Google Cloud Identity vs Microsoft Entra ID comparison

Google and Microsoft are both solutions in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category. Google is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.6, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7. Google holds a 11.5% mindshare in IAMS, compared to Microsoft’s 29.3% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Google Cloud Identity

Read 22 Google Cloud Identity reviews

4,495 Views
3,899 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Microsoft Entra ID

Read 218 Microsoft Entra ID reviews

11,531 Views
8,440 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Google Cloud Identity

Microsoft Entra ID

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Microsoft Entra ID and Google Cloud Identity compete in the identity and access management category. Based on the comparison, Microsoft Entra ID appears to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive security features.

Features: Microsoft Entra ID offers seamless integration with Microsoft products, multifactor authentication, and robust conditional access. Google Cloud Identity emphasizes simplicity and ease of use with strong integration within Google Workspace and basic security features.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Entra ID needs improvements in user interface complexity, third-party app integration, and better synchronization between on-premise and cloud environments. Google Cloud Identity could enhance its security features, including more monitoring and advanced user management, while also reducing costs and improving integration with non-Google products.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Entra ID is praised for its deployment, especially in hybrid environments, but customer support experiences vary by region. Google Cloud Identity has a straightforward deployment process with fewer customer service complaints, although users wish for more support options.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Entra ID provides flexible pricing with multiple licensing tiers, viewed as costly but justified due to its features. Google Cloud Identity, packaged with Google Workspace, is seen as cost-effective for small to medium enterprises, though some users feel Microsoft's solution offers better ROI through stronger features.

To learn more, read our detailed Google Cloud Identity vs. Microsoft Entra ID Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Google Cloud Identity vs. Microsoft Entra ID

January 2025

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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)

4th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (8th)

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

218

Ranking in other categories

Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Identity is 11.5%, down from 15.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 29.3%, up from 29.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)

Q&A Highlights

Iain Dall

Owner at Brains

May 12, 2020

What are the biggest differences between Google Cloud Identity and Microsoft Azure Active Directory?

Both identity providers have their own pros and cons. Google doesn't have a road map for device management though they have recently announced support for windows 10 & Ubuntu. I would recommend Microsoft Azure Directory for its access control management features. I would like to know your requirement for further inputs.

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Featured Reviews

EkoNugroho

Cloud Support Manager at PointStar

Enhanced security and simplicity in deployment for a holistic protection

The most valuable feature of Google Cloud Identity is its simplicity in deployment. You only need to purchase and assign licenses to users, and there's no need for extensive setup. Another valuable feature is its integration with Google Workspace, which enhances security through context-aware access and allows for geographic and IP-specific restrictions. This ensures secure access to applications and data.

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Aaron Liang

System engineer at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tool provides a free service that you can integrate for laptop authentication. You also don’t need a separate Active Directory."

"The most valuable feature is the performance."

"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 most valuable feature of Google Cloud Identity is group access. You are able to assign policies to groups instead of users individually."

"Google Cloud Identity uses what they call organizational units (OUs) instead of the security groups you'd find in Microsoft's Entra."

"The solution is user-friendly."

"The solution is primarily used for single control and single sign which helps with the security and authentication of multiple devices."

"I used it as an administrator without implementing it myself. As for valuable aspects or benefits, the significant point is that it's a straightforward, single solution that just works."

More Google Cloud Identity pros

"For some applications, it's not only working for authentication but it's also being used to apply roles for users. From the management perspective, it's much better to have this because in the past we constantly needed to go into the console of the different solutions and create or delete users or modify their roles and permissions. Now, with Azure Active Directory, we can do that from a single point. That makes our management model much easier."

"Just because I've been in the Azure space since it started out and in the Microsoft Cloud AD since the BPOS days in the early 2000s, and it's just a product that made life simpler for my clients to be able to integrate everything."

"The single sign-on of the solution is the most valuable aspect."

"Entra ID can be deployed using a hybrid model for organizations with a significant on-premises presence, or in a fully cloud-based setup for those that do not."

"The single sign-on across multiple platforms is really the true advantage here. That gives you one ID and password for access to all your systems. You don't need to manage a plethora of different user IDs and passwords to all the systems that you're going to access."

"Conditional access is a very important feature where a specific user can be restricted such that they cannot connect to the application if they travel outside of the US."

"The security features, multi-factor authentication, and service management features are valuable."

"It also has features that help improve security posture. The most important of these features include multifactor authentication, which is very useful for connecting to the organization, especially from outside the boundaries of the organization. That is very helpful when it comes to user security."

More Microsoft Entra ID pros

Cons

"Technical support is slow."

"The integration should be made easier."

"Google Cloud Identity should improve its compatibility with other products without any impact, such as Jamf Cloud."

"The solution needs to better integrate with Mac's OS."

"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 interface could be improved by simplifying it further."

"The one place it could be improved is the password vaulting. The password vaulting does not prevent the admins from reading users' passwords, and that's a debate."

"I would like to see more integration in future releases."

More Google Cloud Identity cons

"I would rate their technical support a six out of ten. It requires starting at the bottom and working our way up, which is time-consuming."

"The technical support has its downsides and upsides. While they are fast, it can take time to get the right person because there are many steps to reach the appropriate team member at Microsoft support, which can be somewhat annoying."

"One challenge with Entra ID is its complexity, stemming from integrating many components into a single solution."

"The custom role creation function could be improved as it's somewhat tricky to use."

"The downside of using a single password to access the entire system is that if those credentials are compromised, the hacker will have full access."

"I believe it can also be integrated into other Microsoft products, as well as more integrations with other solutions."

"The transition from on-prem Active Directory to the Azure Cloud was difficult because there aren't group policy objectives."

"My only pain point in this solution is creating group membership for devices."

More Microsoft Entra ID cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 solution is not expensive."

"Licensing fees are on a yearly basis."

"The pricing is a bit expensive."

"We probably spend about $50,000 a year on licensing."

"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 product is billed on a monthly basis depending on the number of users."

"The licensing cost depends on the partners and the relationship between the company and the partners."

More Google Cloud Identity pricing and cost advice

"We are a non-profit organization, so we get good prices from Microsoft for their products. It is working well, but it could be cheaper. For the type of organization we are, it would be good if they could give a little bit more and be more generous like Google, which has completely free services. Microsoft has free versions or web services called Office 365 E1, which is free for use, but we want to have it with more qualified clients."

"Microsoft is so expensive. You know it is expensive when a Fortune 100 company like ours is complaining about the cost. That has been a big thing for me. When I really want to use an Azure service, it is very hard for me to justify the cost, especially with Microsoft support."

"Expensive solution, but if you look at the technical benefits it provides, the price for it is decent."

"Licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis and the cost depends on the number of users."

"The pricing for Azure Active Directory is affordable; I would rate the cost a six out of ten."

"Our customers are looking for advanced features and processes for it to be cost-effective for their organizations. They see it as an overpriced product. They are enjoying using Azure Active Directory, but they are looking for better prices."

"Entra ID is not too bad, but Microsoft licensing generally is insane. Most customers normally buy a bundle license with Microsoft 365, E3, or E5. Out of our 2,000 customers, for 99.9% of our customers, the Entra ID license that they are getting through the part of that would be sufficient. There are some more advanced ones that give you a bit more functionality, but we probably have not had a customer for that. We do not even internally use that ourselves. When you buy the Entra ID license on its own, it is probably three or four pounds. You just get it included in the license."

"This product is sold as part of the enterprise package and our licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

More Microsoft Entra ID pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

33%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

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What do you like most about Google Cloud Identity?

The most valuable feature of Google Cloud Identity is its stability.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Identity?

Google services are affordable compared to other services. Additional costs depend on the specific products; for example, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) may require extra payment for additional suppor...

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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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory?

We are an enterprise customer with an enterprise agreement in place with many of our partner companies, so there are no special questions or issues about pricing, setup cost, or licensing.

See all answers

Comparisons

Okta Workforce Identity vs Google Cloud Identity

Compared 14% of the time

Microsoft Intune vs Google Cloud Identity

Compared 10% of the time

JumpCloud vs Google Cloud Identity

Compared 4% of the time

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs Google Cloud Identity

Compared 2% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Google Cloud Identity

Compared 1% of the time

More Google Cloud Identity Competitors

Microsoft Intune vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 11% of the time

Okta Workforce Identity vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 9% of the time

Auth0 vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 6% of the time

CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 5% of the time

Amazon Cognito vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Entra ID Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Cloud Identity

February 2025

Download Google Cloud Identity product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra ID

February 2025

Download Microsoft Entra ID product report

Also Known As

Cloud Identity, Cloud Identity Premium

Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Google

Microsoft

Overview

Cloud Identity is an Identity as a Service (IDaaS) and enterprise mobility management (EMM) product. It offers the identity services and endpoint administration that are available in G Suite as a stand-alone product. As an administrator, you can use Cloud Identity to manage your users, apps, and devices from a central location - the Google Admin console.

Google

Microsoft Entra ID is used for extending on-premises Active Directory to the cloud, managing application access, enabling multi-factor authentication, and single sign-on. It facilitates policy enforcement and secure access, ensuring centralized identity management across cloud and on-premises resources.

Organizations utilize Microsoft Entra ID for robust user and group management, identity synchronization, and conditional access. Its seamless integration with third-party apps, scalability, and support for remote work make it a preferred choice. The admin center streamlines identity and access tasks, enhancing efficiency and security with features like privileged identity management and audit logs.

What are the key features of Microsoft Entra ID?

Single Sign-On: Simplifies user access to multiple applications with one login.
Multifactor Authentication: Enhances security by requiring additional verification.
Conditional Access: Establishes policies that determine how users' access cloud apps.
Integration: Easily integrates with various third-party applications.
User Identity Protection: Safeguards user identities from threats.
Privileged Identity Management: Manages elevated access to sensitive resources.
Audit Logs: Provides thorough activity logs for oversight and compliance.

What benefits should users look for in Microsoft Entra ID reviews?

Enhanced Security: Offers strong multifactor authentication and identity protection.
Administrative Efficiency: Simplifies identity and access management tasks.
Scalability: Supports growing user bases and remote work environments.
Integration Capabilities: Compatible with numerous third-party applications.
User-Friendly Interface: Makes managing user identities straightforward.

Microsoft Entra ID implementation varies across industries. Tech firms leverage it for secure, scalable access management, while healthcare organizations utilize its identity protection features to safeguard patient data. Educational institutions adopt Entra ID for streamlined user management and policy enforcement, ensuring secure access for students and staff across on-premises and cloud resources.

Microsoft

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.

Buyer's Guide

Google Cloud Identity vs. Microsoft Entra ID

January 2025

Free Report: Google Cloud Identity vs. Microsoft Entra ID

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