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Microsoft Entra ID vs Symantec VIP Access 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
Ranking in Access Management
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
276
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Identity Management (IM) (1st), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
Symantec VIP Access Manager
Ranking in Authentication Systems
12th
Ranking in Access Management
18th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 6.6%, down from 16.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec VIP Access Manager is 2.2%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Entra ID6.6%
Symantec VIP Access Manager2.2%
Other91.2%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Stafin Jacob - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
reviewer2247477 - PeerSpot reviewer
Administrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Intuitive and simple to use solution
The initial setup was really easy. For each user, it would take around five minutes or even less. It's very efficient. You just need the email and the code from your phone, and that's it. For maintenance, the entire service desk team, including the team I was in, had access to this particular tool. I would say around 200 to 300 people.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"We have seen an ROI, as we were able to secure our IT networks by more than 80%, with more than 80% of the audience subscribing to Microsoft Authenticator and using it for logging into their work accounts."
"From a user experience, it's improved it drastically."
"The most valuable feature is the factor identification. I find that it is natural integration, and it is just a natural step. I do not need to do anything else."
"As a company, you want effective identity and access management, and with Azure Active Directory you are able to manage everything, such as building user provisioning into third-party applications, single sign-on, and tools to mitigate threats or risky sign-ins, with a lot of features provided."
"The write-back caching of Microsoft Entra ID allows us to keep our existing Active Directory environment while also using Azure services, which helped tremendously because we didn't have to do a full conversion from one to the other."
"I like Azure AD's conditional access policies. Microsoft Entra provides a single pane of glass for managing user access, improving the overall user experience."
"Its ability to provide secure connections to people at all locations is the most valuable. It is mostly used by enterprises."
"Pricing was about 25% of the old solution, saving us about $500,000 over three years for 10,000 users."
"After the initial integration, the overall support calls dropped, and customer satisfaction for VPN increased."
"Integration with Citrix Access Gateway, Microsoft Office 365 and Single Sign-On (through Symantec Validation and ID Protection Access Manager) has increased the productivity of the employees for accessing resources."
"The VPN we are using is good and working quite well."
"The two-factor authentication is most definitely valuable and moves us closer to being able to check off those important boxes for compliance."
"The tool has been very stable, in my experience. Also, I haven't faced any issues or problems with integration or connectivity."
"The main benefit of Symantec VIP is that it provides strong authentication while keeping it as a very user friendly experience."
"It is a fast and easy solution for end users, and you are always online."
 

Cons

"Microsoft's biggest challenge is the documentation."
"I believe that Microsoft Entra ID can be improved by adding more granularity in options within Conditional Access specifically, because there are certain scenarios that we cannot address due to insufficient options to set up those rules."
"Azure Active Directory could benefit by adding the capability for identity life cycle for the on-premise solution."
"Microsoft Authenticator is as easy as Google Authenticator, but it is not open to all types of applications. Google Authenticator is integrated with other third-party platforms and applications, whereas Microsoft Authenticator is not."
"The monitoring dashboard could be a bit better."
"It would be ideal if the solution moved to a passwordless type of environment. It's the future of authentification. It's also more secure and convenient."
"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."
"Some systems do not integrate very well with Azure AD. We thought of going for Okta, but later on we were able to achieve it, but not the way we wanted. It was not as easy as we thought it would be. The integration was not very seamless."
"There are some shortcomings on the reporting side, such as how many connections you can get per month."
"The VIP Manager can be accessed from the outside which is a security vulnerability."
"Geofencing needs improvement."
"It gets out of sync with Active Directory or whatever it might be, whatever the authentication piece is on Active Directory, and they just reset it on the backend. I never have to contact the vendor."
"At times, the relay server could not contact Symantec; it would fail open and allow access without a passcode."
"If they had dashboards or a report for managers or executives, then it would allow them to see the status and have it make sense to them."
"The User Store synchronization part needs to improve. Also, the logs, reports, and dashboard can be improved."
"Every time that I have a new phone or computer, it takes a little longer to deploy it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's price is in the midrange."
"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."
"It's really affordable."
"The cost is billed on a per-user licensing basis."
"Azure Active Directory has a very extensive licensing model. Most of the features are available in the free and basic version, and then there are premium P1 and P2 editions. The licensing model is based on how many users you have per month. In Australia, for a P1 license, the cost is 8 dollars. With P1 and P2 licenses, you get a lot of goodies around the security side of things. For example, User Identity Protection is available only in P2. These are extra features that allow you to have a pretty good security posture, but most of the required things are available in the free and basic version."
"The price of the solution was reasonable."
"We have various levels of their licensing, which includes users on different levels of their enterprise offering."
"The subscription should be categorized by business size. For example, small companies should have a discounted price, this would help small companies and the organization to be automated."
"There are additional costs for maintenance."
"I can say that the solution is worth the money."
"Licensing and pricing seems very fair."
"There is a one-time setup fee plus the licenses are provided as per the number of users. For SMS and voice calls, the costs are separate."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business89
Midsize Enterprise39
Large Enterprise160
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise10
 

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 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 ...
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory?
I believe Microsoft Entra ID can be improved, and I think it's already on the roadmap. We value the selective sync where Microsoft Entra ID is actually the authoritative source and then will provis...
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Also Known As

Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
Symantec VIP
 

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.
Maine Medical Center, Aria S.p.A
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra ID vs. Symantec VIP Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
886,932 professionals have used our research since 2012.