Microsoft Entra ID vs Tenable Cloud Security comparison

Microsoft and Tenable are both solutions in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7, while Tenable is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.2. Microsoft holds a 28.1% mindshare in IAMS, compared to Tenable’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 71% of Tenable users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Entra ID

Read 228 Microsoft Entra ID reviews

10,226 Views
7,551 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Tenable Cloud Security

Read 9 Tenable Cloud Security reviews

171 Views
138 Comparison Views

71% willing to recommend

Microsoft Entra ID

Tenable Cloud Security

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 2, 2024

Microsoft Entra ID and Tenable Cloud Security compete in the identity and security management category. Microsoft Entra ID holds an edge due to its integration capabilities and ease of use, while Tenable Cloud Security excels with its comprehensive security features.

Features: Microsoft Entra ID offers seamless integration with Azure services, multifactor authentication, and access management, enhancing productivity and security. Its single sign-on and integration with various applications provide robust identity management. Tenable Cloud Security excels in vulnerability detection, efficient asset management, and comprehensive compliance checks, making it ideal for organizations prioritizing detailed security analysis.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Entra ID could benefit from enhanced user experience consistency across diverse setups, broader integration with non-Microsoft solutions, and improved cost transparency. Tenable Cloud Security could improve deployment simplicity, reduce management complexity, and streamline reporting features for better utility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Entra ID offers easy deployment, especially for organizations within the Microsoft ecosystem, and provides responsive support. Tenable Cloud Security requires more complex deployment due to its extensive configuration options but also delivers robust customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Entra ID is cost-effective, especially for businesses using Microsoft products, offering reasonable ROI through access management efficiencies. Tenable Cloud Security requires a higher initial investment to leverage its advanced security functionalities, promising significant ROI for companies that emphasize detailed security assessment and management.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Entra ID vs. Tenable Cloud Security Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra ID vs. Tenable Cloud Security

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 850,028 peers since 2012

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

228

Ranking in other categories

Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (1st), Access Management (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)

Tenable Cloud Security

Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (15th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (19th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (15th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 28.1%, down from 28.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Cloud Security is 0.8%, up from 0.3% 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

Aaron Liang

System engineer at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees

Has significantly improved secure access to applications and resources in our environment

Microsoft Entra ID has helped by simplifying our management of permissions for APIs. We are not directly exposing credentials, as we use tokens instead. It has made management easier and more secure, especially in a multi-user environment. The implementation of Microsoft Entra ID significantly improved secure access to applications and resources in our environment, primarily through the widespread use of single-sign-on. Managing API permissions became much easier, as application registration often involves calling an API to utilize services without directly exposing credentials, relying instead on token-based authentication. This streamlined approach benefits end-users by simplifying access while remaining transparent to them. Ultimately, my role focuses on ensuring a smooth and user-friendly experience, even if the underlying technology remains unseen by the end-users. Our company strongly emphasizes passwordless authentication, primarily through device-bound passkeys in Microsoft Authenticator. While administrators with high-privileged accounts utilize YubiKeys and passwords for tasks like accessing Microsoft Graph, we are actively transitioning all other users towards passwordless methods such as Windows Hello biometrics. This approach streamlines authentication and enhances security. Though initial deployment in 2022 presented challenges due to hardware limitations and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the technology has significantly improved and provides a simple and effective user experience.

Read full review

Ondrej Kováč

Solution Engineer at Exclusive Networks Czechia

Has vulnerability detection, software composition analysis and asset management features

Due to its robust nature, the platform's adoption can be overwhelming initially. However, once organizations start using it, they tend to get used to it. I haven't had much direct interaction with the support team, but some partners have reported a desire for better support for the product. Another area needing improvement is the implementation complexity, especially in multi-cloud environments. Tenable Cloud Security's features mean there's a steep learning curve, which can consume significant time and resources to utilize the platform's potential and fully see immediate benefits. It's similar to AI in that you must spend time fine-tuning and training before it truly helps.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would rate the solution as 9. It is a very good solution for unified management."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to authenticate users using Microsoft Entra ID."

"With Azure Active Directory we were able to manage with different options the access for different users."

"Multi-factor authentication really secures our environments and gives us the flexibility to use location-based policies. Azure AD also gives us a lot of flexibility in our scope of integration."

"Being able to use Azure AD means that you can use some of the Azure AD security features like Advanced Password Protection. As well as querying your normal password requirements like lengths and complexity, Azure AD has a feature in which you can put specific words. It can be words to do with your company, words to do with your company location, or words that a lot of your employees would otherwise use. You can disallow them. It's very good at making more obvious passwords, ones they're not allowed to use anymore. That's a good feature."

"The single sign-on is very convenient for us."

"The identity and access management piece is probably the most valuable to us. Since its implementation, synchronizing the identities from on-premise to Entra ID has had a positive impact. This allows us to grant access to applications based on those users and the groups they belong to."

"It's a quite comprehensive solution and it scales quite well within our required scale as well, which is very useful."

More Microsoft Entra ID pros

"The key benefit lies in having the largest and most up-to-date database. When it comes to using any Tenable product, it excels in finding vulnerabilities and providing analytics."

