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Google Cloud Identity and Access Management vs Microsoft Entra ID comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Google Cloud Identity and A...
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
23rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Entra ID
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
266
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Identity Management (IM) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Identity and Access Management is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 9.3%, down from 12.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Management (IM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Entra ID9.3%
Google Cloud Identity and Access Management0.3%
Other90.4%
Identity Management (IM)
 

Featured Reviews

NB
Hybrid Cloud Engineer at RealPage
Seamless integration with cloud identity enhances access management and simplifies task management
The most valuable features in Google Cloud Identity and Access Management include Smart Access control, which automatically detects permissions, and rightsizing. Cloud Identity facilitates access to Google Cloud, and the governance policies are good. I also find the programmatic command line features, such as the G Cloud command-line tool, valuable as it simplifies tasks and makes them easy to manage.
JP
Senior Information Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Implementing seamless integration boosts secure access and supports Zero Trust
What I appreciate the most about Microsoft Entra ID is that it integrates seamlessly with all the Defender products and is easy to use. Microsoft Entra ID's integration capabilities influence our Zero Trust model by allowing us to enforce our Zero Trust model. Conditional access policies allow us to leverage Microsoft Entra ID to verify that devices signing in to our cloud services are coming from registered devices, and that people are passing all the other requirements we have in order to complete sign-on or conditional access policies. Since implementing Microsoft Entra ID, I've observed changes in the frequency and nature of identity-related security incidents. The organization already had it implemented when I arrived, and I've been working to enhance it. Better configuration of Microsoft Entra ID has allowed us to better protect our organization from threats. Having it alone isn't a solution, but ensuring proper configuration goes a long way in preventing future compromises. My company's approach to defending against token theft and nation-state attacks has evolved since implementing Microsoft Entra ID. We haven't experienced any known compromises from nation-state attacks, and implementing newer features gives me more confidence in our protection. Regarding device-bound passkeys in Microsoft Authenticator and our approach to phishing-resistant authentication, we are currently implementing Microsoft Entra ID certificate-based authentication. Adding a strong form of MFA is important as we found it to be the most cost-effective way. While other solutions might be equally or more secure, they are significantly more expensive. Having worked as an IT consultant mainly with the Microsoft stack across various industries, I have experience with different identity management solutions. Microsoft Entra ID remains the best option. The major advantages when comparing it to Okta include integration with Defender products, Defender for Identities' integration with conditional access policies, and insider threat management integration for blocking sign-ins based on risk factors. The enhancement of Microsoft Entra ID's implementation is relatively straightforward. My main concern is the occasional lack of documentation and the frequency of changes, which can make feature location challenging.

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 features in Google Cloud Identity and Access Management include Smart Access control, which automatically detects permissions, and rightsizing."
"Overall, I rate the solution at ten out of ten."
"One of the most important is the Conditional Access. It helps affect a Zero Trust strategy positively."
"The best feature is the single sign-on provision for the various type of users."
"The solution's ease of use is one of its most valuable features."
"It offers good Microsoft integration capabilities."
"With the Microsoft Entra ID platform, our company productivity is much higher, the performance is much higher, and it means that at the end of the day, we do the job with fewer people, saving costs."
"The solution has come a long way. Now, with the Azure AD B2C offering integrated as well, we've got a full IAM-type solution for our customer-facing identity management. In addition, when it comes to user journeys we now can hook in custom flows for different credential checking and authorizations for specific conditional access."
"It's very good at not disrupting the user experience."
"The implementation of Microsoft Entra ID has positively impacted my secure access to apps or resources in my environment because I appreciate that it has SSO, so you can use it for signing on to a whole bunch of different applications that are also running in your enterprise, and it is generally very good for governance of getting people access to whatever they need."
 

