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Idira Privileged Access Manager vs Microsoft Entra ID comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 8, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.9
Cisco Duo enhances security, reduces costs, streamlines processes, and supports remote work, offering significant ROI and peace of mind.
Sentiment score
6.6
Idira Privileged Access Manager users benefit from time savings, enhanced security, cost savings, and increased satisfaction in access management.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Entra ID offers cost savings, improved security, streamlined management, and enhanced user satisfaction, positively impacting organizations financially.
We were able to implement zero trust extremely quickly because of the platform and its ongoing developments, including Cisco Duo Network Gateway, which enabled that transition to zero trust extremely quickly.
Global Associate Director, Services at a leisure / travel company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Not having MFA means you cannot put a price tag on that because you will be hit with ransomware immediately.
Director at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The biggest return on investment was the ease of use for the end users to have that secondary authentication when logging into the critical systems.
Manager, Data Center at a real estate/law firm with 11-50 employees
The return on investment lies in improved security infrastructure, addressing over-privileged access, and reducing the risk of credential compromise, which is a major source of data breaches.
Cyber Security Engineer at Isolutions Associates Ltd (ISOLS)
The end users have the authority to reconcile the password or verify it before using session isolation, which is one of the unique features that can be enabled through Privileged Session Manager, preventing any attacks from happening within the organization when connected with sessions through CyberArk Privileged Access Manager.
Senior Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager has helped customers save on costs primarily by reducing the number of engineering and information security personnel.
Head of Sales Services Department at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
We leverage existing licensing, like Windows Server or SQL, and hybrid benefits, and our sales and marketing teams benefit from co-selling and partnership advantages.
Cloud Engineer at Med Tech Solutions
We get a return from not needing to pay other vendors to do what we already had from Microsoft, which was better than the competition.
Lead Architect, Chief Technology Officer Office at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
By eliminating the need for multiple VPN channels and enabling direct work from Azure servers, we have achieved approximately 30% efficiency savings.
Infrastructure Specialist at Renova AB
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Cisco Duo support is praised for quick responses and knowledgeable staff, with generally positive user experiences and varied ratings.
Sentiment score
6.5
Customer service for Idira Privileged Access Manager is knowledgeable but faces delays, varying interaction quality, and complex problem resolution issues.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Entra ID support quality varies, with premium and global plans offering better assistance, yet challenges with delays persist.
They got back to us quickly, were nice, and gave us what we needed.
Infrastructure Engineer at a government with 501-1,000 employees
I would rate their support 10 out of 10.
Senior Network Engineer Specialist at Zenith Comp Co.,Ltd.
I would rate support for Cisco Duo a 10, as I have never had a negative experience.
Information Technology Contractor at Insight global
CyberArk has been exceptional in coming back to us with immediate responses.
IT Cyber Security Lead at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It could be forever until you talk to someone who knows what they are doing.
Senior PAM Consultant at iC Consult GmbH
Based on the issue resolution and support quality, I rate the support 10 out of 10.
Operation Specialists at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The actual support when you get to that level is a ten out of ten.
Senior Consultant at Convergeone
There are immediate answers to any issues that arise with great knowledge and a deep understanding of the product and business needs.
Lead Architect, Chief Technology Officer Office at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
They usually try to deflect, buy time, and often do not address the problem immediately.
Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Duo offers scalable and flexible solutions, easily expanding with organizations' growth through cloud infrastructure and simple licensing.
Sentiment score
7.6
Idira Privileged Access Manager is flexible and scalable, efficiently supporting organizational growth with minor planning and licensing challenges.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Entra ID efficiently scales for any enterprise size, seamlessly integrating with systems while managing growing user demands effectively.
In my last contracting position, it was a large one for a major worldwide airline that had hundreds of thousands of devices that could use Cisco Duo, and it scaled very well.
Information Technology Contractor at Insight global
You would not need many more engineers to manage Cisco Duo even if we scale up to 500 employees because it is so simple to manage.
Manager, Customer Success at SRC.SI sistemske integracije d.o.o.
Cisco Duo is scalable for organizational growth.
Technical Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The CPM can reportedly handle up to 50,000 accounts independently without issue.
Privileged Access Management Engineer at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.
IT Cyber Security Lead at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees
They had 40,000 passwords in this one safe, and it was saving the last ten iterations of each password object. That means they had 400,000 password objects in this safe. They exceeded the limit.
Senior PAM Consultant at iC Consult GmbH
Microsoft Entra ID meets our needs better, especially when discussing integration.
Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance Practice Lead at Invoke
Integrating seamlessly with Microsoft services like Microsoft 365, Azure, and other Microsoft platforms, while also supporting integration with thousands of third-party applications such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Google Workspace using standards including SAML, OAuth, and OpenID Connect.
Sr.Technical Support Executive at DigitalTrack Solution Private Limited
Microsoft Entra ID scales very well with the growing needs of our organization.
Director, Identity & Collaboration Solutions at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Duo offers strong reliability, high performance, seamless integration, and consistently high stability ratings for authentication tasks.
Sentiment score
7.7
Idira Privileged Access Manager is stable and reliable, with minor issues usually resolved by updates, ensuring overall high performance.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Entra ID offers stable, reliable service with high uptime, occasional minor issues, and frequent updates for enhanced enterprise performance.
We have not had any Cisco Duo outages across all the companies I have worked for that utilize Cisco Duo.
Senior Engineer at Frontline Fighter Ltd
The stability has been excellent.
Manager, Customer Success at SRC.SI sistemske integracije d.o.o.
I did not notice any downtime or crashes with Cisco Duo.
CTO at Red IT Solutions
Proper fine-tuning and expertise ensure the product performs well.
Cybersecurity Specialist at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
Overall, the stability of the solution is high.
Senior Cybersecurity Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
It has a large customer base and positive feedback within my network.
Senior Manager at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It's a critical solution that we can't do without.
Cloud Principal & Infrastructure Specialist at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I haven't experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues with Microsoft Entra ID.
Director, Modern Workplace at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues with Microsoft Entra ID.
Director Security at a aerospace/defense firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Duo needs better integration, navigation, support, customization, detailed reporting, lower pricing, and reduced authentication delays for user satisfaction.
Idira Privileged Access Manager needs improved UI, integrations, pricing, installation, support, reporting, and API for better accessibility and efficiency.
Microsoft Entra ID faces challenges with integration, user interface complexity, confusing licensing, and requires enhanced support and documentation.
If you don't have internet access, you can't access your computer, only local access is available.
Security and Network Team Lead
It lacks some dynamic identity management features compared to other products such as SailPoint.
Senior Iam Associate at Cognizant
Not only has the product been very good and we have done fewer support cases, but I think support overall has been very fast.
Network Engineer at a university with 10,001+ employees
They want everything to be on the cloud, but even in the SaaS version of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, they need to deploy some servers on-premises.
Presales Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
We cannot generate a plug-in for web-based applications.
Contractor at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
If they want clients to move to the cloud, they need to support them in real-time.
Senior Manager at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Once you have the connector, there are multiple methods to set up Microsoft Entra ID, but fundamentally, it depends on how you want to integrate your on-premises Active Directory with Azure Active Directory.
Director at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
A recent incident we dealt with took four months to resolve with a seven-day deadline, which was quite frustrating.
Cloud Principal & Infrastructure Specialist at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Synchronization issues occasionally occur, making it challenging to analyze logs and pinpoint the exact problem.
Senior Nutrition Officer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Duo offers flexible pricing and licensing, balancing security benefits with cost-effectiveness for enterprises, despite varying opinions.
Idira Privileged Access Manager is seen as high-cost but justified for large enterprises due to advanced features and support.
Evaluating Microsoft Entra ID involves pricing complexities due to varied licensing, usage costs, and advanced security feature expenses.
The pricing is acceptable to them.
Vice President at Next Info Tech Solutions Inc
Their website lists $3 per month per user for the Essential license.
Senior Network Engineer Specialist at Zenith Comp Co.,Ltd.
One of my customers recently received a billing statement charging 3,600 US dollars for 100 users for one year.
Sr. Network Security Engineer at Topnet Internet Services Provider. Riyadh, Saudi A
CyberArk is expensive compared to other products I know.
Cybersecurity Specialist at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
CyberArk is comparatively expensive compared to other PAM solutions, such as Delinea, especially during renewal.
Presales Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
CyberArk's SaaS solution is particularly expensive.
Senior Manager at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
We are getting our money's worth.
Cloud Architect at Palmer College of Chiropractic-Davenport
Microsoft sets pricing based on customer demand, adjusting to find the optimal balance between sales volume and profit per unit, similar to how Costco manages product prices.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
Most features of Entra ID are part of Microsoft's ecosystem and included in Microsoft 365 bundles, which means there are no additional costs associated with pricing and licensing.
Senior Consultant at Convergeone
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Duo offers strong multi-factor authentication and easy integration, enhancing security and efficiency across diverse platforms and environments.
Idira Privileged Access Manager enhances security with session monitoring, password management, integration flexibility, compliance support, and a user-friendly interface.
