Microsoft Entra External ID vs Microsoft Purview Information Protection comparison

Microsoft Entra External ID vs. Microsoft Purview Information Protection

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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

26th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (13th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (7th)

Microsoft Purview Informati...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Governance (4th), Data Privacy Management Software (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra External ID is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Information Protection is 1.1%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

Corrado Vigano

Sales Manager - Program Manger at Altitudo srl

Solution integrates well with existing systems while being easy to use

The fact that it is quite integrated into the entire Microsoft environment makes it quite easy to use. Furthermore, Microsoft's reliability in providing a clear roadmap for the solution is very important, especially at a time when cybersecurity is a risk in every company. The solution is easy to reuse and not difficult to find expertise for in the market because it is widespread. It is gaining attention even from partners and from the market on the offering side. This serves as a good starting point for customers who can develop internal competence on the solution. Additionally, the presence of reliable partners who know the solution and can provide internal knowledge is the best aspect for them.

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Heidi Hasting

Mgr Data Engineering at Avanade

Provides an essential audit trail that helps prevent accidental exposure of sensitive data, but the changing product names are confusing

One of the key features of Microsoft Purview Information Protection is the auto-classification functionalities, although I have found them to be less effective in complex scenarios. The policy toggle, demanding justification for downgrading labels, provides an essential audit trail that helps prevent accidental exposure of sensitive data. The security tools integrate well. I like that you can scan several data or informational assets, such as your SharePoint list, Teams, etc., and bring them into Purview as a central repository. Partnering with other products, like Sentinel, for logging capability and inventory provides a service across the board. It's essential that Purview automatically prevents highly sensitive corporate secrets and data from being ingested into generative AI models, but the reality is that AI is a tool. It's problematic if consumers rely on a tool to protect them because they must be educated first. Regardless of the education, the employee might share the information anyway, so the AI shouldn't be the first point of failure. It should be a human making good decisions.

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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

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

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

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

"It's similar to using a Microsoft account to create accounts on other websites. We are also using Microsoft Entra to monitor which applications our guests are using. This allows us to filter, block, or adjust permissions for these applications as needed for our collaborators."

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

"It's quite easy to manage and monitor."

"I have not encountered any stability issues with Microsoft Entra External ID."

More Microsoft Entra External ID pros

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Purview Information Protection is its ability to respond to sensitive data shared on Teams chat by deleting the message, not just monitoring or logging."

"Incorporating data loss prevention capabilities built into the Microsoft platform to endpoints, such as Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers, can also help prevent data loss and is highly advantageous."

"Before using it, we had a lot of unlabeled data, and the tool helped us quickly and accurately label a large number of documents."

"Microsoft Purview Information Protection supports data classification, sensitivity labels, and data loss prevention."

"The scalability of Microsoft Purview Information Protection is excellent."

"It ensures that sensitive data is automatically safeguarded, even for email attachments, regardless of the user or device."

"I think Purview is incredibly stable."

"The reporting capabilities of Microsoft Purview are crucial. They provide insights into potentially non-compliant situations and suggest ways to rectify them. The solution helps to automate many tasks, allowing human operators to focus on areas where they offer the most value."

More Microsoft Purview Information Protection pros

Cons

"A common concern among the customers I visit is the unpredictability of Microsoft's costs at every renewal. This is really bothersome for the customer, and I would say it is the worst element I have seen in these years."

"Technical support needs improvement."

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

"The cost is very high."

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

"Single sign-on for external applications such as Oracle could be improved to be a little bit cheaper."

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

"The quality of Microsoft customer support varies. With an enterprise contract, good resources are usually provided, especially in regions like Saudi Arabia or UAE. However, we have faced challenges with support quality, especially in some subcontinent areas where the resources might not be as experienced."

More Microsoft Entra External ID cons

"During the initial setup, I found the lack of policy segregation at the sub-site level for DLP policies to be a challenge."

"I wouldn't recommend Microsoft Purview Information Protection for petabytes of documents as performance might be affected."

"There is potential for more integration in the use of AI."

"Purview could better integrate with third-party tools, but I don't have a specific use case for that because It's currently integrated into the managed services we offer to Microsoft customers using E5 licenses."

"Microsoft customer service is hit or miss. Sometimes, I get a fast and knowledgeable response, while other times, I've experienced delays and received no resolution."

"Scalability is affected by the time it takes to update policies."

"Microsoft Purview Information Protection can improve in terms of scan concurrency and scan processing time."

More Microsoft Purview Information Protection cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The pricing and setup costs are transferred to my clients, who find it affordable and are satisfied with what they receive."

"Initially, Purview's cost seemed quite high because it was for personal use. I was scanning a tiny tenant and thinking, "If I extrapolate this to an enterprise-scale tenant, it will be quite costly." However, I talked to people who had compared it to other products on the market, and they're spending five figures to get started. At least, Purview has a free trial, so you can try some of the features early on."

"The tool's pricing is fairly low, less than 100,000 for a year."

"The price is determined by the enterprise licensing, either the E3 or E5 licensing or the EMS plus security and other feature licensing."

"The tool's pricing is not a problem for customers because they often purchase it as part of a bundle. With an E5 license, for example, users get access to the entire functionality. This is one of the main reasons why many customers are choosing Microsoft."

"The product is affordable, and our clients agree. Sensitivity labels come with the MIP license at an additional $2 a month per user, an excellent deal for auto-labeling capabilities."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

12%

Retailer

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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

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.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Entra External ID?

Some areas where Microsoft Entra External ID could improve include cost and enhanced security for integration with federated logins like LinkedIn and Gmail.

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

I am working on a project for a university where we are trying to create a digital twin of a coral reef restoration project in Saudi Arabia. This involves using a big data platform and developing a...

What do you like most about Microsoft Purview Information Protection?

It ensures that sensitive data is automatically safeguarded, even for email attachments, regardless of the user or device.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Information Protection?

The pricing is not very high and is considered fine. Microsoft offers different licensing options. AIP Plan 2 is used for critical users. The AIP is included in the business standard license for cl...

What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Information Protection?

The most difficult part in the labeling solution is the lack of direct PDF support on Macs, whereas on Windows, a Purview agent can label PDFs. This should be improved to support PDF protection on ...

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Product Reports

Microsoft Entra External ID

Download Microsoft Entra External ID product report

Microsoft Purview Information Protection

Download Microsoft Purview Information Protection product report

Microsoft Purview Information Protection report

Also Known As

Azure Active Directory External Identities

Microsoft Information Protection

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

Implement Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) to help you discover, classify, and protect sensitive information wherever it lives or travels.

MIP capabilities are included with Microsoft 365 Compliance and give you the tools to know your data, protect your data, and prevent data loss.

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 Information Protection