"The tool alerts us on depreciating performance or deficiencies of our web application. It helps us react on time."

"Scanning and reporting are the most valuable features of Tenable Cloud Security"

"If you have multi-cloud tenancy using AWS and Azure, you can have a single dashboard where you can onboard all the cloud infrastructure and have visibility into it."

"Ermetic can provide super visibility for our cloud environment (we are using AWS)."

"The solution’s vulnerability management feature has helped us identify and mitigate risks well."

"Tenable Cloud Security excels in vulnerability detection, one of its strongest features. Another valuable feature is software composition analysis, which highlights and automates the detection of security flaws. Additionally, their knowledge base is excellent; if anything goes wrong, they provide clear guidance on what needs to be done to address specific vulnerabilities."

"The product's deployment phase is easy."

More Tenable Cloud Security pros

Cons

"At first, it was a bit challenging to come up with a workaround that would get authentication to work."

"Microsoft services and most familiar third-party applications are currently supported, but we can't find many other platforms that integrate with Office 365 or Azure Active Directory. Microsoft should develop connectors for different applications and collaborate more with other vendors to cover a broader range of applications."

"The technical support has room for improvement."

"The documentation, and the way that people are notified of updates, are things that can be improved. I'm a big fan of Microsoft products but the way they document is not that great."

"ESAE management, especially the admin tools, could be improved. It should be built in by the vendor, and I shouldn't have to add patches or updates to connect to my domain directly. It should be added by default. The price could be better."

"Tech support is inconsistent."

"Microsoft Entra ID's impact on access and identity management is relatively limited."

"It doesn't function the same way as an Active Directory inside of an infrastructure, that is, a physical infrastructure. In the cloud, it is all flat. That's one of the disadvantages."

More Microsoft Entra ID cons

"Ermetic needs to improve its security scanning. I would like to see more dynamic graphical forms."

"Due to its robust nature, the platform's adoption can be overwhelming initially. However, once organizations start using it, they tend to get used to it. I haven't had much direct interaction with the support team, but some partners have reported a desire for better support for the product."

"I have faced several bug incidents with the solution"

"I didn't find anything that wasn't useful or needed to be added."

"The product must provide more features."

"Tenable needs to offer a patch-based solution since it is an area where the tool lacks a bit."

"There is a need for the support team to improve their response time since it is one of the areas where the product's technical team has certain shortcomings."

"If Tenable Cloud Security offers a complete Cnapp solution with CWP, CIEM, and Waap security, it will be able to compete with other competitors."

More Tenable Cloud Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is good, and we have no complaints."

"I give the cost a three out of ten."

"Licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis and the cost depends on the number of users."

"There are four different levels of subscription including the free level, one that includes the Office 365 applications, the Premium 1 (P1) level, and the Premium 2 (P2) level."

"We are always looking for better pricing."

"Azure Active Directory has a very extensive licensing model. Most of the features are available in the free and basic version, and then there are premium P1 and P2 editions. The licensing model is based on how many users you have per month. In Australia, for a P1 license, the cost is 8 dollars. With P1 and P2 licenses, you get a lot of goodies around the security side of things. For example, User Identity Protection is available only in P2. These are extra features that allow you to have a pretty good security posture, but most of the required things are available in the free and basic version."

"Entra ID is not too bad, but Microsoft licensing generally is insane. Most customers normally buy a bundle license with Microsoft 365, E3, or E5. Out of our 2,000 customers, for 99.9% of our customers, the Entra ID license that they are getting through the part of that would be sufficient. There are some more advanced ones that give you a bit more functionality, but we probably have not had a customer for that. We do not even internally use that ourselves. When you buy the Entra ID license on its own, it is probably three or four pounds. You just get it included in the license."

"We have an agreement with Microsoft, and my company pays yearly."

More Microsoft Entra ID pricing and cost advice

"The tool's price is good compared to other brands. The tool's subscription is for a year."

"The tool's pricing is fair."

"There is a need to opt for a subscription-based pricing model to use Tenable Cloud Security. I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

30%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory?

Regarding pricing, for the services we receive, it seems within the market range and about average.

See all answers

What do you like most about Tenable Cloud Security?

The solution’s vulnerability management feature has helped us identify and mitigate risks well.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Tenable Cloud Security?

Another team uses the tool. Tenable acquired Ermetic. I think Tenable has features, stays up to date, and upgrades every few months. I am not sure of the tool's use case, as another team uses it. I...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Tenable Cloud Security?

Right now, I use Tenable as CNAPP, and it is good for the product as it offers enhanced security to users. We did use the tool on the cloud. I am not sure if some models, like CIEM, are available a...

