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Microsoft Entra External ID vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.0
Organizations saved time and costs with Microsoft Entra External ID, despite varied productivity impacts and integration learning curves.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery boosts ROI by improving data efficiency, compliance, risk management, and reducing legal and IT workloads.
It has led to cost savings as well as time savings because I can use a single solution for all applications.
Associate Director Automation at Dubai Holding
Companies can leverage it for setting up external identities without needing to develop their own solutions.
Lead Enterprise Architect at DigyCorp
In terms of return on investment, prior to using this product, our company managed our own mail server with all internal authentication happening on premises, resulting in a ROI in the thousands every year.
Network Security Administrator at a retailer with 51-200 employees
We have seen a 100% return on investment.
Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The ease of accessing necessary information promptly is the biggest return on investment.
Manager, Information Technology Operations & Security at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
It's hard to quantify the ROI in a dollar amount, but we realize value by doing more tasks in less time than we did before.
Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.9
Microsoft Entra External ID support experiences are mixed, with praise for knowledgeable staff but concerns about continuity and accessibility.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is praised for responsive support, despite some mixed experiences with wait times and outcomes.
Companies without a Microsoft license for Entra ID or Azure portal cannot add Azure AD B2C, creating logistical issues for some of my clients who are unable to evaluate the platform.
Consultant at Artifield
The support for business applications, infrastructure support, and Entra has been mostly positive with highly skilled technicians.
Sales Manager - Program Manger at Altitudo srl
The documentation is very thorough, reducing the need for support.
Cloud Security Consultant at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
I would rate Microsoft Purview eDiscovery's customer service and technical support a ten.
Is admin at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.2
Microsoft Entra External ID offers scalability and flexibility but faces latency issues and lacks some authentication methods.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is scalable and efficient, seamlessly integrating with cloud infrastructures but lacks some search functions.
This is one of EID's weak points compared to Azure AD B2C, which offers customizable authentication options, including attribute and password combinations.
Consultant at Artifield
End-user workloads experience increased latency in a cloud environment compared to on-premises resources.
Director at iicon ltd
Microsoft Entra External ID is quite scalable, and I would rate its scalability between eight and nine out of ten.
Lead Enterprise Architect at DigyCorp
It scales with us seamlessly.
Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees
With the E3 licensing, I would rate the scalability of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery as a six because it lacks certain critical search functionalities.
Is admin at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
5.2
Microsoft Entra External ID is a stable SaaS, rated 8-10/10, with minimal downtime, reliable except for occasional external issues.
Sentiment score
8.6
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is generally stable, with minor slowdowns, but users seek more transparency on performance issues.
I'd rate the stability of the Microsoft Entra External ID as a 10.
Director of Technology at a hospitality company with 51-200 employees
The stability of this solution is very good.
Associate Director Automation at Dubai Holding
I have not encountered any stability issues with Microsoft Entra External ID.
Lead Enterprise Architect at DigyCorp
For us, it has been one hundred percent reliable.
Manager, Information Technology Operations & Security at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is highly reliable.
Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Entra External ID needs cost reduction, faster sync, better security, improved SSO, UI, integration, support, and pricing clarity.
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery needs faster, more efficient features, better integration, NLP for queries, and affordable pricing for users.
This is particularly challenging during enterprise agreement renewals, as it's difficult for customers to review costs leading to lengthy negotiations.
Sales Manager - Program Manger at Altitudo srl
Enhanced customizable login options and the ability to use attribute password logins are critical features that are required for Microsoft Entra External ID to gain dominance in the authentication market.
Consultant at Artifield
I would like to see a more detailed alert system that provides a summary of why alerts are generated, who is generating them, and the reasons behind it.
Cloud Security Consultant at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Adding more features, as Microsoft continues to expand their cloud offerings, would be beneficial.
Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees
Defining what constitutes a credit card because that is where I get the most false positives.
Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We find that many critical functions are available only to E5 license holders.
Is admin at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Entra External ID pricing varies, cost-effective for some, expensive for others, challenging cloud transition impacts evaluation.
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery pricing is complex, with E5 costly yet beneficial, while E3 is cheaper but limited.
Regarding pricing, the cost seems high for single sign-on, especially for external applications like Oracle.
Associate Director Automation at Dubai Holding
Microsoft's pricing is complex and difficult to fathom due to a range of different licensing options.
Director at iicon ltd
The cost can be a factor for Microsoft Entra External ID, but in general, it offers a scalable and efficient solution compared to deploying individual solutions.
Lead Enterprise Architect at DigyCorp
With CSP or MCE-style agreements with Microsoft, the process is streamlined since we have reps from both Microsoft and CDW working together.
Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees
As an M3, I find the Purview pricing of 1250 per user worthwhile.
Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The pricing and licensing with Microsoft can be complex, and licensing is known to be a challenge because it changes frequently.
Enterprise Content Mamagement Lead Developer at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Entra External ID enhances security and efficiency by simplifying identity management and integration without on-premises infrastructure.
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery ensures efficient data retrieval with multi-platform integration, automation, compliance visibility, and adherence to global data privacy laws.
It is crucial for hybrid environments, especially for integrating existing on-site infrastructures with cloud-based Active Directory, such as in Office 365 implementations.
Director at iicon ltd
EID unifies workforce users with external business partners, which is a very strong feature.
Consultant at Artifield
The detailed monitoring and reporting in Microsoft Entra External ID support compliance efforts effectively.
Manager, Identity & Access Management at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is its ability to search across various platforms, including Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive.
Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees
Purview can connect to iOS, Mac, Android, and SaaS apps, which is critical for capturing SMS and MMS text message data.
Is admin at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Purview's inclusion of global regulations is critical because we're heavily regulated by FERC, Sarbanes-Oxley, and the SEC.
Enterprise Content Mamagement Lead Developer at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Entra External ID
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (10th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (5th)
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
22nd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
eDiscovery (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra External ID is 1.7%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is 1.8%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Entra External ID1.7%
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery1.8%
Other96.5%
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

