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Microsoft Entra ID vs Salesforce Identity 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Entra ID
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
266
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (2nd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
Salesforce Identity
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Identity (3rd), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Identity and Access Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft Entra ID is designed for Single Sign-On (SSO) and holds a mindshare of 14.5%, down 26.5% compared to last year.
Salesforce Identity, on the other hand, focuses on Mobile Identity, holds 18.4% mindshare, up 15.0% since last year.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Entra ID14.5%
Okta Workforce Identity8.1%
Auth06.8%
Other70.6%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
Mobile Identity Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Salesforce Identity18.4%
Oracle Identity Governance21.4%
MicroStrategy Usher16.3%
Other43.900000000000006%
Mobile Identity
 

Featured Reviews

JP
Senior Information Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Implementing seamless integration boosts secure access and supports Zero Trust
What I appreciate the most about Microsoft Entra ID is that it integrates seamlessly with all the Defender products and is easy to use. Microsoft Entra ID's integration capabilities influence our Zero Trust model by allowing us to enforce our Zero Trust model. Conditional access policies allow us to leverage Microsoft Entra ID to verify that devices signing in to our cloud services are coming from registered devices, and that people are passing all the other requirements we have in order to complete sign-on or conditional access policies. Since implementing Microsoft Entra ID, I've observed changes in the frequency and nature of identity-related security incidents. The organization already had it implemented when I arrived, and I've been working to enhance it. Better configuration of Microsoft Entra ID has allowed us to better protect our organization from threats. Having it alone isn't a solution, but ensuring proper configuration goes a long way in preventing future compromises. My company's approach to defending against token theft and nation-state attacks has evolved since implementing Microsoft Entra ID. We haven't experienced any known compromises from nation-state attacks, and implementing newer features gives me more confidence in our protection. Regarding device-bound passkeys in Microsoft Authenticator and our approach to phishing-resistant authentication, we are currently implementing Microsoft Entra ID certificate-based authentication. Adding a strong form of MFA is important as we found it to be the most cost-effective way. While other solutions might be equally or more secure, they are significantly more expensive. Having worked as an IT consultant mainly with the Microsoft stack across various industries, I have experience with different identity management solutions. Microsoft Entra ID remains the best option. The major advantages when comparing it to Okta include integration with Defender products, Defender for Identities' integration with conditional access policies, and insider threat management integration for blocking sign-ins based on risk factors. The enhancement of Microsoft Entra ID's implementation is relatively straightforward. My main concern is the occasional lack of documentation and the frequency of changes, which can make feature location challenging.
NavinJacob - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Digital Officer at Cipher7
Structured operations and analytics have transformed how my teams manage customers and sales
I see room for improvement regarding financial operations and FinOps. If they are not being controlled correctly, Salesforce billings can get huge. They charge for everything: license costs, storage costs, and transaction costs, and it can really end up blowing budgets if it is not controlled. Those controls should be something that is easy to manage. With Salesforce, it is pretty difficult to manage unless you are a very advanced user. Normal regular users may not be able to keep the costs in control. This ends up resulting in bill shocks where you suddenly receive a bill which you may not be expecting.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution offers business to business and client to business support."
"With the Microsoft Entra ID platform, our company productivity is much higher, the performance is much higher, and it means that at the end of the day, we do the job with fewer people, saving costs."
"I like Azure AD's conditional access policies. Microsoft Entra provides a single pane of glass for managing user access, improving the overall user experience."
"Microsoft Entra ID has provided my company with a centralized place to establish a source of truth for the attributes of our personnel."
"It's very user-friendly for users."
"The boards for task tracking are a valuable feature."
"From an administrative perspective, we can now manage users from a single pane of glass, which enhances efficiency."
"Privileged Identity Management (PIM), managed identities, dynamic groups, and extension and security attributes are all great features."
"The user experience was great because it had all the features that the client needed. It was fully customized for the client, and it was very simple. It was the best solution at that time."
"Salesforce Identity is a very user-friendly solution."
"The most valuable features are the pipeline management, being able to track the pipeline anytime, and the ability to get in touch with our high management team or board members."
"The best features of Salesforce Platform that I appreciate are that it is very configurable and easy for both developers as well as customers to use."
"The single sign-on feature of Salesforce Identity enhances our organization's security posture overall."
"The solution is very easy to understand."
 

Cons

"Our users sometimes experience issues from having multiple Microsoft accounts, which can cause some confusion and hassle."
"The thing that is a bit annoying is the inability to nest groups. Because we run an Azure hybrid model, we have nested groups on-premise which does not translate well. So, we have written some scripts to kind of work around that. This is a feature request that we have put in previously to be able to use a group that is nested in Active Directory on-premise and have it handled the same way in Azure."
"The role-based access control can be improved. Normally, the role-based access control has different privileges. Each role, such as administrator or user, has different privileges, and the setup rules for them should be defined automatically rather than doing it manually."
"Microsoft Entra ID could be improved with more integration with third-party solutions like SAP or access management to third-party apps that are not capable of being registered within Azure itself."
"Customers should be informed that public review features are not intended for production use."
"The synchronization with the local Active Directory and synchronization with all of the users on the local and cloud could be better."
"Microsoft is working with Microsoft Identity Manager for Active Directory on-premise. It will be very important to have these identity management solutions directly in Azure Active Directory. It's very important to have some kind of Azure identity manager as a technology for identity and access management for working both in the cloud and inside the Azure suite."
"The initial setup was complex."
"Salesforce Identity needs more expertise in the application."
"The product is slow."
"Salesforce could make it more user-friendly and easier to implement. Currently, there's a lot of coding and technical work required. I would appreciate a more plug-and-play approach where you could set it up without needing a dedicated technical person."
"The most wanted feature on such platforms nowadays is artificial intelligence, especially for marketing activities. This is also my area of expertise, so it would be very interesting to see AI in these platforms."
"The interface should be simplified and the dashboard has a lot of options but could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Active Directory is bundled with a package of Microsoft services, so it doesn't cost much. I don't know about the individual license of Active Directory."
"We make sure that we only enable the licenses that are needed for the users, rather than enabling licenses in a blanket fashion."
"Licenses are based on the usage. There is no cap. It's based on the number of users we provision."
"The cost is billed on a per-user licensing basis."
"Licensing is easy."
"The product is relatively affordable, especially compared to Okta, a pricey solution."
"We don't really have a choice. It's the one shop in town. If you want this, you have to pay for it."
"We pay a yearly license. Licenses are very expensive."
"I'd recommend Salesforce for larger products where you really need a robust CRM. It's expensive, so for smaller websites or products, it might not be the most cost-effective solution."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a very low price and ten is a very high price, I rate Salesforce Identity's pricing a six out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Retailer
6%
Performing Arts
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business85
Midsize Enterprise38
Large Enterprise155
No data available
 

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?
My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Entra ID is that it is decent.
What do you like most about Salesforce Identity?
The single sign-on feature of Salesforce Identity enhances our organization's security posture overall.
What is your primary use case for Salesforce Identity?
We get network-related cases on Salesforce Identity and work on them.
 

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.
SAP, Microsoft, Workday, Servicenow, ADP, Google Apps, box, Oracle
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Okta, Cisco and others in Single Sign-On (SSO). Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.