Microsoft Entra External ID vs Netwrix Identity Manager comparison

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.

Netwrix Identity Manager is a SaaS-based identity governance and administration (IGA) solution that automates and governs human and non-human identities across on premises and cloud environments. It streamlines joiner, mover, and leaver processes, including provisioning, role changes, and deprovisioning, while supporting policy-driven and role-based access controls.

The solution centralizes identity data into a unified governance model that provides visibility into identity lifecycles, roles, and entitlements across enterprise systems. Using business and technical role models, it helps ensure users receive appropriate access based on job function, department, and organizational structure. Built-in segregation of duties (SoD) controls detect and help prevent conflicting access rights before they introduce risk. 

Netwrix Identity Manager supports automated access certification campaigns with remediation workflows, orphan account detection, and continuous policy validation. Customizable workflows and extensible connectors integrate with HR systems, directories, business applications, and cloud platforms to automate end-to-end identity lifecycle processes. 

Comprehensive reporting and analytics generate a detailed audit trail to support compliance efforts and maintain consistent, governed access at scale. 

Key use cases 

• Govern human and non-human identities from a unified IGA platform

• Automate joiner, mover, and leaver workflows with role-based access control

• Identify and remediate excessive access, dormant accounts, and SoD violations

• Conduct periodic access reviews with automated remediation and audit-ready reporting 

• Integrate with HR systems and enterprise applications to automate lifecycle management 

• Centralize identity data to enforce consistent, policy-driven access controls