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CyberArk Certificate Manager vs Microsoft Entra ID comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 14, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
2.8
CyberArk Certificate Manager reduces risks, automates tasks, boosts efficiency, cuts outages by 80%, and enhances resource allocation with automation.
Sentiment score
7.4
Companies achieve cost savings and enhanced security using Microsoft Entra ID by reducing hardware costs and streamlining operations.
With Venafi, it wasn't about saving time but achieving functionality that was otherwise impossible, such as distributing certificates without manual intervention.
Systems Engineer at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
We leverage existing licensing, like Windows Server or SQL, and hybrid benefits, and our sales and marketing teams benefit from co-selling and partnership advantages.
Cloud Engineer at Med Tech Solutions
We get a return from not needing to pay other vendors to do what we already had from Microsoft, which was better than the competition.
Lead Architect, Chief Technology Officer Office at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
By eliminating the need for multiple VPN channels and enabling direct work from Azure servers, we have achieved approximately 30% efficiency savings.
Infrastructure Specialist at Renova AB
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.8
CyberArk Certificate Manager's technical support is fast and competent, though regional limitations affect responsiveness after acquisition.
Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Entra ID's support varies; premium users often benefit, but experiences largely depend on agent expertise and plan.
Inquiries are typically addressed the same day, with most issues, even complex ones, resolved within 24 hours.
Global Security Systems Consultant at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Venafi's technical support is excellent, with even their first-tier support being in-house and highly competent.
Systems Engineer at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
Their technical support is knowledgeable and helpful, making Venafi stand out among other CyberArk products.
Solution Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
The actual support when you get to that level is a ten out of ten.
Senior Consultant at Convergeone
There are immediate answers to any issues that arise with great knowledge and a deep understanding of the product and business needs.
Lead Architect, Chief Technology Officer Office at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
They usually try to deflect, buy time, and often do not address the problem immediately.
Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.5
CyberArk Certificate Manager is highly scalable, supporting millions of certificates and users effectively, despite some initial integration challenges.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Entra ID offers seamless scalability and integration, efficiently handling varying user volumes and organizational growth without challenges.
This role-based access control enhances scalability and efficiency by providing a focused view of necessary information.
Global Security Systems Consultant at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Horizontal scaling is a necessity rather than vertical scaling.
Solution Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Scalability with Venafi is good; you can definitely use it if you have ten thousand certs, a thousand certs, a million, or a couple million.
Senior Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
We experienced no scalability issues with Microsoft Entra ID.
Technical architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Its scalability is impressive, aided by Microsoft's efforts to expand its data centers.
Cloud Architect at Palmer College of Chiropractic-Davenport
When dealing with tens of thousands of objects, it requires proper management and best practices to retrieve only necessary data.
Senior Developer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
5.5
CyberArk Certificate Manager is stable with minor bugs and outages, slightly better rated on-prem than cloud-based.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Entra ID is highly reliable, with users praising its stability, low downtime, and swift issue resolution.
Venafi's stability has been consistently reliable.
Global Security Systems Consultant at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Venafi is a stable product. It's definitely more stable than others.
Senior Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
I observed that in the last year, CyberArk Certificate Manager was down two to three times without any notification.
Certified Ethical Hacker at Skillogic
It's a critical solution that we can't do without.
Cloud Principal & Infrastructure Specialist at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I haven't experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues with Microsoft Entra ID.
Director, Modern Workplace at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The stability of the solution is very high at 99.999%.
Senior Consultant at Convergeone
 

Room For Improvement

CyberArk Certificate Manager requires improved cloud integration, simplified installation, enhanced documentation, responsive support, and effective feedback channels.
Microsoft Entra ID needs improved promotion, documentation, usability, integration, and support for biometric authentication, onboarding, and multi-platform environments.
Expanding the range of out-of-the-box integrations would significantly improve the user experience.
Global Security Systems Consultant at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
The yearly DNS verification required by certificate authorities necessitates manual intervention, hindering full automation.
Systems Engineer at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
They are pushing for cloud adoption, but we prefer on-premises solutions due to regulatory concerns.
Solution Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
A recent incident we dealt with took four months to resolve with a seven-day deadline, which was quite frustrating.
Cloud Principal & Infrastructure Specialist at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Synchronization issues occasionally occur, making it challenging to analyze logs and pinpoint the exact problem.
Senior Nutrition Officer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
There is a need for better transformation support from on-premises Active Directory policies to the cloud, as Entra ID doesn't cover this sufficiently yet.
Sales Representative at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find CyberArk Certificate Manager's pricing competitive and fair, but complex, with varying satisfaction levels and budget impacts.
Microsoft Entra ID offers scalable pricing with integrated options in Microsoft 365, providing cost-efficient identity management for enterprises.
Venafi offers good value for the cost.
Global Security Systems Consultant at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
The pricing has increased for us, impacting our organization due to its operational expenditure (OPEX).
Solution Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
For our budget, Venafi's cost is moderate. It's not expensive as internal certificate generation is free, and we only pay for the public CA certificate signer and for storage in Venafi.
Software Development Engineer 2 at Expedia Group
We are getting our money's worth.
Cloud Architect at Palmer College of Chiropractic-Davenport
Microsoft sets pricing based on customer demand, adjusting to find the optimal balance between sales volume and profit per unit, similar to how Costco manages product prices.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
Most features of Entra ID are part of Microsoft's ecosystem and included in Microsoft 365 bundles, which means there are no additional costs associated with pricing and licensing.
Senior Consultant at Convergeone
 

