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Auth0 vs Microsoft Active Directory comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Auth0
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Access Management (2nd), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (1st)
Microsoft Active Directory
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Active Directory Management (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Auth0 is 10.5%, down from 16.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Active Directory is 2.3%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

Erik Aceiro - PeerSpot reviewer
An excellent solution for B2C connection between our customers with an easy setup
Today we use home basic authentication and authorization, and we would like to move away from cloud and use some kind of IDP to improve authentication and authorization for our customers. So, for example, we can use the social logging feature in Auth0 to improve the customer experience. The price modelling is a bit confusing on the site and can be costly. So if you use one measure like active user format, you need to talk to the support from Auth0 to check the price.
Rajitha Abhisheka - PeerSpot reviewer
A solution that easily merges with cloud-based ADs and provides superior data security
The interface for logs should be user-friendly and allow for enhanced filtering to drill down to incidents. It is time consuming to get a clear picture and review deviations in conditional policies because you have to check each and every log to find information on malicious attacks, a compromised end-user's account, or phishing emails. The logs for sign-ins and auditing should be available for more than a 30-90 day window. Most logs are displayed in UTC but it would be helpful to include time conversions for tenant regions. Currently, we must do time conversions manually before we contact users to share information and troubleshoot issues.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's a very powerful platform. It has the ability to do the usual stuff, according to modern protocols, like OIDC and OAuth 2. But the real benefit of using the platform comes from its flexibility to enhance it with rules and, now, with what they call authentication pipelines. That is the most significant feature, as it allows you to customize everything regarding the authentication and authorization process."
"The most valuable feature is that it is simple to integrate, irrespective of your codebase."
"The most valuable feature of the product is scalability."
"The most valuable feature is interface application integration, but we haven't fully used it yet. We'll need it in the future for a few potential clients."
"It has a lot of customization and out-of-the-box features."
"It supports identity federation, FSO and multi-tenancy."
"It offers stronger security and flexibility with API keys, which are generated on runtime."
"The valuable features are that it is extremely secure and that it's developer-friendly."
"The most valuable feature is the configured appliance system in Hypervisor."
"Active Directory makes managing user policies easier, like when a user wants to share files. We also use it to create and manage our email accounts."
"Stability and performance are good. So far, we have not observed any major downtime or performance issues since we deployed it."
"It's quite easy to integrate into other directories."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Active Directory is the group policies."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is an easy-to-use tool."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is authentication."
"It is very user-friendly."
 

Cons

"When they introduced the Organizations feature they did support different login screens per organization. However, they introduced a dependency between this feature and another called the New Universal Login Experience. The New Experience is a more lightweight login screen, but it is much less customizable. For example, today, we are able to fully customize our login screen and even control the background image according to the time of day. We have code to do that. But we are not able to write code anymore in the New Experience."
"There are indeed areas where the product could improve. For instance, Okta offers various application configurations, enabling access management, which the tool could consider implementing."
"The price modelling is a bit confusing on the site and can be costly."
"Better documentation for Salesforce integration is suggested."
"This is a costly solution and the price of it should be reduced."
"The Management API could be improved so it's easier to get user information."
"The product could use a more flexible administration structure"
"In the past, there was an issue with the multi-tenant where there wasn't the ability to manage them."
"Active Directory's user experience is a little dated. Group policy management should be more customizable."
"The security features could be improved."
"The interface for logs should be user-friendly and allow for enhanced filtering to drill down to incidents."
"The solution could be made more safe by using authentication mechanisms."
"It could be more stable."
"The product must provide remote password reset features."
"Typically, it depends on the customer's situation. If the customer operates in smaller locations where most PCs are in a common location, we usually aim to consolidate the directory infrastructure for easier maintenance. However, for distributed setups spanning multiple countries, configuring multiple sites becomes necessary and more intricate to handle. Our objective is to minimize the number of sites, simplifying operations for IT administrators and reducing errors. Mistakes in Active Directory can be costly for organizations, as disruptions can occur rapidly. Moreover, when it comes to hybrid single sign-on across various applications, Microsoft hasn't put forth significant effort. Single sign-on has become a challenge for many customers who utilize diverse solutions beyond Microsoft products. While implementing single sign-on is relatively straightforward in the Azure cloud, it's considerably more complex when dealing with the local Active Directory. This presents a big challenge for many of our customers."
"Microsoft Active Directory could improve by having better integration with other solutions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are different price levels: B2B, B2C, and enterprise. The basic plan is about $1,500 per month."
"Pricing of Auth0 is a pain point. Their pricing model is very confusing, at least for an enterprise. I don't like their pricing model. I think it's too aggressive. It's not very cheap for a service that only does authentication."
"It is a relatively inexpensive product in the industry."
"The tool is cheaper compared to competing solutions. Those alternatives tended to be more expensive. Consequently, Okta purchased it because it was considerably cheaper. The solution even offered some free services while still providing excellent functionality."
"I am pretty happy with the pricing model of Auth0. It is very clear for me. Considering our scale, the features that we are using, and additional features that we bought, we still find it great. If you split the costs for the whole year and calculate the number of people you needed to hire, it always comes out to be much lesser than what we would have spent on building our own solution."
"The version of Microsoft Active Directory I was using was expensive because it was used for large companies."
"The license is perpetual and the cost is minimal. If you purchase Microsoft Windows then Microsoft Active Directory comes with the package."
"I'm unsure about the cost of the solution, as I was never involved in that aspect. However, I don't think it would be expensive. It might be average, around four or five out of ten."
"The license per user can probably be reduced."
"Microsoft Active Directory is not an expensive solution."
"The product's premium support services are expensive."
"We purchase the license for the solution on a yearly basis."
"We have to purchase a license for the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Auth0?
It is very scalable because it provides a new environment for companies based on their number of users and other factors. The tool can take a lot of users.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Auth0?
The cost of the solution itself was cost-effective enough that I didn't even need to compare it with EntraID.
What needs improvement with Auth0?
There is no immediate need for improvement. However, better documentation for Salesforce integration is suggested. Multi-factor authentication could be considered for future research.
What do you like most about Microsoft Active Directory?
The solution is easy to install and has good reliability.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Active Directory?
The challenges everyone now has in mind is how to really migrate fully to the cloud. Many companies face both technical and cost-related challenges when moving from on-premise Active Directory to M...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Active Directory?
We are still on a hybrid environment where we have Azure Directory on-premises, and sync it up to Microsoft.
 

Learn More

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. Airbnb 2. Accenture 3. Adidas 4. Atlassian 5. Audi 6. Baidu 7. BlackRock 8. Cisco 9. CocaCola 10. Dell 11. eBay 12. FedEx 13. Fiat Chrysler 14. Ford 15. Google 16. Groupon 17. Hewlett Packard Enterprise 18. IBM 19. Intel 20. LinkedIn 21. Mastercard 22. Mercedes Benz23. Microsoft 24. Nike 25. Oracle 26. PayPal 27. Pinterest 28. Qualcomm 29. SAP 30. Spotify 31. Tesla 32. Toyota
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Find out what your peers are saying about Auth0 vs. Microsoft Active Directory and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.