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Google Cloud Identity and Access Management vs Microsoft Entra ID 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

Google Cloud Identity and A...
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
23rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Entra ID
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
266
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Identity Management (IM) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Identity and Access Management is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 9.3%, down from 12.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Management (IM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Entra ID9.3%
Google Cloud Identity and Access Management0.3%
Other90.4%
Identity Management (IM)
 

Featured Reviews

NB
Hybrid Cloud Engineer at RealPage
Seamless integration with cloud identity enhances access management and simplifies task management
The most valuable features in Google Cloud Identity and Access Management include Smart Access control, which automatically detects permissions, and rightsizing. Cloud Identity facilitates access to Google Cloud, and the governance policies are good. I also find the programmatic command line features, such as the G Cloud command-line tool, valuable as it simplifies tasks and makes them easy to manage.
JP
Senior Information Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Implementing seamless integration boosts secure access and supports Zero Trust
What I appreciate the most about Microsoft Entra ID is that it integrates seamlessly with all the Defender products and is easy to use. Microsoft Entra ID's integration capabilities influence our Zero Trust model by allowing us to enforce our Zero Trust model. Conditional access policies allow us to leverage Microsoft Entra ID to verify that devices signing in to our cloud services are coming from registered devices, and that people are passing all the other requirements we have in order to complete sign-on or conditional access policies. Since implementing Microsoft Entra ID, I've observed changes in the frequency and nature of identity-related security incidents. The organization already had it implemented when I arrived, and I've been working to enhance it. Better configuration of Microsoft Entra ID has allowed us to better protect our organization from threats. Having it alone isn't a solution, but ensuring proper configuration goes a long way in preventing future compromises. My company's approach to defending against token theft and nation-state attacks has evolved since implementing Microsoft Entra ID. We haven't experienced any known compromises from nation-state attacks, and implementing newer features gives me more confidence in our protection. Regarding device-bound passkeys in Microsoft Authenticator and our approach to phishing-resistant authentication, we are currently implementing Microsoft Entra ID certificate-based authentication. Adding a strong form of MFA is important as we found it to be the most cost-effective way. While other solutions might be equally or more secure, they are significantly more expensive. Having worked as an IT consultant mainly with the Microsoft stack across various industries, I have experience with different identity management solutions. Microsoft Entra ID remains the best option. The major advantages when comparing it to Okta include integration with Defender products, Defender for Identities' integration with conditional access policies, and insider threat management integration for blocking sign-ins based on risk factors. The enhancement of Microsoft Entra ID's implementation is relatively straightforward. My main concern is the occasional lack of documentation and the frequency of changes, which can make feature location challenging.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Overall, I rate the solution at ten out of ten."
"The most valuable features in Google Cloud Identity and Access Management include Smart Access control, which automatically detects permissions, and rightsizing."
"It has been very instrumental towards a lot of services we run, especially on the single sign-on side. For example, we have 160 countries that all run their own IT but we still are able to provide users with a single sign-on experience towards global applications. So, they have a certain set of accounts that they get from their local IT department, then they use exactly the same account and credentials to sign into global services. For the user, it has been quite instrumental in that space. It is about efficiency, but also about users not having to remember multiple accounts and passwords since it is all single sign-on. Therefore, the single sign-on experience for us has been the most instrumental for the end user experience."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Entra ID is its security options, where we can provide highly effective security for user accounts during authentication."
"The two-step authentication is the most valuable."
"We need something that makes an attacker's life harder."
"Microsoft Authenticator is highly secure."
"We use BitLocker for policy enforcement. And now, because of the Microsoft 365 Business Premium package, we get Intune as a part of it. That's very useful for us for setting policies and managing the systems. The biggest strength of Azure AD is Intune."
"Entra's conditional access policies allow us to fine-tune how we allow people into the environments and secure them."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to deploy and make changes to every workstation that I need to. We use it to control policy and I can apply the right policies to all our 1,500 workstations, notebooks, et cetera."
 

Cons

"I find Google Cloud Identity and Access Management's pricing to be on the expensive side, rating it as seven out of ten. However, if the price could be made cheaper as more clients are included, it would be beneficial."
"I find Google Cloud Identity and Access Management's pricing to be on the expensive side"
"They can improve how people manage their accounts. They can simplify and provide more information about adding or updating a phone number or email id in the MSA account. A lot of time users do get confused about where to go. For example, if I've changed my mobile number, where do I go and change my mobile number in the MSA account? A lot of time, employees think if they change the phone number in the HR database, it'll automatically get changed on the MSA account, which is not the case. Microsoft can simplify that and add these questions in the FAQ documents as well."
"The solution can improve the educational portion because it is an administration cost."
"I would rate Microsoft's technical support on the lower side. While some responses are quick and satisfactory, there have been occasions where issues took weeks or circles to resolve, sometimes closing and reopening without resolution."
"The quality of support is regular. If you contact Microsoft support directly for Microsoft Entra ID, it's faster, but when you do it through a partner, it takes more time."
"Azure Active Directory could improve the two-factor authentication."
"Definitely, the price could be lower. When we moved from AWS to Azure, we started paying more."
"I would rate my customer service and technical support as six out of ten, noting that level two support is really poor while everything else above that is good."
"Customers should be informed that public review features are not intended for production use."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"MFA and P2 licenses for two Azures for fully-enabled scenarios and features cost a lot of money. This is where Okta is trying to get the prices down."
"The price is affordable, and we pay around $100 per month."
"It's pretty good. We're using the native features. It's bundled with our Office 365 licenses. We aren't paying anything extra for Azure Active Directory. It's pretty good for us because it's complementary to Office 365. We're only paying for Office 365."
"Its price is per user. It is also based on the type of user that you're synchronizing up there."
"The P1 version costs $6 per user per month."
"There are add-on components and services, such as identity services, that we have to add to our Azure subscription. Only then can I actually say it's on par with the on-prem server edition. Why should I pay for a component? It should be included in my subscription."
"The cost of Azure AD is one of the biggest benefits, as it is available for use free of charge when you start with Office 365."
"We are currently on the education plan, so the price is slightly better than the development plan."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business85
Midsize Enterprise38
Large Enterprise155
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Identity and Access Management?
I find Google Cloud Identity and Access Management's pricing to be on the expensive side, rating it as seven out of ten. However, if the price could be made cheaper as more clients are included, it...
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Identity and Access Management?
As of now, I did not find anything that needs improvement. Google's solution started four years ago, and I've only been working more comprehensively with it for two years. It's not bad, it is actua...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Identity and Access Management?
We have a tool called CyberArk. From CyberArk, I take the link and open it from this solution. It links to AD, the domain controller, enabling us to connect to Google Cloud Platform.
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 the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Entra ID is that it is decent.
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory?
I think Microsoft Entra ID could be improved by assigning permissions to nested groups in the next release.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. Atlassian2. Cisco3. Coca-Cola4. Dell5. Equinix6. GE7. Google8. IBM9. Intel10. JPMorgan Chase11. LinkedIn12. Microsoft13. Netflix14. Oracle15. PayPal16. SAP17. Siemens18. Spotify19. Tesla20. Toyota21. Twitter22. Visa23. Walt Disney24. WeWork25. World Bank26. Xerox27. Zynga
Microsoft Entre ID is trusted by companies of all sizes and industries including Walmart, Zscaler, Uniper, Amtrak, monday.com, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Cloud Identity and Access Management vs. Microsoft Entra ID and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.