Valuable Features

CyberArk Certificate Manager automates certificate processes, enhancing efficiency and compliance, integrating seamlessly to reduce errors and save time.
Microsoft Entra ID offers seamless integration, multifactor authentication, and centralized management with enhanced security and user-friendly administration.
The most valuable feature of Venafi is the automation that helps save time and reduce human error.
Global Security Systems Consultant at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
It ensures centralized certificate management, which is crucial for compliance and maintaining best practices.
Systems Engineer at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
What I like best about Venafi is that it's very easy to get somebody on a call and get any of my questions answered.
Senior Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
We can secure the applications that we are building and make sure that if the application were to be compromised, there is no full access to a customer's environment causing issues and other security concerns.
Senior Consultant at Convergeone
It's integrated with Microsoft technologies like Authenticator, SSO, and MFA, streamlining operations and creating a seamless environment.
Vice President, Sales & Cloud at Aztek
The granular control, such as preventing logins from specific locations, enhances security significantly.
Cloud Architect at Palmer College of Chiropractic-Davenport
 

Categories and Ranking

CyberArk Certificate Manager
Ranking in Authentication Systems
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Certificate Management Software (3rd)
Microsoft Entra ID
Ranking in Authentication Systems
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
266
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Identity Management (IM) (2nd), 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 Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of CyberArk Certificate Manager is 1.8%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 8.2%, down from 16.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Entra ID8.2%
CyberArk Certificate Manager1.8%
Other90.0%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2600361 - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Security Systems Consultant at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
The reporting capabilities are crucial in helping us meet regulatory compliance requirements
Certificate Manager is generally user-friendly. While administrators require some training, the end-user experience is intuitive. Certificate Manager provides comprehensive user guides with step-by-step instructions, but most users can easily navigate the platform and complete tasks without consulting documentation. The automation capabilities have significantly improved our workflow by automating the installation of certificates on servers, endpoints, load balancers, and cloud workspaces. This automation has eliminated the need to manually install certificates on each device, saving us valuable time and resources. Automation helps reduce human error by providing a clear validation trail. For example, within a certificate object, we can easily see where a certificate was installed, such as in AWS or on a load balancer. This automated validation ensures accurate tracking and eliminates the need for manual verification, which can be unreliable and prone to errors. Certificate Manager simplifies certificate renewal by offering a seamless process that allows users to renew certificates with a single click. We saw the benefits of Certificate Manager immediately after deploying it, as our previous solution was inadequate. The reporting feature alone significantly improved, allowing us to track every certificate. Certificate Manager's discovery feature also proved invaluable, identifying certificates on our systems that we were unaware of. This allowed us to import them into Certificate Manager, monitor their expiration dates, assign owners, and communicate with those owners about renewals or compliance issues, such as the use of self-signed certificates. By proactively addressing these issues, we ensured the security and compliance of our certificates from day one. Certificate Manager's reporting capabilities are crucial in helping us meet regulatory compliance requirements. Their signing algorithm report allows us to scan every certificate within our organization to identify any out-of-compliance, such as self-signed certificates. This enables us to locate the certificate owner, have them rectify the issue, and update the certificate in Certificate Manager. The comprehensive reporting facilitates the identification and resolution of any compliance concerns. Certificate Manager's reporting mechanisms help us reduce our mean time to respond by quickly identifying and addressing compliance issues and compromised certificates. We can locate the certificate owner and promptly fix any non-compliant certificates. In the event of a compromised certificate, Certificate Manager enables us to create a new one swiftly, deploy it to servers or cloud workspaces, and renew and install it within minutes. Certificate Manager helped us reduce risk exposure by migrating all identified self-signed certificates to trusted certificate authorities during our discovery process, mitigating any associated risks. We would be overwhelmed if we had to install all these certificates manually on each endpoint. Certificate Manager automates this process, eliminating the need for constant monitoring and freeing up our time significantly. With Certificate Manager, we simply initiate the process and let it run, saving us the equivalent of two additional employees. While Certificate Managers services come at a cost, the increased efficiency ultimately saves us the expense of hiring two additional employees. Certificate Manager has a minimal learning curve. New users can typically log in and navigate the product without guidance, with only about 10 percent requiring minor assistance.
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.
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business85
Midsize Enterprise38
Large Enterprise155
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Venafi?
The pricing is minimal compared to other platforms. There are no problems regarding pricing.
What needs improvement with Venafi?
It would be better if they could notify each member whenever any ongoing activity is happening. I have been using it for the past four years, and I haven't received any messages about issues on Cyb...
What advice do you have for others considering Venafi?
I didn't notice any time saved on satisfying the compliance requirements. To safeguard the infrastructure from any attacks, I suggest that everyone should maintain individual certificates for their...
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?
My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Entra ID is that it is decent.
 

Also Known As

Venafi
Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Surescripts, CME Group, TD Bank Group, Aetna, MoneyGram, Zions Bancorp, Cisco
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 CyberArk Certificate Manager vs. Microsoft Entra ID and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.