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Microsoft Entra External ID vs Okta Customer Identity comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Entra External ID
Ranking in Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM)
11th
Average Rating
7.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (19th), Microsoft Security Suite (32nd)
Okta Customer Identity
Ranking in Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra External ID is 6.5%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Okta Customer Identity is 8.9%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM)
 

Featured Reviews

Oluwakorede Oladipo - PeerSpot reviewer
Promotes centralized user management and easy to setup
The most beneficial feature for us is the ease of setup. With about five clicks, we can generate unique IDs and keys and set up in less than 30 minutes. We can also generate these for multiple years simultaneously, which is convenient. In Azure, you can set up access rules. Just because an app is linked to Active Directory doesn’t mean everyone can access it automatically. You can make it so users have to give consent before getting access. You can also control which apps can connect to Active Directory. For Microsoft Exchange, we use multi-factor authentication to protect our information, which helps keep it secure by requiring more than just a password to log in. Centralizing user management has positively impacted our operational costs and efficiency. We no longer need multiple systems to manage users, especially in our SaaS applications. This has improved turnaround time for user management tasks and streamlined our processes, making things more efficient. We use the SaaS version, so there's no on-premises infrastructure. The integration is mainly done through setup, linking it to our domain and Active Directory.
SaravanaKumar8 - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful for authorization and other zero-trust authentication
If we wanted to access the Azure portal or any other portal, we used to scan with Authenticator. Once it was approved, we accessed the portals. The product is equivalent to Microsoft’s solution. I used Duo instead of Authenticator to authorize applications. People use Conditional Access Policy. People generally prefer Microsoft because it is free. I will recommend the tool to others. Our recommendations are based on the customer’s requirements, bandwidth, and budget. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's similar to using a Microsoft account to create accounts on other websites. We are also using Microsoft Entra to monitor which applications our guests are using. This allows us to filter, block, or adjust permissions for these applications as needed for our collaborators."
"The most beneficial feature for us is the ease of setup. With about five clicks, we can generate unique IDs and keys and set up in less than 30 minutes. We can also generate these for multiple years simultaneously, which is convenient."
"It's quite easy to manage and monitor."
"We primarily use it to manage the community onboarding and offboarding of users, and it's quite a simple solution for that."
"Okta has more when it comes to the policy level. It has distinctive features where you can do a mix and combination to have users access applications for various business cases."
"The most valuable feature of this solution for most customers is access management."
"The solution has great multifactor authentication."
"There is no password hash saved on the cloud, which is the part that I like the most."
"The most valuable features of Okta Customer Identity are there is no infrastructure cost, integrated, has plenty of documentation, and is user-friendly."
"We can integrate two-factor authentication with the applications."
"The end user's ease of use is the most valuable feature."
 

Cons

"The problem with Microsoft products is that they often cater to enterprise-level needs, which can be too costly for medium-sized businesses."
"Technical support needs improvement."
"I would like to see faster synchronization."
"I would like to see the provisioning simplified."
"This solution would be improved by adding biometrics features."
"There is an access request system that is very limited access to the systems available for end-users. The access request should improve in Okta Customer Identity."
"Some limitations in scalability. Each application we work with can be completely different, resulting in highly variable implementation processes."
"The initial setup could be easier to do."
"All of the governance functionality and privileged account management could be improved."
"In the future, we'd like to see the product implement more security features, like, for example, zero-trust."
"The product must be provided for free."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We don't pay separately for Microsoft Entra External ID as it's part of our Microsoft Exchange subscription."
"Okta's pricing is right where it needs to be and right in the middle of the market."
"The solution is really expensive."
"The price of the solution is fair for what it offers."
"We pay 23 pence (approximately $0.30 USD) per user, annually, for 150,000 users."
"Okta Customer Identity is not an expensive solution."
"Pricing might be high, but it comes down when the number of people using the product goes up."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Entra External ID?
It's quite expensive, especially as you grow and add more users. Initially, with a small number of people, the costs were manageable.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Entra External ID?
The problem with Microsoft products is that they often cater to enterprise-level needs, which can be too costly for medium-sized businesses. When you move beyond a small team and start growing, the...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Entra External ID?
We had a project to integrate our Active Directory, which was running on our site, and invite external collaborators, such as freelancers, to connect to our domain via an invitation. Additionally, ...
What do you like most about Okta Customer Identity?
Okta has more when it comes to the policy level. It has distinctive features where you can do a mix and combination to have users access applications for various business cases.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Okta Customer Identity?
The pricing model for the Customer Identity product is based on Monthly Unique Users (MUI). The pricing itself is a bit more expensive than the other products in the market so far. Since I know the...
What needs improvement with Okta Customer Identity?
Okta has a limitation with directory integrations. If you have multiple Active Directory integrations, the user distinguished name (DN) and the manager DN don't get imported properly into the Okta ...
 

Also Known As

Azure Active Directory External Identities
No data available
 

Learn More

Video not available
Video not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
FedEx, Adobe, National Geographic, Tyson, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra External ID vs. Okta Customer Identity and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.