Cons

"I find Google Cloud Identity and Access Management's pricing to be on the expensive side"
"I find Google Cloud Identity and Access Management's pricing to be on the expensive side, rating it as seven out of ten. However, if the price could be made cheaper as more clients are included, it would be beneficial."
"Customers should be informed that public review features are not intended for production use."
"I would like to dive into some of the things that we saw today around the workflows at this Microsoft event. I cannot say that they need to make it better because I do not have much experience with it, but something that is always applicable to Microsoft is that they need to be able to integrate with their competitors. If you look at IDP, they do not integrate with Okta."
"Microsoft should work on enhancing its machine-learning algorithm to prevent unnecessary lockouts of users."
"Azure Active Directory could benefit by adding the capability for identity life cycle for the on-premise solution. For example, an HR solution, which is built on-premise or, in general, better on-premise capable solutions."
"From an admin perspective, I would like to see improvement in the Microsoft Graph API."
"The response from actual support tickets is a bit laggy, and I would like them to be more responsive."
"I would rate Microsoft's technical support on the lower side. While some responses are quick and satisfactory, there have been occasions where issues took weeks or circles to resolve, sometimes closing and reopening without resolution."
"I have experienced downtime. We've had instances of downtime."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Azure Active Directory has a very extensive licensing model. Most of the features are available in the free and basic version, and then there are premium P1 and P2 editions. The licensing model is based on how many users you have per month. In Australia, for a P1 license, the cost is 8 dollars. With P1 and P2 licenses, you get a lot of goodies around the security side of things. For example, User Identity Protection is available only in P2. These are extra features that allow you to have a pretty good security posture, but most of the required things are available in the free and basic version."
"Entra ID is not too bad, but Microsoft licensing generally is insane. Most customers normally buy a bundle license with Microsoft 365, E3, or E5. Out of our 2,000 customers, for 99.9% of our customers, the Entra ID license that they are getting through the part of that would be sufficient. There are some more advanced ones that give you a bit more functionality, but we probably have not had a customer for that. We do not even internally use that ourselves. When you buy the Entra ID license on its own, it is probably three or four pounds. You just get it included in the license."
"It can be a bit expensive for organizations, but they do have different pricing models. Their free tier can be used on a personal level, but for an organization, the licenses might be a bit expensive. In general, the licenses can become cheaper, which will make it accessible for more people."
"The solution costs us 60,000 Rupees annually, just over $700, and there are no additional costs."
"Pricing-wise, they offer a stepladder approach. You can start with the lowest level features, then start increasing based on new requirements."
"The cost of Azure AD is one of the biggest benefits, as it is available for use free of charge when you start with Office 365."
"The E5 plan we are using contains the premium plans for Azure Active Directory. We are not paying only for the Azure Active Directory Premium licenses. We have it already included within our E5 plan."
"It's pretty good. We're using the native features. It's bundled with our Office 365 licenses. We aren't paying anything extra for Azure Active Directory. It's pretty good for us because it's complementary to Office 365. We're only paying for Office 365."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business85
Midsize Enterprise38
Large Enterprise155
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Identity and Access Management?
I find Google Cloud Identity and Access Management's pricing to be on the expensive side, rating it as seven out of ten. However, if the price could be made cheaper as more clients are included, it...
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Identity and Access Management?
As of now, I did not find anything that needs improvement. Google's solution started four years ago, and I've only been working more comprehensively with it for two years. It's not bad, it is actua...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Identity and Access Management?
We have a tool called CyberArk. From CyberArk, I take the link and open it from this solution. It links to AD, the domain controller, enabling us to connect to Google Cloud Platform.
How does Duo Security compare with Microsoft Authenticator?
We switched to Duo Security for identity verification. We’d been using a competitor but got the chance to evaluate Duo for 30 days, and we could not be happier. Duo Security is easy to configure a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory?
My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Entra ID is that it is decent.
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory?
I think Microsoft Entra ID could be improved by assigning permissions to nested groups in the next release.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. Atlassian2. Cisco3. Coca-Cola4. Dell5. Equinix6. GE7. Google8. IBM9. Intel10. JPMorgan Chase11. LinkedIn12. Microsoft13. Netflix14. Oracle15. PayPal16. SAP17. Siemens18. Spotify19. Tesla20. Toyota21. Twitter22. Visa23. Walt Disney24. WeWork25. World Bank26. Xerox27. Zynga
Microsoft Entre ID is trusted by companies of all sizes and industries including Walmart, Zscaler, Uniper, Amtrak, monday.com, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Cloud Identity and Access Management vs. Microsoft Entra ID and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.