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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
236
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (2nd), 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 (3rd), 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 19.1%, down 25.9% compared to last year.
Salesforce Identity, on the other hand, focuses on Mobile Identity, holds 16.7% mindshare, down 17.9% since last year.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Entra ID19.1%
Okta Workforce Identity7.9%
Auth07.5%
Other65.5%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
Mobile Identity Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Salesforce Identity16.7%
Oracle Identity Governance27.8%
MicroStrategy Usher16.7%
Other38.8%
Mobile Identity
 

Featured Reviews

Bahram Piri - PeerSpot reviewer
Security focus and seamless implementation increase platform productivity
Microsoft Entra ID can be improved in many ways, and there's a big wish list.If we're focusing on security, something that I definitely expect is improvement in the UI and UX for frontline workers. This is important, especially for non-tech savvy individuals. It is something Microsoft Entra ID could do to improve for a wider audience. It's important to focus on the frontline workers since they are non-tech savvy individuals. They are not like those back-office engineering C-level employees who are constantly dealing with computers, and we need to build a specific user experience and user interface for them to handle this stuff. That's something I expect Microsoft to focus on more for Microsoft Entra ID.
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

"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."
"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."
"Azure Active Directory features have helped improve our security posture. The remote working has been a massive help during the pandemic."
"Coming from a traditional on-premises Active Directory infrastructure, it is purely a SaaS platform. It is global. It is evergreen. It is always evolving. It is core to the Microsoft Ecosystem."
"Microsoft Entra ID acts as our core directory."
"Azure Active Directory has been very useful for our company, it is not difficult to use."
"In a lot of situations, it is easy and free or almost free to use Microsoft Entra MFA."
"Scalability has been the biggest benefit."
"The single sign-on feature of Salesforce Identity enhances our organization's security posture overall."
"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 solution is very easy to understand."
"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."
 

Cons

"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 thing that is a bit annoying is the inability to nest groups. Because we run an Azure hybrid model, we have nested groups on-premise which does not translate well. So, we have written some scripts to kind of work around that. This is a feature request that we have put in previously to be able to use a group that is nested in Active Directory on-premise and have it handled the same way in Azure."
"The Cloud Provisioning Agent cannot provision a lot of the information that AD Connect does. For starters, the lightweight version cannot synchronize device information. If you have computers on-premises, the information about them will not be synchronized by the Cloud Provisioning Agent. In addition, if you have a user on the cloud and he changes his password, that information should be written back to the on-premises instance. But that workflow cannot be done with the lightweight agent. It can only be done with the more robust version."
"There is a concept of cross-tenant trust relationships, which I believe Microsoft is actively pursuing. That is something which in the coming days and years to come by will be very key to the success of Azure Active Directory, because many organizations are going into mergers and acquisitions or spinning off new companies. They will still have to access the old tenant information because of multiple legal reasons, compliance reasons, and all those things. So, there should be some level of tenant-level trust functionality, where you can bring people from other tenants to access some part of your tenant application. So, that is an area which is growing. I believe Microsoft is actively pursuing this, and it will be an interesting piece."
"The subscription costs are quite high, so that area needs consideration."
"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."
"Microsoft Entra ID could benefit from more fine-tuned rights. It is necessary to prevent granting an application or user broad access rights."
"Entra ID needs to improve its application credentials and use of ID permissions. There are challenges with the management layer."
"The interface should be simplified and the dashboard has a lot of options but could be improved."
"Salesforce Identity needs more expertise in the application."
"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."
"The product is slow."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay an annual subscription fee."
"The price is affordable, and we pay around $100 per month."
"We got a good deal. If you get rid of all the products providing features that Azure Suite can provide, then it makes sense cost-wise."
"We don't really have a choice. It's the one shop in town. If you want this, you have to pay for it."
"Pricing-wise, they offer a stepladder approach. You can start with the lowest level features, then start increasing based on new requirements."
"The cost is billed on a per-user licensing basis."
"We are currently on the education plan, so the price is slightly better than the development plan."
"The price of Azure Active Directory and Amazon AWS, are almost the same, but most people prefer Amazon AWS because they find it's a little cheaper to some extent and an easier platform to use."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business80
Midsize Enterprise36
Large Enterprise132
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?
The cost of Microsoft Entra ID is around $8 per month, which I find very reasonable.
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, Okta, Ping Identity and others in Single Sign-On (SSO). Updated: October 2025.
871,829 professionals have used our research since 2012.