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Microsoft Entra ID vs Opal 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

Microsoft Entra ID
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
1st
Ranking in Access Management
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
276
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
Opal
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
21st
Ranking in Access Management
19th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 15.0%, down from 28.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Opal is 1.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Entra ID15.0%
Opal1.0%
Other84.0%
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
 

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.
Pranay Jain - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Developer at hireHQ
Focused workdays have replaced doomscrolling and now reduce my daily screen time significantly
Opal can be improved in some ways. In the paid version, there are multiple features, but in the freemium version, there are fewer features. The blockage of the application can be more rigorous. Right now, if we play two to three games, then a math game or anything, we are able to remove that lock. It should be more rigorous in some manner, and for some applications, it should be more rigorous. Application-wise rigorousness should be introduced. The different modes are good, but they should be more customizable according to the person. The end goal should meet whatever the objective is, so if the person has used more than six hours, then it should remind the person frequently that this application has used this time and this is an application you should not use. It should give us a timer or some kind of notification that the person will not use it anymore.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We had a roadmap meeting with Microsoft a few months ago, and I know that Microsoft is working hard at listening to their customers, especially through COVID."
"Overall the solution functions very well, such as the ability to access it from the cloud."
"The features of Microsoft Entra ID that I appreciate the most are the Conditional Access policies, because they provide granular aspects to enable features and offer flexibility across my user base, allowing me to provide the security features and protections needed for complex organizations."
"The most valuable feature is the authentication platform."
"The passwordless feature of Microsoft Entra ID is the most valued feature, and its implementation has had an impact on secure app access to resources in the environment, particularly in security and compliance."
"Azure Active Directory works well to access the resources that the school has set up for the students."
"Configuring the domain and setting it up in the Azure portal is just three clicks to be honest."
"What I find most valuable about Microsoft Entra ID is centralizing identity; I don't need to worry too much about how to set up the groups, I just need to get access and assign it to the correct place, centralizing everything and making it more transparent for me while leveraging these groups and users in my applications represents the best difference."
"Opal has positively impacted my organization by reducing stress and increasing effectiveness for all our employees; it works better so all our employees have more time to sleep and they can investigate more."
"Previously, my phone usage was around nine hours and fifteen minutes or more, but it has significantly reduced to around six hours and thirty minutes to seven hours, meaning two and a half to three hours has been reduced after using Opal as my primary screen time blocker."
 

Cons

"I would rate Microsoft Entra ID an eight based on some experiences, such as asking for repetitive connectivity and on the confirmation or verification, but I think the rest are good."
"I think Microsoft Entra ID can be improved, but that's a broad question, and I'm uncertain about specific areas."
"I would like to be able to authenticate Wi-Fi users using the Azure ID"
"There are many new features being added all the time, and Microsoft is advancing at a pace that aligns with our needs. I can't think of anything immediate that needs improvement."
"You can manage the users from the Office 365 administration center, and you can manage them from Azure Active Directory. Those are two different environments, but they do the same things. They can gather the features in one place, and it might be better if that place were Azure."
"A nice feature that is not currently present, would be if they had some visualization tools."
"Rule management and permissions need improvements. I have had discussions with product managers about these challenges and sent emails regarding them. Additionally, improvements are needed in the Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) side of things."
"The role-based access control can be improved. Normally, the role-based access control has different privileges. Each role, such as administrator or user, has different privileges, and the setup rules for them should be defined automatically rather than doing it manually."
"Opal can be improved in some ways."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure Active Directory is expensive."
"The basic tier of Azure Active Directory is free, so many users use the service for free. For a small company having the security and compliance that Azure offers is a great benefit. For small companies that are using the basic services, not having to pay for Azure Active Directory is the main asset because they can manage their users and have authentications tools and security."
"If you're on Azure, it can be free or it's incorporated, at no extra cost, or it can become extremely complicated."
"We are currently on the education plan, so the price is slightly better than the development plan."
"It is good. We have Office 365 E3, and then that is tied in with Azure Active Directory. I believe that we only have to pay for our technician-level access or IT department access for Azure Active Directory Premium, which I am sure they call Entra Premium P2 licensing, so it is not a very large cost. We just adopted that, and that gives us a lot of insights into user security that we would not otherwise have."
"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."
"The P1 version costs $6 per user per month."
"It comes free with the Microsoft account. We have a yearly agreement, and all products are covered under it."
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
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business89
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise161
No data available
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Opal?
I had a really good experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing; that's cheap, affordable, and I love it.
What needs improvement with Opal?
I think Opal can be improved by adding more indicators to help people.
What is your primary use case for Opal?
My main use case for Opal is to reduce stress and to have data related to my health. I use Opal when I do sports and I make data analysis; I use all the data to focus on what I'm good at and what I...
 

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.
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Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra ID vs. Opal and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.