I use Microsoft Entra ID daily as an end customer in an enterprise environment. We are using it for very simple use cases such as authenticating with SSO to third-party solutions.
Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Good initial pricing and easy to use but greater price transparency needed
Pros and Cons
- "In a lot of situations, it is easy and free or almost free to use Microsoft Entra MFA."
- "It could be better if a simple member could understand more easily the prices of the products and packages offered by Microsoft."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
In a lot of situations, it is easy and free or almost free to use Microsoft Entra MFA.
What needs improvement?
It could be better if a simple member could understand more easily the prices of the products and packages offered by Microsoft. Additionally, after the first three years of a bigger package, renewal prices could be more transparent as they tend to increase significantly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Microsoft Entra ID for approximately five years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't had any bad experiences with its stability in the last five years. It works consistently, and any downtime can be monitored through Microsoft State Data Monitor.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Our customers are small businesses, so scalability is not a significant concern for us.
How are customer service and support?
I have a direct contact with the Microsoft Hungarian team. They manage our problems, especially on the enterprise side, and I have heard no negative feedback regarding their response times or SLAs.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The setup experience was not difficult and I would rate it as eight out of ten. It just required some time to set everything up correctly.
What about the implementation team?
We consulted with the Microsoft Hungarian team for any enterprise-level issues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Initially, customers can get good prices for a three-year package, but renewal prices tend to increase significantly. If a customer looks for an alternative solution after three years, we often find it cheaper or the same as continuing with Microsoft.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I've worked with the Microsoft Tensor Solution and CI Mentech. We also considered other authentication systems like Ping, Kaseya, and Symantec VIP. In terms of SASE, I've had experience with Netskope, Cloudflare, and Palo Alto.
What other advice do I have?
If you consider SASE aspects, Microsoft Entra is not a leader solution. There are stronger competitors in SASE, like Netskope and Palo Alto, and it may not be the best idea to rely solely on Microsoft solutions if your operation runs on Microsoft.
I'd rate the solution five out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
DB and Systems Engineer at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
A stable and scalable solution with good conditional access policies
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "The workflow management for registering new applications and users could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
Azure AD helps us manage application and hybrid identities.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
The workflow management for registering new applications and users could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Azure AD for about eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure AD is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Azure AD is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Azure AD is so stable and easy to administer that we don't need to contact support.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up Azure AD is straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Azure Active Directory a nine out of ten. You should use premium licenses or Azure directly whenever possible to take advantage of the new security features since E3.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Entra ID
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Entra ID. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
882,333 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Chief Information Officer at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
Gives us security and centralized database when integrating together all Active Directories of our branches
Pros and Cons
- "Active Directory itself is the best feature it has. It also gives us a single pane of glass for managing user access."
What is our primary use case?
It gives us security when integrating all the Active Directories of all our branches together, giving us a centralized database and authentication.
How has it helped my organization?
It has helped save time for our IT administrators. It's seamless for the users because they simply log into the stations, but it's affecting the response time and efficiency of the IT team.
What is most valuable?
Active Directory itself is the best feature it has. It also gives us a single pane of glass for managing user access.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Azure Active Directory for almost a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
So far, it has been a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not have a previous solution.
What was our ROI?
I am working right now on whether we have seen ROI from the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are always looking for better pricing. Our agreement is on a monthly basis.
What other advice do I have?
We're planning to use conditional access to access controls, but we have not done so in the meantime.
The solution doesn't require much maintenance; we're talking about two or three people.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Information Security Officer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Saves our clients significant time through automation and provides a good level of security
Pros and Cons
- "One of the most important is the Conditional Access. It helps affect a Zero Trust strategy positively."
- "I would like them to improve the dashboard by presenting the raw data in a more visual way for the logs and events. That would help us understand the reports better."
What is our primary use case?
I set up Azure Active Directory for many customers of the company I work for. I'm an implementer. It is the basis of identity and access for all the tenants we are using for our customers.
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft Entra helps our clients save a lot of time, especially with the many automation processes that we can leverage to facilitate our work. The amount of time saved depends on the customer's needs. In general, on average I would estimate it saves them 40 percent in terms of time. But in some cases, it could be up to 70 percent.
It also helps them save money because they can work with fewer employees, or they don't have to hire more employees to do tasks that can be automated.
Another benefit is that it provides satisfaction at the administration level. On the user level, the ease of use makes it easy to understand without any limitations.
And it provides quite a good level of security for all users.
What is most valuable?
All the features of the solution are helpful. Among them, one of the most important is the Conditional Access. It helps affect a Zero Trust strategy positively.
Also, I use Entra Permission Management to distribute the roles among all users according to management requests. Microsoft provides reports for visibility and all kinds of controls where you can see the users and their access. Permission Management helps reduce the risk surface when it comes to identity permissions. It supports adaptive controls and that helps me in defining the right controls for users.
What needs improvement?
I would like them to improve the dashboard by presenting the raw data in a more visual way for the logs and events. That would help us understand the reports better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Azure Active Directory for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable. I haven't experienced any downtime or breakdowns with the product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I'm satisfied with their support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
It's easy to set up.
The amount of time needed to set up Azure Active Directory depends on each customer's use case. It will take at least three to four hours for a small organization, and in that scenario you wouldn't need more than one person to set it up. For larger organizations, it may take a week and we would need two to three persons.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Our customers are looking for advanced features and processes for it to be cost-effective for their organizations. They see it as an overpriced product. They are enjoying using Azure Active Directory, but they are looking for better prices.
