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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) (10th), 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
266
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (2nd), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Identity is 10.7%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 18.5%, 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) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Entra ID18.5%
Google Cloud Identity10.7%
Other70.8%
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.
JP
Senior Information Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Implementing seamless integration boosts secure access and supports Zero Trust
What I appreciate the most about Microsoft Entra ID is that it integrates seamlessly with all the Defender products and is easy to use. Microsoft Entra ID's integration capabilities influence our Zero Trust model by allowing us to enforce our Zero Trust model. Conditional access policies allow us to leverage Microsoft Entra ID to verify that devices signing in to our cloud services are coming from registered devices, and that people are passing all the other requirements we have in order to complete sign-on or conditional access policies. Since implementing Microsoft Entra ID, I've observed changes in the frequency and nature of identity-related security incidents. The organization already had it implemented when I arrived, and I've been working to enhance it. Better configuration of Microsoft Entra ID has allowed us to better protect our organization from threats. Having it alone isn't a solution, but ensuring proper configuration goes a long way in preventing future compromises. My company's approach to defending against token theft and nation-state attacks has evolved since implementing Microsoft Entra ID. We haven't experienced any known compromises from nation-state attacks, and implementing newer features gives me more confidence in our protection. Regarding device-bound passkeys in Microsoft Authenticator and our approach to phishing-resistant authentication, we are currently implementing Microsoft Entra ID certificate-based authentication. Adding a strong form of MFA is important as we found it to be the most cost-effective way. While other solutions might be equally or more secure, they are significantly more expensive. Having worked as an IT consultant mainly with the Microsoft stack across various industries, I have experience with different identity management solutions. Microsoft Entra ID remains the best option. The major advantages when comparing it to Okta include integration with Defender products, Defender for Identities' integration with conditional access policies, and insider threat management integration for blocking sign-ins based on risk factors. The enhancement of Microsoft Entra ID's implementation is relatively straightforward. My main concern is the occasional lack of documentation and the frequency of changes, which can make feature location challenging.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Google Cloud Identity is group access. You are able to assign policies to groups instead of users individually."
"It is a very stable solution. I would rate it a ten out of ten."
"Cloud Identity is scalable enough for our needs. It's serving more than 3,000 users in our organization."
"The solution is moderate to difficult to use. I found the approach was practical. Following the steps made it very easy to use."
"Although we have not looked at the whole product and explored it completely, we find that all the authentication features that we are using now are valuable."
"The most valuable feature of Google Cloud Identity is its simplicity in deployment."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The solution is user-friendly."
"The scalability is quite good."
"The tool's most valuable features are security and integration with other tenants."
"We haven't had any problems with stability. Everything works fine."
"The most valuable features are the Conditional Access policies, SSPR, and MFA. Another good functionality is registering enterprise applications to provide access to external parties. These four features are precious and are the most used across different use cases for various clients and projects."
"In terms of identity management, it helps to improve security posture. It generally helps in terms cloud security, simplicity, and single sign-on for multiple apps."
"Microsoft Entra ID has had a very positive impact because access can be controlled both internally and externally to the environment and applications used by the organization."
"It's not intuitive and we use it mainly for our Office 365 files. The integration between the two is interesting. However, the learning curve is high."
"The impact of Microsoft Entra ID on my company is significant because we are an MSP that resells IT services, and it serves as the foundation for all of our services, including single sign-on to all of our apps and to the customer's apps."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"There is room for improvement in the configuration of their security policies. It seems quite basic."
"Google Cloud Identity should improve its compatibility with other products without any impact, such as Jamf Cloud."
"If you want to set up some alerts, you don't have much control over the configuration. You have to use their default alerts. And they only provide alerts for certain activities, so you cannot customize those. Monitoring isn't very helpful either."
"The management of external users needs to be introduced in the tool as it is an area of concern in the tool presently."
"The pricing for this solution is a little bit higher than AWS and others, which is something that should be improved."
"If I were to suggest enhancements, it would mainly revolve around ensuring compatibility and maximizing integration options with various services."
"It doesn't function the same way as an Active Directory inside of an infrastructure, that is, a physical infrastructure. In the cloud, it is all flat. That's one of the disadvantages."
"I would rate my customer service and technical support as six out of ten, noting that level two support is really poor while everything else above that is good."
"The only issue with Azure AD is that it doesn't have control over the wifi network. You have to do something more to have a secure wifi network. To have it working, you need an active directory server on-premises to take care of the networks."
"The solution was difficult to scale because the group's configuration was complex. I would rate the scalability level of Azure Active Directory a five out of ten."
"Certain aspects of the user interface can be rather clunky and slow. It can sometimes be circular in terms of clicking a link for a risky user sign-in and seeing what the risky login attempts were. It takes you in a circle back to where you started, so drilling down into details, especially if you are not in it every day and it is one of many tools that you use, can be difficult. It can be difficult to track down the source of an issue."
"One thing that they need to improve is the cost."
"There should be a clearer separation between objects held in Entra and Azure, so we don't need to approach the Entra ID team to create rules, policies, and app registrations. It would help if we could make independent IDs on the Azure side to go through that team to create a role, change permissions, or create something for a specific task."
"There are no specific areas where improvement is needed at the moment. Everything has been good so far."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The fees are paid monthly and there are no additional costs other than the licensing fees."
"Licensing fees are on a yearly basis."
"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."
"We probably spend about $50,000 a year on licensing."
"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."
"The licensing cost depends on the partners and the relationship between the company and the partners."
"The pricing is a bit expensive."
"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."
"It comes free with the Microsoft account. We have a yearly agreement, and all products are covered under it."
"For you to make use of some of the security features, you need to upgrade your licenses. If it is possible, could they just make some features free? For instance, for the Condition Access policy, you need to set that up and be on Azure AD P2 licensing. So if they could make it free or reduce the licensing for small businesses, that would be cool, as I believe security is for everyone."
"Licensing fees are paid monthly."
"The cost of Entra ID depends entirely on our organization's specific needs and use cases."
"We pay about $35 per user."
"Licenses are based on the usage. There is no cap. It's based on the number of users we provision."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
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 Business85
Midsize Enterprise38
Large Enterprise155
 

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 the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Entra ID is that it is decent.
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory?
I think Microsoft Entra ID could be improved by assigning permissions to nested groups in the next release.
 

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.
884,656 professionals have used our research since 2012.