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Google Cloud Identity vs Microsoft Entra ID comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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

Google Cloud Identity
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
8th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (11th), Cloud Resource Access Management (5th)
Microsoft Entra ID
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
275
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 2026, in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Identity is 9.3%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 16.8%, down from 28.6% 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 ID16.8%
Google Cloud Identity9.3%
Other73.9%
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
 

Q&A Highlights

ID
Owner at Brains
May 12, 2020
 

Featured Reviews

BL
Head - Work Transformation at Econz
User lifecycle management becomes streamlined with unified access and context-aware policies
If applications support SAML protocols, integration is always an easy task. However, there are difficulties with form-based applications or LDAP-based applications, particularly traditional applications. We need more flexibility not only with SAML but also with LDAP-based and form-based applications. Context-aware access currently only works with SAML-based applications. If other application integrations could support context-aware access, that would be helpful, as companies are in a transition mode with various traditional, form-based, and LDAP-based applications. Mobile device management could be improved. Through Google Cloud Identity, we can manage Android applications and have control over iOS devices, but container functionality is missing. This is particularly important for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) scenarios, especially in India where the market is now split equally between iOS and Android users. Improvements in this area and integration capabilities would be beneficial.
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

"I think the first thing that is great is that it gives you a lot of features, like login, and then vaulted passwords and secure LDAP. It becomes easier for the end customer to leverage all those features without going to a higher SKU of G Suite."
"The main control page and the ability to manage all our users from a web-based portal are the most valuable aspects of the solution."
"The Cloud Identity is well advanced in terms of features, applications, and the components that it is offering."
"Google is always on its own, and Google Cloud Identity is pretty good on every point."
"Google Cloud Identity uses what they call organizational units (OUs) instead of the security groups you'd find in Microsoft's Entra."
"Cloud Identity is scalable enough for our needs. It's serving more than 3,000 users in our organization."
"The most valuable feature of Google Cloud Identity is group access. You are able to assign policies to groups instead of users individually."
"The Cloud Identity is well advanced in terms of features, applications, and the components that it is offering."
"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."
"Token-based security has had a positive impact on defending against threats with Microsoft Entra ID."
"https://www.itcentralstation.com/product_reviews/microsoft-bi-review-52460-by-amanda-zhou"
"Microsoft Entra ID offers strong security levels, especially with two-step authentication, which confirms that I am the real user."
"The beauty of Secure Score is that it gives you something of a benchmark, saying what percentage of organizations have a particular level of security score and telling you how you can upgrade your security."
"I primarily use this solution for hybrid deployment, security, securing resources and for integration purposes, and in terms of security, we have been using the B2B/B2C hybrid integration with the certificate authentication."
"I would say that Azure AD's pricing is very reasonable because of the structure and in terms of the solution."
"Azure Active Directory works well to access the resources that the school has set up for the students."
 

Cons

"Overall, I would give a zero out of 10 for Google's support. There is no easy way to navigate issues without paid consultation, making it quite frustrating."
"When referring to the help articles I found them not helpful. Support themselves understood my query but the resolution was not satisfactory."
"They are going ahead and adding a few more things to the Google Cloud premium edition. Their stock management and remote computer management can be improved."
"The solution's storage capacity could be increased."
"I would like to see more integration in future releases."
"The integration should be made easier."
"The solution needs to better integrate with Mac's OS."
"The password vaulting does not prevent the admins from reading users' passwords, and that's a debate."
"The solution can improve the educational portion because it is an administration cost."
"My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Entra ID indicates that we need to make it simple. It's way too complicated."
"The product needs to be more user-friendly."
"My only pain point in this solution is creating group membership for devices."
"I rate Microsoft support five out of 10. It's just okay."
"The licensing and support are expensive and have room for improvement."
"Microsoft support has some room for improvement. I avoid contacting them because it can be time-consuming. They don't necessarily find the solution, but you have to be on call for them to connect and do things on your system remotely. You have to schedule a time to meet with them, and it's somewhat inconvenient."
"When it comes to identity governance, the governance features in Azure AD are very focused on Microsoft products. I would like to see those governance and life cycle management features offered for non-Microsoft products connected to Azure AD."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is billed on a monthly basis depending on the number of users."
"We probably spend about $50,000 a year on licensing."
"The licensing cost depends on the partners and the relationship between the company and the partners."
"When I worked on Cloud Identity, they offered a free or enterprise version. You can synchronize and create up to 100 user identities in the free version. After that, you have to purchase a business or enterprise license. In that model, you'll be charged based on the number of users."
"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"Licensing fees are on a yearly basis."
"The pricing is a bit expensive."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"It's really affordable."
"I think the pricing is efficient, but the licensing is overly complicated and difficult to understand. There are many tricks in the licensing that weigh against us."
"The price of the solution's license is good."
"Azure AD comes with Office 365, so we are just paying for the Office 365 license."
"The licensing costs are yearly. There is a standard fee per user."
"Licensing is easy."
"Microsoft Entra ID's pricing is reasonable."
"We make sure that we only enable the licenses that are needed for the users, rather than enabling licenses in a blanket fashion."
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Top Industries

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

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business88
Midsize Enterprise39
Large Enterprise160
 

Questions from the Community

How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also access to both Microsoft’s user community as well as around-the-clock customer s...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Identity?
It's crucial to monitor costs carefully, as there can be unexpected charges. I have been charged even when there was supposed to be free credit.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Identity?
If you are asking about room for improvement with Google Cloud Identity, whatever is there already, cost is the only problem. If you are comparing with GCP, OCI, the cost will be a little bit highe...
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?
I believe Microsoft Entra ID can be improved, and I think it's already on the roadmap. We value the selective sync where Microsoft Entra ID is actually the authoritative source and then will provis...
 

Also Known As

Cloud Identity, Cloud Identity Premium
Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ExtraHop Networks, HealthChannels
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 Google Cloud Identity vs. Microsoft Entra ID and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
886,349 professionals have used our research since 2012.