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Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Entra ID Governance comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 2, 2024

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

Microsoft Entra ID
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
1st
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 Management (IM) (2nd), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
Microsoft Entra ID Governance
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
10th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 20.3%, down from 29.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID Governance is 2.4%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Entra ID20.3%
Microsoft Entra ID Governance2.4%
Other77.3%
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
JG
Lead Cloud Systems Architect at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Access reviews and lifecycle policies have streamlined privileged account oversight and onboarding automation
I am not using the access review agent feature in Microsoft Entra ID Governance because that is in preview right now, and I do not know if that is available. My perception of Microsoft Entra ID Governance's ability to handle large volumes of users access and management tasks is good. There is a slight delay from creation of the actual access review to how long it takes to complete the actual review. For us, we are a large organization with over ten thousand employees. If we are doing a review on a larger group that has thousands of employees inside of it, it takes a while to actually complete, and then it becomes a headache for managers. If there were a way to condense that or decrease the amount of time it takes to do it, that would be better. We inspect thousands of people. Microsoft Entra ID Governance can be improved, and I actually have two tickets in with you now about improvements. I would have to dig it up because I do not know off the top of my head, but you can find it. We have two tickets that have been put in by the FastTrack team that I work with for identity governance. I think it was something about the ability to stop reviews early. When you create an access review now, and you put a time gate on it, say it is the end of this week, once the access review is finished, the managers went in there and finished the access review, you cannot finish it until the end of the week. That is a slight problem because we do not get a notification for people that are on the identity side that they have actually finished that, and I think there are two tickets in for that right now.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Entra ID is our directory that registers all users, guest users, and even labs. It's integrated with Microsoft technologies like Authenticator, SSO, and MFA, streamlining operations and creating a seamless environment."
"The most valuable feature is the single sign-on, which allows any application that is SAML or OAuth compatible to use Azure as an identity provider for seamless sign-in."
"The integration with all Microsoft services and external applications is crucial. Microsoft Entra ID has helped the company with user identities, user device management, and endpoint management. Integration capabilities are significant."
"The best thing about Microsoft Entra ID is the ease of setup."
"Conditional Access, Geofencing, and Azure Multi-Factor Authentication are the major security features to secure resources."
"After implementing Microsoft Entra ID, secure access to apps has become seamless."
"This solution is less time-consuming. We don't have to hire as many resources to give permissions to a particular user or group for any application."
"Microsoft Entra ID has provided my company with visibility into everything that is occurring regarding authentications for any application across all apps."
"Regarding Microsoft Entra ID Governance integration with Microsoft services, there is automated identity lifecycle management in the product."
"The most valuable functions in Microsoft Entra ID Governance are ease of use, conducting access reviews, and tighter platform coupling."
"It is compliant with our RVRT and CSV guidelines."
"The solution is fully scalable, supporting everything from small companies to large enterprises."
"The most valuable features are multifactor authentication and account creation for the Exchange environment in Office 365."
"The product's most valuable features are the robust audit trail capabilities."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Entra ID Governance for identity management is multi-factor authentication."
"The platform's most valuable feature is the single sign-on service."
 

Cons

"I think Microsoft Entra ID can be improved, but that's a broad question, and I'm uncertain about specific areas."
"It would be an improvement if Authenticator made it easier to recover the app if you reboot your cellphone and lose access."
"From time to time it takes a little bit of time to replicate, with some of the applications—something like five to 10 minutes. I know that the design is not supposed to enable real-time replication with some of the applications. But, as an administrator, I would like to run a specific change or modification in Azure Active Directory and see it replicated almost immediately."
"ESAE management, especially the admin tools, could be improved. It should be built in by the vendor, and I shouldn't have to add patches or updates to connect to my domain directly. It should be added by default. The price could be better."
"The only issue is the OU is not properly synced. Therefore, you have to do a manual sync sometimes or you might lose the connector due to AD Connect or sync servers."
"I think something that is key would be the group policies replication over the cloud, in order to prevent or to avoid relying on the on-premise Active Directory servers and to manage group policies."
"Tech support is inconsistent."
"The quality of support is regular. If you contact Microsoft support directly for Microsoft Entra ID, it's faster, but when you do it through a partner, it takes more time."
"There is a slight delay from creation of the actual access review to how long it takes to complete the actual review. For us, we are a large organization with over ten thousand employees... it takes a while to actually complete, and then it becomes a headache for managers."
"Microsoft Entra ID Governance is relatively new, and some features require more development. For example, when creating user access review campaigns, we can't specify the time to send emails to reviewers—only the date."
"If you want to conduct access review of database-based applications, then you cannot do that."
"Microsoft Entra ID Governance should improve its capability to manage identities and access from a single console."
"There are some areas where improvements are necessary. Even though we have almost the full package, there are some bugs."
"One area for improvement in Microsoft Entra ID Governance could be providing more granular control over security policies."
"Bridging between on-premises and cloud services has the potential for improvement. For instance, it would be beneficial to be able to synchronize traditional directory schemas with Azure. I need to maintain an on-premises Active Directory server for certain required services."
"The product's workflow approval process needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is in line. Because we are so early, we have not had to come back on a cycle where we are having to negotiate again."
"The pricing depends on the use case and can be negotiated based on volume."
"Azure AD has four licensing options- Free, Office 365 apps, Premium P1, and Premium P2. The free option has a limited number of identities and features, and the Office 365 version comes included in several Office 365 subscriptions. With the P1 and P2 licenses, we get all the freeware features plus additional security features, but these come at a higher price. The base price for P1 and P2 is $6 and $9 per user per month, respectively."
"We have various levels of their licensing, which includes users on different levels of their enterprise offering."
"If you are dealing with one supplier with an out-of-the-box solution, which provides you end-to-end capabilities, then it is naturally cheaper and less of a headache to manage and operate."
"Licensing costs for Microsoft Entra ID remain a concern, especially with the price increases in 2023."
"For a small business buying individual licenses, it is an affordable solution."
"Microsoft Entra ID's pricing is reasonable."
"In the education sector where I work, the annual cost for my Google and Microsoft environments is approximately $35,000. This covers the needs of 3,400 students and 800 faculty and staff members."
"There are no additional costs besides the standard licensing fees."
"The solution's pricing is not low but reasonable."
"While other products give the pricing for their application, Microsoft Entra ID Governance has a per-user-based license model."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business85
Midsize Enterprise38
Large Enterprise155
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What do you like most about Microsoft Entra ID Governance?
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Entra ID Governance is access reviews.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Entra ID Governance?
I am not using the access review agent feature in Microsoft Entra ID Governance because that is in preview right now, and I do not know if that is available. My perception of Microsoft Entra ID Gov...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Entra ID Governance?
My main use cases for Microsoft Entra ID Governance are access reviews, but specifically Privileged Identity Management access reviews. I am utilizing the user-centric access reviews in Microsoft E...
 

Also Known As

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

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Entre ID is trusted by companies of all sizes and industries including Walmart, Zscaler, Uniper, Amtrak, monday.com, and more.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra ID vs. Microsoft Entra ID Governance and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.