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reviewer1941183 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Connects with other SaaS solutions, and SSOs with MFA make authentication much easier
Pros and Cons
  • "It's multi-tenant, residing in multiple locations. The authentication happens quickly. Irrespective of whether I'm in Australia, the US, India, or Africa, I don't see any latency. Those are the good features that I rely on."
  • "One area where it can improve is connectivity with other systems. Not all systems are connected and you have to do coding to establish a point of connectivity. It supports certain vendors and it supports certain protocols. It is limited in many other aspects at the attribute level."

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are

  • authentication
  • authorization
  • two-factor authentication
  • I have never had a failure.

It's multi-tenant, residing in multiple locations. Authentication happens quickly. Irrespective of whether I'm in Australia, the US, India, or Africa, I don't see any latency. Those are the good features that I rely on.

It also has a variable extension, which is an added value because in Active Directory, if you have to do a schema, you have to make changes on multiple Active Directory instances. But here, as the extension attribute can be done from the application level, it helps you provide the provisioning. 

Another good reason for using Azure AD is that it can connect with other SaaS services. It also has SSOs, which, along with the MFA, makes authentication much easier.

What needs improvement?

One area where it can improve is connectivity with other systems. Not all systems are connected and you have to do coding to establish a point of connectivity. It supports certain vendors and it supports certain protocols. It is limited in many other aspects at the attribute level.

Also, some of the provisioning filters are not capable enough. You cannot do a date filter on the provisioning.

Perhaps they could also have easy protocols to create the accounts. Instead of just a file upload, they should have an easy connector to do the provisioning part.

For how long have I used the solution?

I work in a service-based company and I've been using Azure Active Directory for my customers for around 10 years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

From 2020 to 2022, there have not been more than two or three outages, and none was more than three to four hours long. And those outages may not have occurred the whole time in the entire environment, they may only have been in certain places.

When there is an outage, the end-user experience is affected, but that happens in AWS and in Azure. It happens with any SaaS product. Overall, it has not affected the end-user experience, but when there is an outage in Azure, it will have an impact on our environment.

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April 2025
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable, but if you need more than one region, you have to pay for it. You have to think about how you want the service to be available.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy and straightforward. Setting up Azure AD doesn't require you to do anything. You buy the product from Microsoft and Microsoft sets it up for you. You just establish the connectivity to it. It does not take more than a week or two to complete the setup.

The number of employees you require for deployment and maintenance of the solution depends on how you have set up your provisioning platform. If it is automated, you can have one resource. If you're still in manual, then it depends on the volume of the workload.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licenses are based on the usage. There is no cap. It's based on the number of users we provision.

A SaaS solution is the best product. You get it at a better price and you have many Windows-based services that are included for free.

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely recommend using Azure AD. Many companies are moving from other vendors to Azure because every company uses Office 365 anyway for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. As soon as you use that, by default, you get an Azure AD account. If you have an Azure AD account, you definitely have features to use. Why would you want to go for another product?

Overall, I haven't seen any major issues with the product.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Muhammad_Irfan - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Administrator at ACMC
Real User
Top 5
Useful for user management and integrated with DNS
Pros and Cons
  • "Installation is straightforward. It only took a couple of hours to set everything up."
  • "The solution could be cheaper."

What is our primary use case?

This solution is useful for user management because it is integrated with DNS.

The solution is deployed on cloud and on-premises. We're using the latest version.

We have about 200-250 users. All of our users have local and Active Directory. We don't have plans to increase usage.

What is most valuable?

It's user friendly.

What needs improvement?

The solution could be cheaper.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for about five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is good.

How was the initial setup?

Installation is straightforward. It only took a couple of hours to set everything up.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay a yearly license. Licenses are very expensive.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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VamsiMohan - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at Huber
Real User
Top 10Leaderboard
Excellent technical support, easy to use, and has a wide range of features
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of this solution are definitely the authorization and authentication, and the rule-based user validation."
  • "Definitely, the price could be lower. When we moved from AWS to Azure, we started paying more."

What is our primary use case?

We use Azure Active Directory for the user rules, identity management, user rule validation, authorization, and authentication.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of this solution are definitely the authorization and authentication, and the rule-based user validation.

Azure Active Directory is quite easy to use.

We are quite happy with the Azure Active Directory services we are utilizing.

What needs improvement?

Definitely, the price could be lower. When we moved from AWS to Azure, we started paying more. The licensing fees were more expensive.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Azure Active Directory for the last 10 to 15 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Azure Active Directory is quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Azure Active Directory is a scalable solution.

We have approximately 100 users in our company.

We have plans to increase our usage.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is quite good, they are awesome.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we were using an open-source solution, but we are happy with the Azure Active Directory solution.

How was the initial setup?

We received the migrations as a direct value add because we are a part of Microsoft MSP.

The Azure Active Directory migration took ten days to complete.

This solution is maintained by a team of three to four people.

What about the implementation team?