FS
Consultant at Artifield
Offers strong identity unification but needs better customization
Microsoft Entra External ID can be improved with additional features, specifically customizable flexibility and a customizable user interface for the login dialog. Currently, the login dialog has very limited customization options, which only include font styles, colors, text messages, or brand icons. Last month, Entra ID introduced some customizable features in their login dialog, but this does not apply to Microsoft Entra External ID, indicating a significant gap between the two. In theory, Entra External ID can support many external identity providers where custom login dialogs could be integrated, potentially via SSO feature coordination, although I have not yet confirmed this. Hence, enhanced customizable login options and the ability to use attribute password logins are critical features that are required for Microsoft Entra External ID to gain dominance in the authentication market.
Frank Radeck - PeerSpot reviewer
Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees
Tasks that took an entire day before we implemented the solution now take just 30 minutes.
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is its ability to search across various platforms, including Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive. It enables a streamlined, unified process for searching across these platforms. It is critical for Purview to be able to connect to iOS, Mac, and Android devices and data in other SaaS apps. From a support perspective, I can do things while I'm eating lunch or something else. It's more dynamic and responsive. I think everybody appreciates it. We're not tied to one device. Purview's multi-cloud capabilities are also essential for the same reasons. Keeping everything under one umbrella further increases the time savings. Purview accounts for critical regulations from around the world. This is crucial because we hold ourselves accountable to standards and need to align with them. Working at a law firm, we have clients who dictate to us what standards they expect. The visibility is excellent. As we move more things into the cloud, more opportunities exist to put everything under one umbrella.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Entra External ID?
Microsoft is flexible in the pricing for the product, so I cannot say that it is expensive, but definitely they are flexible in the price lists and their ways of doing payments.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Entra External ID?
Not really at the moment, but perhaps when we go deeper into using Microsoft Entra External ID, we may experience some things we may not prefer. However, up to now, we have not encountered anything...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Entra External ID?
When I say identity, I mean Microsoft Entra External ID. We have been using Microsoft Entra External ID since the beginning of 2022. I am using it as a client. The purposes for using Microsoft Entr...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?
The setup process was very straightforward. We acquired pricing through our reseller in NASDAQ, eliminating the need to search for prices ourselves.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?
The query language can be time-consuming to figure out if you don't know it initially. While there are options with dropdowns to select criteria, having a natural language feature would be benefici...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?
I sometimes use it for legal holds or to find lost items, and to determine what is going on. However, most of the time, my use case is legal-related.
 

Also Known As

Azure Active Directory External Identities
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra External ID vs. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.