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Atlassian Crowd vs Microsoft Entra ID comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 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

Atlassian Crowd
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
23rd
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Entra ID
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
276
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (2nd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Atlassian Crowd is 1.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 9.8%, down from 26.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Entra ID9.8%
Atlassian Crowd1.4%
Other88.8%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

Grigoriy Kneller - PeerSpot reviewer
General Manager at HDI Systeme AG
Enhanced user management offering seamless single sign-on, scalability for large enterprises, and improved configurability through integration with various user sources and directories
For organizations using various Atlassian products and dealing with multiple user sources or directories, implementing Atlassian Crowd for single sign-on proves highly beneficial. This is especially true for companies that have instances of Atlassian product installations across different entities, each with its own Active Directory and user directory. Crowd significantly streamlines user and directory management, making it more efficient for larger enterprises. It is particularly advisable and recommended for big companies, especially those that have undergone acquisitions or mergers, as it enhances user management, transparency, and configurability. While it's incredibly useful for enterprise-level businesses, it may also be suitable for mid-sized companies with a substantial user base. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One standout feature is the capability to configure various authentication and authorization methods from diverse user directories."
"If your budget allows, it is worth purchasing Crowd once you have at least 2 Atlassian products like Jira and Confluence."
"Integrating third-party directories is very easy since Crowd offers well-described input fields so you know what information is needed."
"The most valuable features are predominantly in the directory and development spaces."
"It's very user-friendly for users."
"Syncing with our on-prem Active Directory is valuable because we do not have to keep multiple identities for each of our staff members. We can easily evaluate login risks and provide access for SSO via 365 into applications, such as Salesforce, and other things that we run our business on."
"Azure AD has features that have helped improve our security posture."
"Azure AD makes our work a lot easier."
"Azure Active Directory features have helped improve our security posture. The remote working has been a massive help during the pandemic."
"Token-based security has had a positive impact on defending against threats with Microsoft Entra ID."
"Azure AD allowed us to get rid of servers and other hardware running at our offices. We moved everything to the cloud. Once we set up roles and permissions, it's only a matter of adding people and removing people from different groups and letting permissions flow through."
"It has made our work easier in that it’s simplified everything for us."
 

Cons

"It makes you more efficient, but you have to optimize what you're doing before you get into the software."
"There's a need for effective group membership management, especially for corporate programs."
"Exporting users/group toward LDAP and retrieving LDAP attributes like photo profile."
"It would be great if the UI would receive a complete re-design."
"Whatever business requirements we needed in the past three years, users were created, with the name of the user and they were not connected with the Active Directory. We were trying to in house in three years and with directory, but we were not able to achieve it."
"I faced difficulties from Micorosft's end and during the transition from Microsoft Active Directory to Microsoft Entra ID. Sometimes, some of Microsoft's documentation could be a little outdated."
"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."
"The transition from on-prem Active Directory to the Azure Cloud was difficult because there aren't group policy objectives."
"The Azure AD Application Proxy, which helps you publish applications in a secure way, has room for improvement. We are moving from another solution into the Application Proxy and it's quite detailed. Depending on the role you're signing in as, you can end up at different websites, which wasn't an issue with our old solution."
"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."
"For the end users, it can be confusing if they have worked for another company that had the Authenticator app. It is tricky if they have already had the Authenticator app and then work somewhere else. If they have to download it again and use it again on their phone, it is something that gets complicated. I know how to get through it. They just need to uninstall and reinstall the application, but for them, sometimes, it is confusing."
"I would rate it an eight out of ten. The price plays a factor in the rating."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While it may seem affordable for larger enterprises, it tends to become more expensive as you move up the scale."
"It's pretty cheap. I would rate the price as three out of five."
"Azure AD's pricing is comprehensive and affordable. The prices are easy to understand, and the licenses include a variety of security monitoring and additional features."
"The price of the solution's license is good."
"We are a non-profit organization, so we get good prices from Microsoft for their products. It is working well, but it could be cheaper. For the type of organization we are, it would be good if they could give a little bit more and be more generous like Google, which has completely free services. Microsoft has free versions or web services called Office 365 E1, which is free for use, but we want to have it with more qualified clients."
"The solution was fairly priced the last time I checked the costs."
"The pricing for companies and businesses is okay, it's fair. But if you are trying to teach someone about Azure AD, there is no licensing option for that... It would be nice to have a 'learning' license, one that is cheaper for a single person."
"Azure AD comes with Office 365, so we are just paying for the Office 365 license."
"It is very expensive. Its price should be lower. Price is the most important factor for Turkish people."
"Licenses are based on the usage. There is no cap. It's based on the number of users we provision."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business90
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise161
 

Questions from the Community

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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...
 

Also Known As

Crowd
Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NHL, Interspire, Appfire
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 Atlassian Crowd vs. Microsoft Entra ID and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
896,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.