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Microsoft Entra ID vs Salesforce Identity comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
225
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (1st), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
Salesforce Identity
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Identity (2nd), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Identity and Access Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft Entra ID is designed for Single Sign-On (SSO) and holds a mindshare of 27.5%, up 26.4% compared to last year.
Salesforce Identity, on the other hand, focuses on Mobile Identity, holds 33.3% mindshare, up 15.5% since last year.
Single Sign-On (SSO)
Mobile Identity
 

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.
Mitesh (Mitesh) Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Adheres to the data privacy regulations of each region, easy to learn and offers strong security features
The single sign-on feature of Salesforce Identity enhances our organization's security posture overall. For example, I recently implemented Identity for a fashion brand in Canada. They were using GitGuard before. From my experience, I saw a lot of complexities with GitGuard, especially when developing core integrations. Salesforce Identity was much easier. We replaced it in a month which took them six months to build. It saves time, and it's very secure. You need permissions for any operation, and data is protected when switching between apps. Salesforce Identity supports compliance with data protection and privacy regulations. Salesforce adheres to the data privacy regulations of each region. The data is always encrypted, and their security is very strong. Even with access, you can't break into the system due to their security settings. It definitely obeys regulations regarding data security.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Let's say we decide that our users need to have MFA, multi-factor authentication. It is very easy to implement that with Azure Active Directory."
"Every feature in Microsoft Entra ID plays a crucial role in overall security."
"Don't delay implementing this solution, it's the best thing you can do for your identity protection."
"We can centralize and manage everything much more effectively with this tool."
"Microsoft customer service is the best in the industry."
"We have the ability to define the email user in the designated field."
"The most valuable feature of Entra ID is having a cloud-based identity, similar to Google's single sign-on."
"The valuable features I use daily are enterprise application, conditional access, identity governance, password monitoring, and a password reset."
"The solution is very easy to understand."
"The most valuable features are the pipeline management, being able to track the pipeline anytime, and the ability to get in touch with our high management team or board members."
"The user experience was great because it had all the features that the client needed. It was fully customized for the client, and it was very simple. It was the best solution at that time."
"Salesforce Identity is a very user-friendly solution."
"The single sign-on feature of Salesforce Identity enhances our organization's security posture overall."
 

Cons

"Its integration with open-source applications can be improved. I know that they are working on open-source authentication methods for integration with open-source applications, but they can make it more open."
"There have been a couple of outages so that I would rate the stability around a seven out of 10."
"If Microsoft can give us a way to see where this product is running, from a backend perspective, then it would be great."
"I would rate Microsoft's technical support on the lower side. While some responses are quick and satisfactory, there have been occasions where issues took weeks or circles to resolve, sometimes closing and reopening without resolution."
"The area that needs improvement is integrating IDs between multiple environments and forests. In our case, it's hard to get the identities from multiple forests into one location. This is probably our biggest challenge."
"I would like it if Intune could manage MacOS or iOS directly. Right now, we have to use a third-party solution."
"It would be awesome to have a feature where you can see the permissions of a user in all their Azure subscriptions. Right now, you have to select a user, then you have to select the subscription to see which permissions the user has in their selected subscriptions. Sometimes, you just want to know, "Does that user have any permissions in any subscriptions?" That would be awesome if that would be available via the portal."
"The SSO MyApps interface is very basic and needs better customization capabilities."
"The interface should be simplified and the dashboard has a lot of options but could be improved."
"The most wanted feature on such platforms nowadays is artificial intelligence, especially for marketing activities. This is also my area of expertise, so it would be very interesting to see AI in these platforms."
"The product is slow."
"Salesforce could make it more user-friendly and easier to implement. Currently, there's a lot of coding and technical work required. I would appreciate a more plug-and-play approach where you could set it up without needing a dedicated technical person."
"Salesforce Identity needs more expertise in the application."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think we're on the E3 — I think it was about 35 dollars per user."
"The pricing is good; it's not cheap but very reasonable."
"It is not too expensive."
"I would advise implementing the solution to VIPs and admins; it's affordable, effective, and efficient. I would say training staff on properly using the tool is also essential."
"Pricing-wise, they offer a stepladder approach. You can start with the lowest level features, then start increasing based on new requirements."
"Previously, only building and global administrators could purchase subscriptions or licenses. Mid-last year, Microsoft made it so users can purchase the license online. Microsoft business subscription is for 200 to 300 users. If you have more than 300 users, you can't purchase the business plan. You have to purchase the enterprise plan. The enterprise plan is for 301 users and above. Pay as you go is also available. If you pay as you go in Azure, you will be billed for whatever you use."
"I'd recommend Azure Active Directory if you are a big company. For small or medium companies, it's probably not the best idea in the world because of the pricing. If you are a small company, you can probably deploy your own solutions because you're not handling a website with tons of traffic. If you are not like Adidas, Nike, or Walmart, you can do it in a way that is more localized than handling everything through a big price solution. However, Azure tends to provide you with solutions that are easier to use. If it was cheaper, I'd definitely recommend going for it."
"The price of the solution's license is good."
"I'd recommend Salesforce for larger products where you really need a robust CRM. It's expensive, so for smaller websites or products, it might not be the most cost-effective solution."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a very low price and ten is a very high price, I rate Salesforce Identity's pricing a six out of ten."
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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
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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 Salesforce Identity?
The single sign-on feature of Salesforce Identity enhances our organization's security posture overall.
What is your primary use case for Salesforce Identity?
We get network-related cases on Salesforce Identity and work on them.
 

Also Known As

Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
No data available
 

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.
SAP, Microsoft, Workday, Servicenow, ADP, Google Apps, box, Oracle
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cisco, Okta and others in Single Sign-On (SSO). Updated: March 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.