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Microsoft Entra ID vs One Identity Defender comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 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 Authentication Systems
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
276
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Identity Management (IM) (2nd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
One Identity Defender
Ranking in Authentication Systems
14th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 6.5%, down from 15.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of One Identity Defender is 1.4%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Entra ID6.5%
One Identity Defender1.4%
Other92.1%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Stafin Jacob - PeerSpot reviewer
Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance Practice Lead at Invoke
Identity has become our central gatekeeper and has provided secure single sign-on for all users
Microsoft Entra ID can improve by focusing more on new passwordless methods and becoming a primary adopter. One feature we would like to see is the ability to have security questions for password resets. I know the current capability is phasing out, so we do not have an alternative method yet. Customers who already use security questions require a smoother transition for that capability to be available. My experience with the deployment has had some challenges, particularly around the Microsoft MFA campaigns. The hardest part is moving users from a different MFA provider to the Microsoft MFA provider, as it ultimately depends on user activity. In large enterprises with numerous users across various geographies, this transition takes time. If there are ways to exert more control around that process, it would improve the situation.
Mahesh Malve - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Business Development Executive at DigitalTrack Solutions Ind Pvt Ltd
Advanced analytics have strengthened privileged access security and reduced incident response time
While One Identity Defender is a strong solution overall, there are a few areas where I feel it could be improved. One area is the user interface and dashboard customization. Although it is functional, making it more modern and allowing deeper customization would improve the user experience, especially for quick monitoring. Another improvement could be in reporting flexibility. While it provides good reports, having more custom report building options and easier export features would be helpful for different compliance and manageability needs. From an integration perspective, while One Identity Defender works well with core systems, having more out-of-the-box integrations with modern cloud services and SaaS platforms would reduce the need for custom configuration. In terms of support, the overall support is good, but faster response times for critical issues and more detailed troubleshooting documentation would help teams resolve problems more efficiently.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"My advice for another organization considering Microsoft Entra ID is simple: if you are utilizing Microsoft Office applications and the Microsoft 365 suite, using Microsoft Entra ID as your primary identity provider is a no-brainer."
"The access control aspect of the authentication is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"Entra ID can be deployed using a hybrid model for organizations with a significant on-premises presence, or in a fully cloud-based setup for those that do not."
"The advantage of Azure Active Directory is that it's a cloud environment, so just about anybody can get to it."
"Azure AD is essential to how the business runs."
"Microsoft Entra ID's integration capabilities influence our Zero Trust model by allowing us to enforce our Zero Trust model."
"The features of Microsoft Entra ID have benefited my organization because we're just more secure; we have less identity theft and no identity compromises since we have MFA now, whereas before, we didn't have MFA."
"It's a very intuitive platform. It's easy to create groups and add people."
"If you decide to activate this solution, your infrastructure will be centered around flexibility."
"We find that the product scales very well."
"We have definitely seen a positive ROI from using One Identity Defender, as our security team now spends about twenty to thirty percent less time on manual log analytics and investigations because the system automatically highlights high-risk activities, and we did not need to increase team size despite growing infrastructure as the tool helps us handle more security events with the same team."
"It's very fast, and it's easy to use because it's integrated with Active Directory."
"With One Identity Defender, we have achieved around 40 to 50% time saving in maintaining privilege access tasks."
"One Identity Defender has good network protection."
"One Identity Defender has positively impacted our organization by improving overall security through the addition of MFA, which reduces the risk of unauthorized access and makes user authentication more controlled and reliable."
"One Identity Defender has good network protection."
 

Cons

"I want to see more features to improve security, such as integrated user behavior analysis."
"When it comes to identity and access life cycle management for applications that are run on-premises, as well as access governance, if those kinds of capabilities could be built into Azure Active Directory, that would be good."
"Everything should be in one package. There are so many different packages."
"There are no specific areas where improvement is needed at the moment. Everything has been good so far."
"Customer service has been inconsistent for us, and we usually have to escalate issues. We typically resolve the problem before Microsoft can respond to us, so the service has not been very useful."
"It could be better if a simple member could understand more easily the prices of the products and packages offered by Microsoft."
"The support could be better. Lately, they sort of dropped off a bit in terms of quality."
"Microsoft needs to make improvements in this regard and extend its services to other operating systems as well, especially when considering their widespread usage."
"One Identity Defender can be improved by simplifying the user interface and making navigation more intuitive, especially for new administrators who may find the initial setup and policy configuration somewhat complex."
"We have some clients that are wanting to protect their Apache web servers with One Identity Defender but all the research I have done says cannot be done. It can only be oriented to an IIS server. One Identity Defender should have more integration with more types of web servers."
"One Identity Defender is a strong product, but there are a few areas where it can be improved."
"The login capabilities could be better."
"The login capabilities could be better."
"We have some clients that are wanting to protect their Apache web servers with One Identity Defender but all the research I have done says cannot be done."
"The only reason it is not a ten is because response time can sometimes be slower for complex or escalated cases."
"Maybe it could provide support for more web applications. It seems more focused on IIS web applications."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Entra ID's pricing is reasonable."
"For you to make use of some of the security features, you need to upgrade your licenses. If it is possible, could they just make some features free? For instance, for the Condition Access policy, you need to set that up and be on Azure AD P2 licensing. So if they could make it free or reduce the licensing for small businesses, that would be cool, as I believe security is for everyone."
"It is worth the money."
"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."
"Entra has P1 and P2 licenses that are bundled with lots of applications."
"I'd recommend Azure Active Directory if you are a big company. For small or medium companies, it's probably not the best idea in the world because of the pricing. If you are a small company, you can probably deploy your own solutions because you're not handling a website with tons of traffic. If you are not like Adidas, Nike, or Walmart, you can do it in a way that is more localized than handling everything through a big price solution. However, Azure tends to provide you with solutions that are easier to use. If it was cheaper, I'd definitely recommend going for it."
"The licensing cost is a bit prohibitive."
"I am not involved in the pricing or licensing, so I can't speak to that."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Non Profit
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business90
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise160
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
 

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 pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that going through and being able to use these things is always part of delivering an M365 bundle, so I don't think the experience is great ...
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory?
Microsoft Entra ID can be improved by open-sourcing it. You already have Windows Subsystem for Linux, which is open-source Linux in Microsoft. One major shift for Microsoft would be using the commo...
What needs improvement with One Identity Defender?
One Identity Defender is a strong product, but there are a few areas where it can be improved. First, the user interface and reporting dashboards could be made more intuitive and customizable for f...
What is your primary use case for One Identity Defender?
One Identity Defender strengthens identity and access security through MFA, helping us ensure that only authorized users can access critical systems, especially for privileged accounts, with a focu...
What advice do you have for others considering One Identity Defender?
My advice for others looking into using One Identity Defender would be first to clearly define your use case, especially whether you need MFA mainly for privileged access, remote users, or both, as...
 

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.
Bakersfield Police Department, Village of Westmont, Illinois
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra ID vs. One Identity Defender and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.