Microsoft Entra External ID vs Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance comparison

Microsoft Entra External ID vs. Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance

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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 External ID

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

21st

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (8th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (4th)

Microsoft Purview Communica...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

30th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

GRC (8th), Digital Risk Protection (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra External ID is 1.3%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Entra External ID	1.3%
Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance	0.4%
Other	98.3%

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

Suresh Kumar Subramaniyan

Manager, Identity & Access Management at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Has supported secure access but still lacks full coverage for external identity challenges

The user experience is acceptable, but Microsoft Entra External ID is not a full-fledged IGA solution. We use different products for complete Identity Governance Administration. Microsoft Entra External ID is suitable for small-scale enterprises implementing identity lifecycle management since most have Active Directory. However, there are several challenges. The out-of-the-box connector has limited features for applications, requiring us to build scheme connectors. While small-scale enterprises can benefit from Microsoft Entra External ID's Identity Governance solution, large-scale enterprises might need different tools from leading market vendors such as SailPoint or Saviynt. Customers face particular challenges with contractor and B2B accounts. Microsoft Entra External ID isn't a complete cloud-based account solution, as it must handle internal employees and collaborate with internal Active Directory. There are delays in the identity lifecycle process, especially for contract partners during onboarding and off-boarding. This might be due to back-end syncing with Active Directory. B2B account removal and provisioning take considerable time. Access governance, particularly access certification for guest users, is time-consuming. Multi-factor authentication enforcement also presents challenges for external users.

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Rey Vazquez

Vice President of Technology at Park Avenue Finance

Creates robust rules for communication and data security, boosting compliance measures

I was talking with some engineer from Microsoft about how we can audit our web page. They create or add to Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance that part, the Layer seven of the OSI model, to check the application and maintain a good practice of coding. I've tried the web page part, and it works great. However, monitoring and compliance for web applications could be improved.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature for me is the firewall capabilities."

"The fact that it is quite integrated into the entire Microsoft environment makes it quite easy to use."

"The single sign-on access is the most useful feature we use."

"Microsoft Entra External ID is more secure, offering a secure environment."

"The most beneficial feature for us is the ease of setup. With about five clicks, we can generate unique IDs and keys and set up in less than 30 minutes. We can also generate these for multiple years simultaneously, which is convenient."

"The positive impact of Microsoft Entra External ID on my organization is that it enhances ease of use for the administrative side."

"The most valuable feature for me is the firewall capabilities."

More Microsoft Entra External ID pros

"Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance helps with extra collaboration and ensures communication is within the framework."

"Customer support is excellent."

"The time it saves is very useful."

"The features I appreciate the most in Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance include the ability to build cases, give them dates, and find them based on the notes that I left behind."

Cons

"The problem with Microsoft products is that they often cater to enterprise-level needs, which can be too costly for medium-sized businesses."

"I would like to see faster synchronization."

"The training generally is complicated to understand, leading us to often go through a managed service provider."

"I generally find Microsoft solutions expensive, especially in specific offerings."

"Microsoft's pricing is complex and difficult to fathom due to a range of different licensing options."

"The only problem that you might face with Microsoft now is their complex licensing model."

"There is room for improvement in AI technology for Microsoft Entra External ID, particularly in providing detailed alerts."

"There have been a couple of times when it was unavailable because of Microsoft issues, but other than that, I don't remember any problems."

More Microsoft Entra External ID cons

"The product should incorporate more automation with the help of AI."

"Monitoring and compliance for web applications could be improved."

"Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance can be improved by having more tutorials available for those who aren't used to using this platform."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We don't pay separately for Microsoft Entra External ID as it's part of our Microsoft Exchange subscription."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	6

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Entra External ID?

The only problem that you might face with Microsoft now is their complex licensing model.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Entra External ID?

For the last four or five years, I have been in an IT manager function, focusing on making things happen and having technical persons execute tasks. In the last three months, I have transitioned to...

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Entra External ID?

I am looking for a new solution and investigating existing products. We are already working with Microsoft Intune and SOTI. I have been working in the past with a Kaseya product, specifically Datto...

What do you like most about Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance?

Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance helps with extra collaboration and ensures communication is within the framework.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance?

What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance?

Overall, I rate Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance at a nine. I highly recommend it to anyone due to its robust system and valuable resources for IT security, risk assessment, and data mana...

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Product Reports

Microsoft Entra External ID

Download Microsoft Entra External ID product report

GRC

Download Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance product report

Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance report

Also Known As

Azure Active Directory External Identities

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Entra External ID, part of Microsoft Entra, provides highly secure digital experiences for partners, customers, citizens, patients, or any users outside your organization with customization controls. Combine external identities and user directories in one portal to seamlessly manage access across the organization.

Microsoft Entra External ID refers to all the ways you can securely interact with users outside of your organization. If you want to collaborate with partners, distributors, suppliers, or vendors, you can share your resources and define how your internal users can access external organizations. If you're a developer creating consumer-facing apps, you can manage your customers' identity experiences.

With External ID, external users can "bring their own identities." Whether they have a corporate or government-issued digital identity, or an unmanaged social identity like Google or Facebook, they can use their own credentials to sign in. The external user’s identity provider manages their identity, and you manage access to your apps with Entra ID or Entra External ID to keep your resources protected.

The following capabilities make up External ID:

B2B collaboration - Collaborate with external users by letting them use their preferred identity to sign in to your Microsoft applications or other enterprise applications (SaaS apps, custom-developed apps, etc.). B2B collaboration users are represented in your directory, typically as guest users.
B2B direct connect - Establish a mutual, two-way trust with another Azure AD organization for seamless collaboration. B2B direct connect currently supports Teams shared channels, enabling external users to access your resources from within their home instances of Teams. B2B direct connect users aren't represented in your directory, but they're visible from within the Teams shared channel and can be monitored in Teams admin center reports.
Azure AD B2C - Publish modern SaaS apps or custom-developed apps (excluding Microsoft apps) to consumers and customers, while using Azure AD B2C for identity and access management.

Microsoft

Communication Compliance is an insider risk solution in Microsoft 365 that helps minimize communication risks by helping you detect, capture, and act on inappropriate messages in your organization. Pre-defined and custom policies allow you to scan internal and external communications for policy matches so they can be examined by designated reviewers. Reviewers can investigate scanned email, Microsoft Teams, Yammer, or third-party communications in your organization and take appropriate actions to make sure they're compliant with your organization's message standards.

Communication Compliance policies in Microsoft 365 help you overcome many modern challenges associated with compliance and internal and external communications, including:

-Scanning increasing types of communication channels
-The increasing volume of message data
-Regulatory enforcement and the risk of fines

Additionally, there may be a separation of duties between your IT admins and your compliance management team. Communication Compliance supports the separation between configuration of policies and the investigation and review of messages. For example, the IT group for your organization may be responsible for setting up communication compliance role permissions, groups, and policies and investigators and reviewers may be responsible for message triage, review, and mitigation actions.

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Microsoft

Microsoft Entra External ID vs. Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance