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Frontegg vs Microsoft Active Directory comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 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

Frontegg
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
20th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (34th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (14th)
Microsoft Active Directory
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
Active Directory Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Frontegg is 1.7%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Active Directory is 2.9%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Active Directory2.9%
Frontegg1.7%
Other95.4%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

it_user1658712 - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder & CTO at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Great granularity for roles and permissions and is multi-tenant by design
Today the features we’re using the most include the registration page, user and tenants management (including storing custom data on the tenant level to use as “feature flags”), and the admin portal. I like the admin portal since it allows us a full-stack solution for user management. The frontend side is a major benefit that I am happy I can give my customers from day one, without compromising. It helps us grow fast and focus our dev team on the core product while providing important user infrastructure to our customers. Another important benefit we discovered is the ease of integration. The integration with Frontegg is almost immediate, and the support is great. If you’re thinking of developing it on your own, don’t.
Eko Kurniawan - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Operations & Security at veris
Has simplified credential management and improved secure access control across departments
The features I find most useful in Microsoft Active Directory are especially for the Single Sign-On. This is very useful for users, particularly if they have plenty of applications, such as tablet applications. When they log in to their computer, the application will automatically log in with their credentials. They don't need to remember another user and password to log in to the application because it's already maintained with Microsoft Active Directory using Single Sign-On. To assess the impact of Microsoft Active Directory's centralized domain management on security protocols and access permissions, Microsoft Active Directory itself has constraints with security because when we have a solution such as SSO or Single Sign-On, which makes it easier for users to log in, some parts have security openings. When their computer is compromised with a threat, malware, or other cyber threats, it becomes easier to enter the application without login permission.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has Audit Log and many cool features that if we were to develop them by ourselves, it would require a lot of research and development resources. Frontegg gives us everything we need to ensure that our customers have a safe and reliable authentication system in which they can also manage some of the features and roles by themself which gives them more control over their environment."
"The frontend side is a major benefit that I am happy I can give my customers from day one, without compromising."
"We like the SSO, permissions and roles, multiple workspaces, and react login components."
"SaaS companies like ours can just focus on what matters and not spend time on building SaaS essentials such as audit logs, SSO etc."
"Frontegg's solution fits us very well, as it removes the extra work of developing, maintaining, storing, and securing all of the user-management platforms."
"Every feature is multi-tenant by design, making different customer requests effortless to provide."
"The admin portal layer is super useful and saves valuable front-end development time."
"Their developers were always willing to meet even though we are in very different time zones."
"We can also have separate domain controllers in different Active Directory sites based on their location."
"One noteworthy aspect we discovered is the ability to exercise tight control over systems, specifically Windows PCs. This pertains to the management of policies, usage patterns, and user access on these devices, particularly within the framework of Active Directory which is extremely well thought. This actually works better with on-premises solutions. However, as the global trend shifts towards cloud and hybrid environments, Active Directory and its use is diminishing. Yet, it hasn't entirely lost its relevance and remains a presence that cannot be entirely disregarded."
"The scalability of the solution is high...The initial setup of the solution is easy, and I would rate it an eight or nine out of ten on a scale of one to ten, where one being difficult and ten being easy."
"We use the tool for FSMO, policies, and customized user registrations."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The user-friendliness of Microsoft Active Directory is a valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is an easy-to-use tool."
"The solution is stable."
 

Cons

"We're hoping to see more user management-related features, according to Frontegg's roadmap."
"We really like the ability to add the same user across tenants. From a UX perspective, the flow can be betterized."
"The PHP SDK is limited."
"The web interface is missing a way to delete a workspace. I have accidentally created a workspace and was not able to delete it. It's a minor thing that should be supported."
"It would be nice to have a export button to file with all tenants/users so that in case of a disaster we will have the option to restore the users from file."
"Frontegg is fairly stable, however, we are looking forward to some promised capabilities, such as more tightly integrated Feature Flag support."
"The PHP SDK is limited. It's not a huge deal as we can just use their web API directly, but it is something to note if you're using PHP.‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎"
"There is room for improvement in the support."
"Microsoft Active Directory restricts most of the features our company's employees want to use since they are involved in research and development activities."
"Sometimes when we create email groups in Microsoft Active Directory and add someone to that group, it takes around 24 to 48 hours for their email account to be synchronized with their Microsoft Office 365 shared mailbox, distribution list, or group."
"Sometimes, it can be overly complicated, and when you apply Group Policy in an Active Directory environment, sometimes those settings apply and sometimes they don't."
"The solution could be made more safe by using authentication mechanisms."
"They should improve the solution's old computer cleanup tool."
"There has been a change in the layout of the user information. Previously, I had to go to properties to view the information, but now it is displayed directly below the search results. It takes some time to get used to."
"I expect additional features like maximizing user flow, improving the branding of the UI, and enabling non-interactive login. Customizing the login page is limited to changing the background and logo, and adding terms and conditions during registration requires JavaScript."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It's not overly expensive. It's considered a base function by Microsoft."
"I'm unsure about the cost of the solution, as I was never involved in that aspect. However, I don't think it would be expensive. It might be average, around four or five out of ten."
"The license is perpetual and the cost is minimal. If you purchase Microsoft Windows then Microsoft Active Directory comes with the package."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten."
"I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten."
"Active Directory is built-in into Microsoft Windows 10. I'm not an administrator and would not be involved in purchasing decisions for new versions of the software. I have only used the client portion of it, I do not know if there is a cost to using the solution."
"Microsoft Active Directory is not an expensive solution."
"The license per user can probably be reduced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with Microsoft Active Directory?
The best way to protect this is to use Microsoft Defender. For Microsoft support for Microsoft Active Directory, I would rate it as eight. If I give it 10, it would be too perfect. Eight is fair. M...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Active Directory?
My main use cases for Microsoft Active Directory are to manage user access and credentials.
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Active Directory?
Regarding Microsoft Active Directory's integration with third-party applications, it depends on the requirements. It's not always linked or combined with Microsoft Active Directory. In my experienc...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Frontegg vs. Microsoft Active Directory and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.