Microsoft Entra ID vs SAP Identity Management comparison

Microsoft and SAP are both solutions in the Identity Management (IM) category. Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6, while SAP is ranked #16 with an average rating of 9.0. Microsoft holds a 6.9% mindshare in IAM, compared to SAP’s 2.3% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of SAP users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Entra ID

Read 276 Microsoft Entra ID reviews

32,158 Views
6,753 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

SAP Identity Management

Read 14 SAP Identity Management reviews

2,499 Views
1,899 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Microsoft Entra ID

SAP Identity Management

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

SAP Identity Management and Microsoft Entra ID are competing solutions in the identity management space. Microsoft Entra ID, with its comprehensive cloud-native approach and advanced security features, appears to have the upper hand for enterprises prioritizing these aspects.

Features: SAP Identity Management provides deep integration capabilities within the SAP ecosystem, offers flexible access policies, and supports custom logic development. Microsoft Entra ID is highlighted for its strong security protocols, seamless integration with Microsoft platforms, and extensive cloud capabilities for advanced threat protection.

Room for Improvement: SAP Identity Management could enhance its ease of deployment and simplify integration processes. Improved user interface design could also be beneficial. Microsoft Entra ID might work on refining legacy system integration and offering more flexible customization options. Enhancements in offline support and broader integration with non-Microsoft services could also be beneficial for some users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Entra ID offers a streamlined, cloud-based deployment model that simplifies installation with effective customer service. SAP Identity Management may involve a more complex deployment due to its customizability and integration needs, yet it is supported by detailed documentation and expert support.

Pricing and ROI: SAP Identity Management may require higher initial setup costs attributed to its extensive integrations and custom capabilities, promising substantial ROI over time. Microsoft Entra ID offers a cost-effective setup with attractive ROI through subscription models, especially favorable for organizations leveraging Microsoft's cloud services.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Entra ID vs. SAP Identity Management Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra ID vs. SAP Identity Management

April 2026

Download the complete report

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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

Microsoft Entra ID

Ranking in Identity Management (IM)

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

276

Ranking in other categories

Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)

SAP Identity Management

Ranking in Identity Management (IM)

16th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

User Provisioning Software (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Identity Management (IM) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 6.9%, down from 13.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Identity Management is 2.3%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Identity Management (IM) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Entra ID	6.9%
SAP Identity Management	2.3%
Other	90.8%

Identity Management (IM)

Featured Reviews

Stafin Jacob

Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance Practice Lead at Invoke

Identity has become our central gatekeeper and has provided secure single sign-on for all users

Microsoft Entra ID can improve by focusing more on new passwordless methods and becoming a primary adopter. One feature we would like to see is the ability to have security questions for password resets. I know the current capability is phasing out, so we do not have an alternative method yet. Customers who already use security questions require a smoother transition for that capability to be available. My experience with the deployment has had some challenges, particularly around the Microsoft MFA campaigns. The hardest part is moving users from a different MFA provider to the Microsoft MFA provider, as it ultimately depends on user activity. In large enterprises with numerous users across various geographies, this transition takes time. If there are ways to exert more control around that process, it would improve the situation.

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Fabiano Marques

Sales Executive at Minsait

Identity management enhances connectivity and productivity with streamlined access and robust security, offering time-saving processes and facilitating seamless integration with other BI tools

One area that could be improved with SAP Identity Management, other than support, is user engagement from an implementation perspective. It would be beneficial for SAP to extend their events and workshops that are currently performed for partners to their final customers, as many customers want to know what's new and what else they can do without solely depending on the partners. For SAP support in Brazil, everything is in English, which poses a difficulty for many customers. The support could be improved for the specific needs in Brazil, as many customers have difficulty accessing the support center due to the language barrier. This feedback is specific to Brazil, though it's unclear if SAP receives similar feedback from other countries. It could certainly be enhanced with Portuguese documents, among other improvements.

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

"I would say that Azure AD's pricing is very reasonable because of the structure and in terms of the solution."

"It has made our work easier in that it’s simplified everything for us."

"The best thing about Active Directory is its compatibility. It works with lots of third-party vendors. We're using multiple products, and they're all integrated with our Active Directory."

"The cloud security part is very valuable. Security is the most important thing in today's world. With Azure Active Directory, there are some features that tell you how you need to improve your security level. It informs you if you set up certain policies, e.g., this is where my users sign in. It tends to let you know if your organization has been breached with this security set up. Therefore, it is easier to know when you have been breached, especially if you set up a Conditional Access policy for your organization."

"It's an easy product to maintain."