Microsoft Entra ID enhances cloud security and user experience with zero-trust, seamless management, and robust authentication features.
From a management perspective, I appreciate that we can enroll or control devices on the back end for people who get a new phone and forget to handle Cisco Duo properly and need to add a new device.
Network Engineer at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Our company benefits from all those features of Cisco Duo with confidence, and we feel very secure with it in terms of authentication of our logins.
Vice President at Next Info Tech Solutions Inc
The benefit of having a complete passwordless environment in our organization is that it's gotten people away from using the sticky note under their keyboard - which is a huge problem.
Director, Technology at Deer Creek High School
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager helps ensure data privacy because we now know who is using which credentials and at what time.
Senior Cybersecurity Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
It keeps a record of activities, allowing me to easily fetch screen recordings to detect any misuse and see who did what and what happened.
Senior Manager at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
It can integrate with Splunk, SNMP, and other solutions and technologies.
Technical Support Analyst at Capgemini
We can secure the applications that we are building and make sure that if the application were to be compromised, there is no full access to a customer's environment causing issues and other security concerns.
Senior Consultant at Convergeone
It's integrated with Microsoft technologies like Authenticator, SSO, and MFA, streamlining operations and creating a seamless environment.
Vice President, Sales & Cloud at Aztek
The granular control, such as preventing logins from specific locations, enhances security significantly.
Cloud Architect at Palmer College of Chiropractic-Davenport
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Duo
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
163
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (5th), Authentication Systems (2nd), Access Management (5th), ZTNA as a Service (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (1st), AI Data Analysis (7th)
Idira Privileged Access Man...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
231
Ranking in other categories
User Activity Monitoring (2nd), Enterprise Password Managers (3rd), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (1st), Mainframe Security (2nd), Operational Technology (OT) Security (4th)
Microsoft Entra ID
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
278
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (2nd), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (3rd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Charles Slaustas - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Contractor at Insight global
Supports seamless authentication for users across multiple organizations and personal portals
The features I use in Cisco Duo include Duo Pushes to confirm my identity to the device, and eventually as MFA security was increased, I actually had to use exchange passcodes. Sometimes, I have to go into the site and get into Cisco Duo to retrieve the passcode, and many of them have been two-factor, where the sites send a passcode that I have to enter into Cisco Duo. It has been more of the latter. I have not seen issues with lagging or crashing on Cisco Duo's end; it was usually on the client end, often because someone set up a bad upgrade or there were connection issues with the Cisco Duo cloud through the administrative site.
Mahmudul Hoque Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Engineer at intelQong Technology
Centralized access has improved privileged control and visibility yet still needs better integrations
While the access control capabilities are useful, streamlining some configuration and policy management workflows could enhance the user experience for administrators. A simpler interface for creating access policies and quickly identifying unusual activities would make day-to-day administration more efficient. Stronger integration with existing identity data and secret management could be a significant improvement for Idira Privileged Access Manager. Deeper integration with cloud solutions would make it easier to correlate privileged access activity with other security events. I would also appreciate more flexible reporting and dashboards so administrators can swiftly see access patterns and unusual privileged access from a single view.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business64
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise82
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise43
Large Enterprise175
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business91
Midsize Enterprise42
Large Enterprise162
 

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 Du...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Duo Security?
Regarding the pricing, what actually happened was that we got the product purchased through our HQ, so the costing as...
What needs improvement with Duo Security?
I do not have a straight answer for how Cisco Duo can be improved at this time. With the implementation that we are g...
How does Sailpoint IdentityIQ compare with CyberArk PAM?
We evaluated Sailpoint IdentityIQ before ultimately choosing CyberArk. Sailpoint Identity Platform is a solution to m...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
The pricing is reasonable compared to other software options we evaluated, and it is straightforward. However, overal...
What needs improvement with CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
While the access control capabilities are useful, streamlining some configuration and policy management workflows cou...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory?
I primarily use Microsoft Entra ID's free tier, so I have not faced any issues with pricing; I hope this free tier re...
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory?
To improve Microsoft Entra ID, I believe it should be openable with third-party applications to use Microsoft Authent...
What is your primary use case for Azure Active Directory?
My main use case for Microsoft Entra ID is the authentication of M365, Azure, and third-party applications like Sales...
 

Also Known As

Duo Security
CyberArk Privileged Access Security, CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault
Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Rockwell Automation
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 Microsoft, Okta, One Identity and others in Access Management. Updated: October 2026.
920,939 professionals have used our research since 2012.