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Microsoft Entra ID vs RSA Authentication Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2024

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

Microsoft Entra ID
Ranking in Authentication Systems
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
225
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Identity Management (IM) (1st), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
RSA Authentication Manager
Ranking in Authentication Systems
13th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 16.2%, down from 22.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RSA Authentication Manager is 1.8%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Aaron Liang - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Akinwale Sekiteri - PeerSpot reviewer
A highly effective and versatile solution that excels in terms of security, integration, scalability, and customer support
I highly recommend it because when you compare RSA with other products, it has consistently stood out. In the past, one area where people encountered challenges was in terms of price flexibility, but it significantly improved. You can now negotiate, discuss terms, and work with it to achieve a pricing arrangement that suits your needs, and if they recognize you as a loyal customer, they are more than willing to accommodate your requirements and reach mutually agreeable terms. Overall, I would rate it around nine out of ten when considering factors like durability, data performance, scalability, integration, and security, and excels in these areas.

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 is the ease of scalability."
"Overall, I think the support and the pictorial format of this web portal are very good."
"Our most valuable features are conditional access and Azure application proxy."
"Azure AD allowed us to get rid of servers and other hardware running at our offices. We moved everything to the cloud. Once we set up roles and permissions, it's only a matter of adding people and removing people from different groups and letting permissions flow through."
"Entra ID's anti-phishing measures have improved our phishing response."
"Privileged Identity Management and Privileged Identity Management make controlling access considerably easier and ensure that authorized access is achieved."
"We have not had any formal issues with scalability."
"The most valuable feature is the authentication platform."
"It is a stable solution. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten."
"RSA Authentication Manager is the best available solution."
"It stands out as a comprehensive and adaptable solution that excels in both on-premises and cloud-based authentication, offers strong security with multi-layered authentication, and boasts a well-maintained product with reliable performance."
"Easy setup, deployment, and integration in different infrastructures, including virtual ones."
"RSA Authentication Manager is a robust solution that provides comprehensive protection for both on-premise and cloud-based applications."
"The most valuable feature is the provision part. The mapping and the logging is also very good. In addition, the troubleshooting, from a console point of view, is easy for administration and on the provisioning and logging part."
"I have found RSA Authentication Manager to be scalable."
"The single sign-on feature is the most important."
 

Cons

"A couple of years ago, I experienced some difficulty in implementing the solutions, the services of Azure AD. In one instance, I was not able to configure Azure AD for a registration. This was two or three years ago. However, currently, the documentation is very clear and there are no loopholes or anything that could hinder even a simple IT administrator to implement these services."
"I want to be able to identify the audiences effectively and manage them."
"Azure Active Directory could improve by having an authentication service for laptops or desktop computers running Mac and Linux operating systems. They currently have authentication capabilities for Microsoft Windows. Having this capability would benefit people because in today's world everybody is working from the home environment."
"The documentation could be better."
"Better user sign-in logging is needed. We work with Okta, and the two of them do not always work well together. We can have more insight into some of the user information and how it interacts."
"The quality of support has declined in recent years."
"Definitely, the price could be lower. When we moved from AWS to Azure, we started paying more."
"Microsoft plans to move away from SMS authentication for Multi-Factor Authentication and only implement application-based authenticator, which will be challenging for retail outlets reliant on Microsoft Active Directory."
"We found technical support was not very responsive to our requests for assistance."
"RSA Authentication Manager is perfect. We do not see current missing products or enhancements yet emphasize the importance of a continuous development roadmap."
"We are not planning on using the solution in the future."
"The product's capabilities to protect cloud environments need improvement."
"Our major problem is the authentication via Microsoft, via Microsoft cloud systems. This is our major aim, to be a valued product for the future. The biggest problem is to work against cheap cloud systems. Cloud identification is our main problem at this time."
"Enhancing the user interface and expanding their marketing efforts in regions like Nigeria and West Africa could be beneficial."
"There is room for improvement in the RSA support."
"We have encountered issue when trying to expand this particular solution for a large set of users across the country."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The E5 plan we are using contains the premium plans for Azure Active Directory. We are not paying only for the Azure Active Directory Premium licenses. We have it already included within our E5 plan."
"The licensing cost is a bit prohibitive."
"The basic tier of Azure Active Directory is free, so many users use the service for free. For a small company having the security and compliance that Azure offers is a great benefit. For small companies that are using the basic services, not having to pay for Azure Active Directory is the main asset because they can manage their users and have authentications tools and security."
"The licensing is really not clear unless you are a premium client."
"We make sure that we only enable the licenses that are needed for the users, rather than enabling licenses in a blanket fashion."
"Entra has P1 and P2 licenses that are bundled with lots of applications."
"Compared to other Microsoft products, the cost is not too expensive. There's a free tier available, though it doesn't include all features. Overall, it's well-priced."
"We pay a yearly license. Licenses are very expensive."
"The pricing is a little bit complicated because sometimes resellers are able to make prices that are too low. Our price, with a discount, is typically not as high as some of our competitors."
"The solution is costly."
"As a new customer, the minimum cost would be four dollars, but you have room for negotiation, potentially bringing it down to as low as three dollars."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
31%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Government
14%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 Duo for 30 days, and we could not be happier. Duo Security is easy to configure a...
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory?
Microsoft Entra ID is reportedly quite expensive for each user regarding security features. The renewal cost is particularly high according to the teams managing purchases.
What do you like most about RSA Authentication Manager?
It stands out as a comprehensive and adaptable solution that excels in both on-premises and cloud-based authentication, offers strong security with multi-layered authentication, and boasts a well-m...
What needs improvement with RSA Authentication Manager?
RSA Authentication Manager is perfect. We do not see current missing products or enhancements yet emphasize the importance of a continuous development roadmap.
What is your primary use case for RSA Authentication Manager?
We use RSA Authentication Manager for web applications and internal applications. We have a number of applications connected to it, serving over thirty thousand clients. It is integrated into every...
 

Also Known As

Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
ACE/Server
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Entre ID is trusted by companies of all sizes and industries including Walmart, Zscaler, Uniper, Amtrak, monday.com, and more.
Tiera, Fred Loya, BRE Leasing, ADP, BlueFort Security, New Hanover County
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra ID vs. RSA Authentication Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.