See all answers

Comparisons

Google Cloud Identity vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Intune vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 10% of the time

Okta Workforce Identity vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 8% of the time

Auth0 vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 6% of the time

Amazon Cognito vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Entra ID Competitors

Wiz vs Tenable Cloud Security

Compared 20% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Tenable Cloud Security

Compared 10% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs Tenable Cloud Security

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Tenable Cloud Security

Compared 9% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Tenable Cloud Security

Compared 7% of the time

More Tenable Cloud Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra ID

April 2025

Download Microsoft Entra ID product report

Buyer's Guide

Tenable Cloud Security

March 2025

Download Tenable Cloud Security product report

Also Known As

Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator

Ermetic, Ermetic Identity Governance for AWS

Interactive Demo

Microsoft

Demo not available

Tenable

Overview

Microsoft Entra ID is used for extending on-premises Active Directory to the cloud, managing application access, enabling multi-factor authentication, and single sign-on. It facilitates policy enforcement and secure access, ensuring centralized identity management across cloud and on-premises resources.

Organizations utilize Microsoft Entra ID for robust user and group management, identity synchronization, and conditional access. Its seamless integration with third-party apps, scalability, and support for remote work make it a preferred choice. The admin center streamlines identity and access tasks, enhancing efficiency and security with features like privileged identity management and audit logs.

What are the key features of Microsoft Entra ID?

Single Sign-On: Simplifies user access to multiple applications with one login.
Multifactor Authentication: Enhances security by requiring additional verification.
Conditional Access: Establishes policies that determine how users' access cloud apps.
Integration: Easily integrates with various third-party applications.
User Identity Protection: Safeguards user identities from threats.
Privileged Identity Management: Manages elevated access to sensitive resources.
Audit Logs: Provides thorough activity logs for oversight and compliance.

What benefits should users look for in Microsoft Entra ID reviews?

Enhanced Security: Offers strong multifactor authentication and identity protection.
Administrative Efficiency: Simplifies identity and access management tasks.
Scalability: Supports growing user bases and remote work environments.
Integration Capabilities: Compatible with numerous third-party applications.
User-Friendly Interface: Makes managing user identities straightforward.

Microsoft Entra ID implementation varies across industries. Tech firms leverage it for secure, scalable access management, while healthcare organizations utilize its identity protection features to safeguard patient data. Educational institutions adopt Entra ID for streamlined user management and policy enforcement, ensuring secure access for students and staff across on-premises and cloud resources.

Microsoft

Tenable Cloud Security is a comprehensive solution designed to help organizations secure their cloud environments across various platforms, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. It offers continuous visibility, compliance management, and threat detection to ensure that cloud infrastructure and applications are protected from vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.

Tenable Cloud Security exemplifies a comprehensive Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) by providing a unified solution that covers the entire cloud security lifecycle, from development to runtime. This platform is designed to address vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, threats, and compliance risks across multi-cloud environments, making it an essential tool for organizations adopting cloud-native architectures. In practice, Tenable Cloud Security integrates security into the development process through its shift-left approach, particularly with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) security. This ensures that security measures are embedded early in the development lifecycle, allowing teams to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities before they reach production. Once in production, the platform continues to provide real-time visibility into cloud environments, enabling continuous monitoring and proactive threat detection.

The solution's comprehensive protection spans various aspects of cloud security, including the identification and remediation of misconfigurations, automated compliance management, and advanced threat intelligence. By automating these processes, Tenable Cloud Security reduces the manual effort required to manage cloud security, freeing up resources for more strategic initiatives.

What are the key features of Tenable Cloud Security?

Unified Platform: Covers the entire cloud security lifecycle, from development to runtime, providing comprehensive protection.
Shift-Left Approach with IaC Security: Integrates security early in the development process, ensuring that vulnerabilities are caught and remediated before deployment.
Continuous Monitoring: Offers real-time visibility and monitoring of cloud environments, enabling proactive threat detection and response.
Automation: Streamlines security operations, reducing the need for manual intervention and increasing operational efficiency.
Comprehensive Threat and Compliance Management: Identifies and mitigates vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance risks across multi-cloud environments.

What are the benefits of using Tenable Cloud Security?

Improved Security Posture: Early detection and remediation of vulnerabilities lead to a stronger overall security posture.
Operational Efficiency: Automation reduces the workload on security teams, allowing them to focus on higher-priority tasks.
Risk Reduction: Proactively identifies and addresses risks before they impact production environments.
Simplified Compliance: Helps organizations meet and maintain compliance with industry standards, reducing the complexity and cost of audits.

Tenable Cloud Security is particularly valuable in industries with stringent regulatory requirements, such as finance, healthcare, and retail. For example, in the financial sector, it helps organizations ensure compliance with regulations like PCI-DSS while safeguarding sensitive data across cloud environments.

In summary, Tenable Cloud Security is a robust CNAPP solution that integrates security throughout the cloud lifecycle, providing comprehensive protection and operational efficiency for cloud-native environments.

Tenable

Sample Customers

Microsoft Entre ID is trusted by companies of all sizes and industries including Walmart, Zscaler, Uniper, Amtrak, monday.com, and more.

Tyler Technologies, Bilfinger, BarkBox, MongoDB, airSlate, Adama, Latch, Cloudinary, Riskified, AppsFlyer, IntelyCare, Aidoc, 42Dot, and more.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra ID vs. Tenable Cloud Security

April 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Entra ID vs. Tenable Cloud Security

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra ID vs. Tenable Cloud Security and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Microsoft Entra ID vs. Tenable Cloud Security report.

See our list of best Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) vendors.

We monitor all Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.