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Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Entra ID Governance comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 2, 2024

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 ID
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
235
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (2nd), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
Microsoft Entra ID Governance
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
12th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 25.6%, down from 28.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID Governance is 2.3%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

Bahram Piri - PeerSpot reviewer
Security focus and seamless implementation increase platform productivity
Microsoft Entra ID can be improved in many ways, and there's a big wish list.If we're focusing on security, something that I definitely expect is improvement in the UI and UX for frontline workers. This is important, especially for non-tech savvy individuals. It is something Microsoft Entra ID could do to improve for a wider audience. It's important to focus on the frontline workers since they are non-tech savvy individuals. They are not like those back-office engineering C-level employees who are constantly dealing with computers, and we need to build a specific user experience and user interface for them to handle this stuff. That's something I expect Microsoft to focus on more for Microsoft Entra ID.
William Kox - PeerSpot reviewer
Great policies and timelines for streamlined compliance
There are some areas where improvements are necessary. Even though we have almost the full package, there are some bugs. I cannot directly perform some tasks from the portal. First, I have to go to the policy, change it, and then return to the package to add it. I cannot do it directly from the package. Workarounds are needed, so that can be improved. At the moment, that is the only issue we are facing that needs enhancement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The security and compliance features are very helpful. The online information on the site is well documented."
"The implementation of device-bound passkeys in Microsoft Authenticator helps with phishing-resistant authentication."
"I love how it uniquely identifies a person universally. If you have the email address, it will be the same account across most platforms. If everything is set up correctly, it's easy to identify a person and get all kinds of information about them from Azure or whichever system."
"Microsoft customer service is the best in the industry."
"Entra ID has helped us implement role-based authentication rather than conditional keys."
"It's a very scalable solution."
"Microsoft Entra ID's conditional access policies are very effective and significantly enhance company security."
"It offers good Microsoft integration capabilities."
"The product's most valuable features are the robust audit trail capabilities."
"Access reviews are an essential feature of Entra Governance. Additionally, privileged identity management is one of its most valuable features. Just-in-time access, or Jet GIT, is integral to this system. Moreover, user behavior analytics stands out as one of its top features."
"The platform's most valuable feature is the single sign-on service."
"I am very happy with the solution."
"The solution gives me the capability to automatically move guest accounts from the tenant without any manual intervention."
"It is compliant with our RVRT and CSV guidelines."
"The solution is fully scalable, supporting everything from small companies to large enterprises."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Entra ID Governance is access reviews."
 

Cons

"There are issues using it with ADFS."
"The area that needs improvement is integrating IDs between multiple environments and forests. In our case, it's hard to get the identities from multiple forests into one location."
"From time to time it takes a little bit of time to replicate, with some of the applications—something like five to 10 minutes. I know that the design is not supposed to enable real-time replication with some of the applications. But, as an administrator, I would like to run a specific change or modification in Azure Active Directory and see it replicated almost immediately."
"We previously used Microsoft's technical support, which was excellent; they were very responsive. Now, we use a CSP, and their support is lacking, so I rate them five out of ten."
"The automation aspects of Entra ID could be improved, particularly when automating through different providers and SDKs. It's somewhat clunky to automate ID management, but it's great once it's set up. I would also like to see better Terraform support."
"Generally, everything works pretty well, but sometimes, Azure Active Directory has outages on the Microsoft side of things. These outages really have a very big impact on the users, applications, and everything else because they are closely tied to the Azure AD ecosystem. So, whenever there is an outage, it is really difficult because all things start failing. This happens very rarely, but when it happens, there is a big impact."
"Azure AD provides two types of features. One is Azure AD Excel and is already B2C. Out of both versions, Azure B2C requires some improvement, in terms of user management and role management, et cetera."
"The product could be more cost-effective."
"One area for improvement in Microsoft Entra ID Governance could be providing more granular control over security policies."
"If you want to conduct access review of database-based applications, then you cannot do that."
"The platform's configuration process needs improvement."
"There are some areas where improvements are necessary. Even though we have almost the full package, there are some bugs."
"Microsoft has done a commendable job with RPAX. However, Microsoft should prioritize enhancing its ABAC (Attribute-Based Access Control) capabilities. Currently, Microsoft's ABAC offering falls behind AWS in comparison."
"Microsoft Entra ID Governance should improve its capability to manage identities and access from a single console."
"The solution lacks the feature to work well with third-party applications."
"Bridging between on-premises and cloud services has the potential for improvement. For instance, it would be beneficial to be able to synchronize traditional directory schemas with Azure. I need to maintain an on-premises Active Directory server for certain required services."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Be sure: You know your userbase, e.g., how many users you have. You choose the right license and model that suit your business requirements."
"The solution costs us 60,000 Rupees annually, just over $700, and there are no additional costs."
"It is very expensive. Its price should be lower. Price is the most important factor for Turkish people."
"The price is good, and we have no complaints."
"The solution has three types of tiers: E1 has very basic features. You get limited stuff in E2 and cannot have Office 360 associated with it. E3 is on the costly side and has all the features."
"We make sure that we only enable the licenses that are needed for the users, rather than enabling licenses in a blanket fashion."
"The licensing model makes it difficult to understand the real cost of the solution, especially because it changes all the time."
"The product's price is in the midrange."
"There are no additional costs besides the standard licensing fees."
"While other products give the pricing for their application, Microsoft Entra ID Governance has a per-user-based license model."
"In the education sector where I work, the annual cost for my Google and Microsoft environments is approximately $35,000. This covers the needs of 3,400 students and 800 faculty and staff members."
"The solution's pricing is not low but reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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?
Our experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Entra ID involves leveraging Microsoft 365 E5 licensing, so it's included. Being included in Microsoft licensing makes it mu...
What do you like most about Microsoft Entra ID Governance?
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Entra ID Governance is access reviews.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Entra ID Governance?
Microsoft Entra ID Governance ( /categories/grc ) is relatively new, and some features require more development. For example, when creating user access review campaigns, we can't specify the time t...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Entra ID Governance?
I am using Microsoft Entra ID Governance ( /products/microsoft-entra-id-governance-reviews ) to integrate with our system. We control the joiner, mover, and leaver processes to enable auto provisio...
 

Also Known As

Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Entre ID is trusted by companies of all sizes and industries including Walmart, Zscaler, Uniper, Amtrak, monday.com, and more.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra ID vs. Microsoft Entra ID Governance and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.