What other advice do I have?
Just follow the book.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Administrative Assistant at a engineering company with 51-200 employees
Great for SSO, works across deployments, and increases efficiencies
Pros and Cons
- "It has given us the ability to be able to establish single sign-on identities in which we can establish credentials no matter where we are, whether it is on-premises or in the cloud, in a hybrid cloud, or in an additional connection from another cloud where we share equipment or host."
- "I want to see new functionalities for the active directory."
What is our primary use case?
We had the need to integrate the solution that we had on-premise and the email-based identities, so we looked for a solution from the same provider that could establish us and provide a synchronized identity (what we know today as SSO) in our resources and thus be able to log in with the same identities we had on-premise and in the cloud.
We wanted to take advantage of that synchronized identity quickly, simply, and safely. It was important to understand that users today want to have a single password for all resources, be they applications, or devices, in order to help them so that they are not constantly learning different credentials and can thus be faster and more efficient when establishing a single login.
How has it helped my organization?
It has given us the ability to be able to establish single sign-on identities in which we can establish credentials no matter where we are, whether it is on-premises or in the cloud, in a hybrid cloud, or in an additional connection from another cloud where we share equipment or host.
Additionally, we enabled more protection functions so that it is well protected even though it is a single credential for each environment and established for any environment it could be safely protected.
What is most valuable?
Its most outstanding feature is the ability to integrate, segment, establish, add and configure an identity for multiple domains in different regions, locations, or types of clouds. It is one of the hybrid solutions that can be used the most to establish an entity configuration in multiple environments. It is a tool that has given us the ability to establish identity security issues to share and perimeter segment the security of an organization, a domain, and multiple clouds in a fast, simple, and well-established way, which has allowed us to be more efficient.
What needs improvement?
I want to see new functionalities for the active directory. I would like to be able to establish that when you log into computers locally, it is installed on a laptop and you can enable the MFA feature that is currently not available for local computers or Windows on-or off-premise - thus being one of the characteristics that can give greater added value to information security issues.
If this feature was available on computers, it would help us in the future to avoid security breaches, information loss, or data backup vulnerabilities. In many cases, this could generate a complication. However, we always want to innovate, and the Innovation part is always to ensure that any place, device, or management that we are going to establish at the computational level is 100% secure.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've used the solution for one year and two months.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Jr. System Admin at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Offers an additional layer of security with MFA, multiple authentication methods, and excellent technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of security for our organizational data, so Microsoft Authenticator plays a crucial role in making our confidential data more secure."
- "Our users sometimes experience issues from having multiple Microsoft accounts, which can cause some confusion and hassle."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for MFA; to access apps such as Teams or Outlook, two-factor authentication with our mobile phones is required.
We also use Authenticator to assist our clients with re-enrolling, moving, and adding new devices.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution helps us keep our data secure and prevents security breaches, malware, etc. The app also provides us with options regarding our authentication preferences.
What is most valuable?
The two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of security for our organizational data, so Microsoft Authenticator plays a crucial role in making our confidential data more secure.
The solution offers multiple authentication methods via text, call, or the app. This gives us many options and flexibility when it comes to MFA.
What needs improvement?
Our users sometimes experience issues from having multiple Microsoft accounts, which can cause some confusion and hassle.
It would be good to see the incorporation of fingerprints and Face IDs as authentication options. This would simplify the authentication process for end users, especially those who aren't as tech-savvy. It is also a consideration for visually impaired people, for example.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for about one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Authenticator is a very stable application; our only issue is that we run into the occasional bug.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is highly scalable. Many organizations use it around the world.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is very good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used PingID when working for another organization, which is slightly different from Microsoft Authenticator.
How was the initial setup?
I wasn't involved in the initial setup, but the solution is straightforward to use once installed.
The solution requires a little maintenance, as we sometimes encounter bugs where the app doesn't recognize a user account, for example.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am not involved in the pricing or licensing, so I can't speak to that.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the solution a 10 out of 10.
I would advise potential users to familiarize themselves with the basics of the solution; how to set up an account, how to use the app etc. It's always a good idea to have a clear reason for using a particular solution, how it functions, and what role it fulfills.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Technical Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
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.
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
Modern Data Center and Cloud Engineer II at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Smooth, easy to use, and easy to set up
Pros and Cons
- "The performance is good."
- "We would like to see more system updates."
What is our primary use case?
We are using the solution primarily for demo purposes. We use active data cases from Microsoft. You can run different kinds of virtual machines and different kinds of services. We're currently using it in production.
What is most valuable?
It's very smooth and very easy to use.
The performance is good.
The product is stable.
It's quite scalable.
The initial setup is not complex.
What needs improvement?
We would like to see more system updates. They should happen more frequently.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale if you need it to.
About350 people use the solution in our organization.
How are customer service and support?
Their support is not great when you are using cloud solutions, however, when you are using cloud solutions, it's very smooth and very effective. We haven't had any issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm not sure if a different solution was used previously.
How was the initial setup?
The installation was not complex. It was pretty simple and pretty straightforward.
The deployment is pretty fast. It takes ten minutes, at a maximum, to set up.
You only need one person for deployment and maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
I didn't need the help of any third-party integrator or consultant. I was able to handle it myself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is pretty affordable. Sometimes you can get a Microsoft voucher to get some sort of discount.
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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