We had assistance from a consultant.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay an annual subscription fee.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others who are considering using it.

I would rate Azure Active Directory a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Head of enterprise systems at Fidelity Bank Plc
Real User
Easy to deploy and supports conditional access using multifactor authentication
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the ability to set up conditional access, where you can enforce users to connect using multifactor authentication."
  • "Technical support could be faster."

What is our primary use case?

Typically, we have applications deployed within the office network that we need to make accessible to our staff outside of the bank. Some of them are also our clients, but mainly, this is for people working in the region.

So without having to put them behind firewalls, what we opted to do is publish them to the proxy. This means that they can then come in via a secure port and begin to access the resources as if they were internally and securely within the network.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the ability to set up conditional access, where you can enforce users to connect using multifactor authentication. This is one of the things that we are using it for. It means that users who are accessing the applications remotely are authentic.

What needs improvement?

Technical support could be faster.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this product for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable and we plan to increase our usage.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable product. It can be deployed in a highly available manner, where you have to have two or three connectors. We have approximately 7,000 users.

How are customer service and technical support?

We are satisfied with the technical support from Microsoft, although it could be faster.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

This product is part of our enterprise license and we did not previously use a different one.

How was the initial setup?

This is a cloud service, so the initial setup is straightforward. It is not complex.

For each request, it does not take very long.

What about the implementation team?

We deployed this product ourselves.

No staff is required for maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

This product is sold as part of the enterprise package and our licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis. You can get it as an add-on and it's not expensive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have not evaluated other solutions, which makes it difficult to tell what additional features I would like to see in the future. It is sufficient and adequate for our current use case.

What other advice do I have?

In our current use case, there is nothing that is lacking. This is definitely a product that I can recommend for other users.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2315649 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Systems Engineer at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
An easy to use solution to manage single sign-on
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is easy to use."
  • "Microsoft Entra ID should improve workload identities. It should set conditional access."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for single sign-on. 

What is most valuable?

The product is easy to use. 

What needs improvement?

Microsoft Entra ID should improve workload identities. It should set conditional access. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for six years. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

My company has 5000 end users. I rate the product's scalability a nine out of ten. 

How are customer service and support?

The tool's support is not good. However, the documentation is good. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Negative

How was the initial setup?

The tool's deployment is easy. 

What about the implementation team?

We relied on two resources for deployment. 

What was our ROI?

I have seen ROI with the tool's use. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution was fairly priced the last time I checked the costs. 

What other advice do I have?

Microsoft Entra ID has helped us save money. It also helped us save 70 percent of the time. I rate it a nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Manager Identity Access Management at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
MSP
Top 20
Joins our laptops and makes it easy to do various tasks
Pros and Cons
  • "The way the laptops are joined is valuable. We can take advantage of that in terms of being able to log in and do things. It is easier to change passwords or set things up."
  • "I would like to dive into some of the things that we saw today around the workflows at this Microsoft event. I cannot say that they need to make it better because I do not have much experience with it, but something that is always applicable to Microsoft is that they need to be able to integrate with their competitors. If you look at IDP, they do not integrate with Okta."

What is our primary use case?

We migrated about 3,000 computers from on-prem Active Directory to Azure Active Directory or Azure AD. 

How has it helped my organization?

These are still early days, but we are certain that it will improve our organization as we move away from on-prem Active Directory.

It provides a single pane of glass for managing user access, but we have to get more into it to be able to say that for sure. We have got so many different tools. It would be nice to have less tools. We are starting to take a look at how to consolidate tools.

It will definitely help to save time for our IT administrators.

It has not yet helped to save our organization money. It is too early for that.

What is most valuable?

The way the laptops are joined is valuable. We can take advantage of that in terms of being able to log in and do things. It is easier to change passwords or set things up.

What needs improvement?

I would like to dive into some of the things that we saw today around the workflows at this Microsoft event. I cannot say that they need to make it better because I do not have much experience with it, but something that is always applicable to Microsoft is that they need to be able to integrate with their competitors. If you look at IDP, they do not integrate with Okta.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about six months. It was not called Entra ID then. It was called Azure AD.

How are customer service and support?

Our dealings have been fine. We do not deal with them so much. When we have to open something, our account managers help us out.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were on on-prem AD. We moved to Azure AD because of a merger. We were purchased by a larger company, so we are moving on to their domain.

How was the initial setup?

It was in the middle of the road. It was not the easiest thing, and it was also not the hardest thing.

What about the implementation team?

We took the help of a company. They did a good job. They helped us to move a huge amount of data.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is in line. Because we are so early, we have not had to come back on a cycle where we are having to negotiate again.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Microsoft Entra ID a nine out of ten. It is very good.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Andri Ottosson - PeerSpot reviewer
Network specialist at a wellness & fitness company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Provides secure access to resources, and consolidates user accounts and authentication
Pros and Cons
  • "The security features, such as attack surface rules and conditional access rules, are the most valuable aspects of Azure AD."
  • "The only improvement would be for everything to be instant in terms of applying changes and propagating them to systems."