"It helps with privacy control of identity data. It makes security very easy."

"Azure Active Directory has been very useful for our company, it is not difficult to use."

"I would rate Microsoft Entra ID a ten out of ten."

More Microsoft Entra ID pros

"Rather than implement a basic SSO, this solution assisted us with setting up two-factor authentication."

"IBM really gives you the power to implement a lot of functionality outside the current implementation if you know how to build the functionality you want."

"The most valuable feature is the user experience for managing information."

"The most valuable features of SAP Identity Management are business roles and automated user provisioning."

"What I like about SAP Identity Management is that it's stable for experienced users and suitable for access management, not just for SAP accounts, but for Active Directory, including file sharing and process sharing."

"It provides basic automatic user administration and role provisioning to save time."

"What's most valuable in SAP Identity Management is that it's easily an out-of-the-box solution for connectivity with SAP applications."

"What's most valuable in SAP Identity Management is that it's easily an out-of-the-box solution for connectivity with SAP applications. We do not have to do any customizations, and this makes the solution very compatible with most SAP applications. SAP Identity Management is also very user-friendly."

More SAP Identity Management pros

Cons

"They should put the features of P1 and P2 into a single license."

"The conditional access rules are a little limiting. There's greater scope for the variety of rules and conditions you could put in that rules around a more factual authentication for other users. If you have an Azure AD setup, you can then connect to other people's Azure AD, but you don't have a huge amount of control in terms of what you can do. Greater control over guest users and guest access would be better. It's pretty good as it is but that could be improved."

"Generally, everything works pretty well, but sometimes, Azure Active Directory has outages on the Microsoft side of things. These outages really have a very big impact on the users, applications, and everything else because they are closely tied to the Azure AD ecosystem."

"Azure AD provides two types of features. One is Azure AD Excel and is already B2C. Out of both versions, Azure B2C requires some improvement, in terms of user management and role management, et cetera."

"The pricing is okay, however, it could always be better in the future."

"The frequent changes in branding cause confusion among customers who struggle to keep track of product names and functions."

"The automation aspects of Entra ID could be improved, particularly when automating through different providers and SDKs. It's somewhat clunky to automate ID management, but it's great once it's set up. I would also like to see better Terraform support."

"Anytime that we have tried to allow Microsoft Entra ID to authenticate our users to come back on-premises, we have run into some issues, usually with latency or delay."

More Microsoft Entra ID cons

"The standard one is not friendly and very time-consuming for elementary operation."

"It needs to have the SSO for the HANA modules that SAP is releasing."

"I find SAP Identity Management complicated to use. Maintaining it is also complex."

"Research and marketing need to be improved."

"One of the areas for improvement in the solution is its user interface which needs to be up-to-date and fancier, in particular, have better visualization in terms of the tabs and buttons."

"For SAP support in Brazil, everything is in English, which poses a difficulty for many customers."

"As SAP Identity Management is not compatible with non SAP applications, some of the clients are looking for other IDM applications such as SalePoint and Saviynt, so this is an issue we've observed in the solution."

"One of the areas for improvement in the solution is its user interface which needs to be up-to-date and fancier, in particular, have better visualization in terms of the tabs and buttons. The user interface of SAP Identity Management should be improved based on the latest trends."

More SAP Identity Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"It comes free with the Microsoft account. We have a yearly agreement, and all products are covered under it."

"Microsoft Entra ID service can be quite costly due to its hidden expenses linked to usage."

"The cost is billed on a per-user licensing basis."

"For a small business buying individual licenses, it is an affordable solution."

"Azure Active Directory is expensive."

"It is not too expensive."

"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."

More Microsoft Entra ID pricing and cost advice

"When evaluating the price of any product, I first look at how it meets my business requirements and if it meets requirements adequately and predictively. Currently, I don't see this from SAP Identity Management, so pricing for it is expensive, in my opinion."

"The licensing cost varies depending on the specific requirements and deployment size."

"I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

13%

Energy/Utilities Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	90
Midsize Enterprise	41
Large Enterprise	161

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	6

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...

See all answers

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

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that going through and being able to use these things is always part of delivering an M365 bundle, so I don't think the experience is great ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory?

Microsoft Entra ID can be improved by open-sourcing it. You already have Windows Subsystem for Linux, which is open-source Linux in Microsoft. One major shift for Microsoft would be using the commo...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP Identity Management?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP Identity Management?

The use cases for SAP Identity Management include the logistics company, and we also have a beverage company that is using SAP Identity Management. We did not make the migration for them, but we im...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering SAP Identity Management?

