrative tasks.
API Access Management: Safeguards APIs by implementing policies that control how and when they can be accessed, which is crucial for protecting sensitive data.

PeerSpot users often praise Okta Workforce Identity for its ease of use and robust security features. IT professionals appreciate the streamlined integration with numerous applications and the flexibility in configuring access policies. Business executives value the enhanced security posture and the ability to enforce compliance across their digital assets.

For IT professionals, Okta Workforce Identity offers a scalable and efficient solution to manage user identities and access rights. The ability to automate routine tasks like user provisioning and deactivation significantly reduces administrative overhead, allowing IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives. Furthermore, the platform's comprehensive reporting capabilities aid in monitoring and auditing access, which is critical for maintaining security and compliance.

Business executives will find that Okta Workforce Identity aligns with broader organizational goals of operational efficiency and risk management. Its intuitive user experience minimizes disruptions to workforce productivity, while advanced security features like adaptive MFA help mitigate the risk of data breaches. The platform's cloud-based nature ensures scalability and agility, enabling businesses to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and workforce dynamics.

Okta Workforce Identity stands out as a versatile and secure IAM solution, adept at meeting the complex needs of modern enterprises. Its combination of user-friendly features and robust security measures makes it a top choice for organizations aiming to streamline their identity management processes while bolstering their cybersecurity defenses.

Okta

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

FedEx, Zoom, Takeda, Lululemon Athletica, GrunHub, jetBlue, McKensson, Bain & Company, Engie, Peloton, Sonos, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, MGM Resorts, Ally Financial, Priceline, Albertsons, Itercom, Classy, FICO, Kensho, Live Nation, Drata, Rotary, and others.

AWS Directory Service vs. Okta Workforce Identity