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AWS Directory Service vs Microsoft Entra ID 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

AWS Directory Service
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
16th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Entra ID
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
219
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category, the mindshare of AWS Directory Service is 1.8%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 28.4%, down from 29.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

Basa Saiteja - PeerSpot reviewer
A valuable access management system with a user-friendly and straightforward setup
The solution is scalable, and we can scale according to our needs. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten. In our organization, our access to our AWS comes from IAM. We use AWS consoles using our credentials and don't have route access, so each person will log in through our IAM programmatic access, and everyone on our team can work on cloud. Over 10,000 people in our organization utilize the solution.
Aaron Liang - PeerSpot reviewer
Has significantly improved secure access to applications and resources in our environment
Microsoft Entra ID has helped by simplifying our management of permissions for APIs. We are not directly exposing credentials, as we use tokens instead. It has made management easier and more secure, especially in a multi-user environment. The implementation of Microsoft Entra ID significantly improved secure access to applications and resources in our environment, primarily through the widespread use of single-sign-on. Managing API permissions became much easier, as application registration often involves calling an API to utilize services without directly exposing credentials, relying instead on token-based authentication. This streamlined approach benefits end-users by simplifying access while remaining transparent to them. Ultimately, my role focuses on ensuring a smooth and user-friendly experience, even if the underlying technology remains unseen by the end-users. Our company strongly emphasizes passwordless authentication, primarily through device-bound passkeys in Microsoft Authenticator. While administrators with high-privileged accounts utilize YubiKeys and passwords for tasks like accessing Microsoft Graph, we are actively transitioning all other users towards passwordless methods such as Windows Hello biometrics. This approach streamlines authentication and enhances security. Though initial deployment in 2022 presented challenges due to hardware limitations and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the technology has significantly improved and provides a simple and effective user experience.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Two-step authentication is very useful and important."
"The most valuable feature is that because it's all in the cloud, you don't need to manage the infrastructure."
"Provides good performance and availability."
"The most valuable feature of AWS Directory Service is cost-cutting features."
"AWS has eliminated the downtime we waste when our on-premises resources go down."
"The solution integrates well with other tools, particularly through single sign-on, allowing users to connect to various applications using just one password, including email."
"We like the fact that it's got such great redundancy."
"AWS Directory Service is secure."
"Microsoft customer service is the best in the industry."
"The tool's most valuable feature is conditional access."
"The most significant aspect is the security measures inherent in Microsoft Entra ID, including features such as conditional access policies."
"Entra ID provides an excellent overview of the applications and the options applied to them."
"Entra has made it easy to manage identity and access by integrating with all Microsoft services."
"Active Directory itself is the best feature it has. It also gives us a single pane of glass for managing user access."
"We need something that makes an attacker's life harder."
"Its ability to provide secure connections to people at all locations is the most valuable. It is mostly used by enterprises."
 

Cons

"We had a problem with the schema uploading and setting up the directory when we are migrating our users from on-premises to cloud infrastructure."
"To get CloudWatch to monitor your memory and storage, you have to do some configuration within your server, which sometimes results in errors."
"I would like to grant partial access to a table contained in a database without having to provide full access to the whole database."
"I would like to see better integration with other business solutions."
"I've encountered challenges, particularly with Amazon WorkDocs, which is being deprecated. This has made it necessary to find an alternative document management solution that can handle editing, sharing, and workflow management for documents like Word files and PDFs."
"Currently, there is no option to integrate our on-premises Cisco AWS Directory Service, requiring some manual configuration. If AWS Active Directory Service provided additional domain controller functionalities, like other on-premises Active Directory, it would be very helpful."
"Currently, there is no option to integrate our on-premises Cisco AWS Directory Service, requiring some manual configuration."
"Some of the security protocols are difficult to understand."
"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."
"We'd like to be able to link to non-Mircosft products, like Linux."
"I rate Microsoft support five out of 10. It's just okay."
"From an admin perspective, I would like to see improvement in the Microsoft Graph API."
"The synchronization between my AD and Azure AD needs improvement."
"Microsoft is working with Microsoft Identity Manager for Active Directory on-premise. It will be very important to have these identity management solutions directly in Azure Active Directory. It's very important to have some kind of Azure identity manager as a technology for identity and access management for working both in the cloud and inside the Azure suite."
"The product needs to improve its support."
"The implementation of other third-party MFA such as Okta or Duo could be improved, even though Duo is integratable. The response from actual support tickets is a bit laggy, and I would like them to be more responsive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay an annual subscription fee."
"The pricing depends because with AWS there are two types of directory objects: 30,000 and 500,000. It varies. AWS provides the pricing calculators so we can get an estimate from there as per the company requirement of how many users and objects that we need to create. So we can go to that portal, put in the data, and get the quotation. There are no extra licensing fees. It's all included."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"AWS' pricing is fair, and costs can be cut if you look carefully at when you're using it."
"Its price is okay. It is easy to go from P1 to P2 license. It is not exactly a bargain, but I would recommend the P2 license."
"It is a really nice tool and we have a license for the more complex model."
"The price of the solution's license is good."
"We have an agreement with Microsoft, and my company pays yearly."
"Compared to other Microsoft products, the cost is not too expensive. There's a free tier available, though it doesn't include all features. Overall, it's well-priced."
"There are add-on components and services, such as identity services, that we have to add to our Azure subscription. Only then can I actually say it's on par with the on-prem server edition. Why should I pay for a component? It should be included in my subscription."
"We have a yearly license."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Healthcare Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
33%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Directory Service?
The most valuable feature of AWS Directory Service is cost-cutting features.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Directory Service?
The pricing is very good because it is low and there is no management cost. You do not need to hire any system administrator to manage your Active Directory.
What needs improvement with AWS Directory Service?
Currently, there is no option to integrate our on-premises Cisco AWS Directory Service, requiring some manual configuration. If AWS Active Directory Service provided additional domain controller fu...
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 do you like most about Azure Active Directory?
It is very simple. The Active Directory functions are very easy for us. Its integration with anything is very easy. We can easily do third-party multifactor authentication.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory?
Microsoft Entra ID is reportedly quite expensive for each user regarding security features. The renewal cost is particularly high according to the teams managing purchases.
 

Also Known As

AWS Managed Microsoft AD
Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
 

Interactive Demo

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
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 AWS Directory Service vs. Microsoft Entra ID and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.