My clients use SAP Identity Management for managing access rights efficiently based on user roles. I have experience with other IAM tools, having worked for Oracle three or four years ago, but I ca...

See all answers

Comparisons

Google Cloud Identity vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 19% of the time

Okta Platform vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 5% of the time

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 3% of the time

Microsoft Intune vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 3% of the time

Ping Identity Platform vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Entra ID Competitors

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs SAP Identity Management

Compared 15% of the time

Symantec Identity Governance and Administration vs SAP Identity Management

Compared 8% of the time

One Identity Manager vs SAP Identity Management

Compared 7% of the time

Oracle Identity Governance vs SAP Identity Management

Compared 6% of the time

ForgeRock vs SAP Identity Management

Compared 3% of the time

More SAP Identity Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra ID

May 2026

Download Microsoft Entra ID product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP Identity Management

May 2026

Download SAP Identity Management product report

Also Known As

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

SAP NetWeaver Identity Management, NetWeaver Identity Management

Interactive Demo

Microsoft

Demo not available

SAP

Overview

Microsoft Entra ID is an advanced identity and access management service offering seamless single sign-on, multifactor authentication, and centralized user access across applications, enhancing security and efficiency for organizations transitioning to cloud-based environments.

Recognized for its centralized management, Microsoft Entra ID significantly boosts organizational security by integrating features such as conditional access and identity protection. It supports a wide array of applications, facilitating a secure transition from on-premises to scalable cloud environments. By adopting robust security measures and flexible identity management, organizations can streamline operations and ensure consistent user experiences. However, challenges like confusing licensing costs, outdated documentation, and limited integration with non-Microsoft applications persist. Enhancements in technical support, interface design, and more granular permissions are needed to address these issues effectively.

What are the key features of Microsoft Entra ID?

Seamless Single Sign-On: Allows users to access multiple applications with one set of credentials.
Multifactor Authentication: Adds an extra layer of security by requiring multiple forms of verification.
Conditional Access: Provides adaptive policies to ensure the right access under the right conditions.
Identity Protection: Detects and responds to potential vulnerabilities and threats.
Privileged Identity Management: Controls and monitors access to critical resources.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating Microsoft Entra ID?

Enhanced Security: Protects against unauthorized access and data breaches.
Operational Efficiency: Centralizes identity management to reduce administrative tasks.
Scalability: Supports growth by accommodating evolving IT environments.
Cost Management: Facilitates cost control through centralized systems and automated processes.

In healthcare, Microsoft Entra ID facilitates secure patient record access and compliance with industry regulations. Financial institutions rely on it for robust security measures in safeguarding client data. In the education sector, it streamlines access to online resources for students and faculty. Global enterprises benefit from its ability to manage complex identity frameworks across multiple regions, ensuring reliable security amidst increasing cyber threats.

Microsoft

SAP Identity Management provides seamless connectivity and process automation for user provisioning and access governance. It integrates with SAP applications, offering flexible custom logic and native analytics to enhance productivity and system compatibility.

SAP Identity Management addresses user access, provisioning, and lifecycle management within IT environments. By integrating with applications, users automate authorizations and secure systems with authentication. Flexibility in custom logic development aids in creating workflows, supporting seamless access management. Despite its strengths, improvements are needed in UI customization, third-party compatibility, and connector range, particularly in non-SAP applications and cloud integration.

What are the key features of SAP Identity Management?

Integration Capabilities: Supports connection with SAP applications and other systems.
Process Automation: Automates user provisioning and role management to streamline operations.
Access Governance: Enhances security and user administration through efficient access control.
Custom Logic Development: Provides flexibility in developing tailored processes.
Native Analytics: Improves productivity and data accessibility with built-in analytics.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Time Savings: Reduces manual processes leading to efficiency gains.
Enhanced Reporting: Offers improved insights and reporting capabilities.
System Compatibility: Ensures stable integration with various systems.
Improved Performance: Enhances user satisfaction with stable and reliable operation.

In industries like finance, retail, and manufacturing, SAP Identity Management is implemented to manage complex IT environments, ensuring secure authentication and efficient access to essential applications. Companies leverage its capabilities to streamline processes and maintain compliance with industry standards.

SAP

Sample Customers

Microsoft Entre ID is trusted by companies of all sizes and industries including Walmart, Zscaler, Uniper, Amtrak, monday.com, and more.

State of Indiana, Automotive Resources International (ARI), Alliander N.V., Chemion Logistik GmbH, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH)

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra ID vs. SAP Identity Management

April 2026

Free Report: Microsoft Entra ID vs. SAP Identity Management

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