What is our primary use case?

Azure AD is primarily used as the backend for all Microsoft Office 365 user accounts and licensing, as well as for securing those accounts. Endpoint Manager is also utilized, which is part of domain control in the cloud, even though it is not Azure AD.

How has it helped my organization?

Azure AD has enabled the organization to set up single sign-on to all applications and has consolidated everything to a single cloud authentication for users. This saved a lot of time by not having to administer accounts in multiple systems, and it has also made it easy to control user identity for all cloud and internal applications. Security features such as attack surface rules and conditional access rules are also highly valuable and help the organization feel safe with all its user accounts. The Entra conditional access feature is used to enforce fine-tuned and adaptive access controls, and it is perfect for verifying users in line with the Zero Trust strategy. Overall, Azure AD enabled the organization to control one set of accounts and policies for everything, providing a huge benefit.

What is most valuable?

The security features, such as attack surface rules and conditional access rules, are the most valuable aspects of Azure AD.

What needs improvement?

The only improvement would be for everything to be instant in terms of applying changes and propagating them to systems.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution since 2017.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of Azure AD is perfect.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Azure AD is highly scalable and enables the organization to control everything from one office.

How are customer service and support?

The support channel for Azure AD is probably pretty good, although there was a strange experience with technical support once. Overall, the customer service and support would be rated as positive, with an eight out of ten rating.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have never used any other products except Google Workspace, which is very intuitive but not comparable to an identity system.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Azure AD was quick and took just a workday or two, although tweaking it took about a week. The implementation of Azure AD probably took about 48 hours. In terms of maintenance, Azure AD doesn't require any maintenance as it is a cloud service that is always up to date.

What about the implementation team?

At the time, we used contractors to set it up because it was new to us. If I was going to do it today, it wouldn't be that complex for me because I now know the ins and outs of it, but at that time, we contracted people to help us set it up so that we could do it with the best practice. We probably had just one contractor and then we just helped out.

What other advice do I have?

For those looking to implement Azure AD in their organization for the first time, it would be recommended to get rid of the legacy Active Directory right away and go straight to Azure AD instead of starting out hybrid and having to wind that down. If local Active Directory isn't needed, it's best to move all authentication over to the cloud and scrap the Active Directory domain controllers. The Entra portal is a huge benefit as it provides a consolidated view of everything and makes it easier to navigate security, users, conditional access, and identity protection.

Microsoft has been consolidating the view to provide a single pane of glass. It has been more and more down to that. They're now out with something called Entra. It's the Entra portal, and it has a very consolidated view of everything I need to do. Microsoft Entra is basically Endpoint Manager, Microsoft Defender, and Azure Active Directory pulled together for an easy view and ease of navigation. I've started to use Entra a little bit. It has only been out for a little while, but it was created to simplify finding everything. So, instead of navigating through the portal at Azure, I've started using Entra. I like it a lot. At first glance, it looks very intuitive, especially based on how I've been navigating until now. 

What Entra is doing is a huge benefit. If you're starting up today, it's much easier to get into security, users and conditional access, and identity protection. They've consolidated most of the important things there. You can navigate to everything from there, but they draw forth the most important ones in a more intuitive way. They've done that, and what they've done with Entra is what was missing.

Overall, I'd rate Azure Active Directory an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Ajay Kuamr - PeerSpot reviewer
Network and Computer Systems Administrator at Bahwan
Real User
Top 10
It's compatible with a lot of vendors, and we have multiple products integrated with it
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "Active Directory could always be more secure. Right now, we've got two-factor authentications. All services based on Active Directory have a username and password. If somebody hacked our username, they could easily get all the data from our side. So I want two-factor authentication and a stronger password policy from Active Directory. The domain controllers should be more secure as well."

What is our primary use case?

We use Active Directory to manage our main database and control students and staff access with rules and passwords. Usernames, emails, etc., are all integrated with Active Directory. Office 365 is also integrated with our Active Directory.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

Active Directory could always be more secure. Right now, we've got two-factor authentications. All services based on Active Directory have a username and password. If somebody hacked our username, they could easily get all the data from our side. So I want two-factor authentication and a stronger password policy from Active Directory. The domain controllers should be more secure as well.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using Microsoft Active Directory for more than 10 years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Active Directory is a stable, scalable product.

How are customer service and support?

Microsoft technical support is very good. They call us back and resolve the problem.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is effortless because we've been using this solution for a while. We are familiar with the setup now, so it's easier.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We get a discount because we're working in the education sector. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Active Directory eight out of 10. I think this is a good product. Most enterprises are using this. We don't currently have any plans to switch, but we're planning to migrate more into the cloud. However, cloud service is still costly, so we are working on the premiums. I would recommend Active Directory for any large-scale company, organization, or university. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Entra ID Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Entra ID Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.