Microsoft Entra ID vs Thales SafeNet Trusted Access comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Microsoft and Thales are both solutions in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category. Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6, while Thales is ranked #19. Microsoft holds a 8.4% mindshare in SSO, compared to Thales’s 1.8% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Thales users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2024

Microsoft Entra ID and Thales SafeNet Trusted Access are both popular solutions for identity and access management. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access is often preferred for its advanced features, while Microsoft Entra ID scores higher in pricing and support.

Features: Microsoft Entra ID offers robust integration capabilities, comprehensive access policies, and reliable customer support. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access is praised for its advanced security features, flexible authentication methods, and superior feature set.

Room for Improvement: Users feel Microsoft Entra ID could improve in areas such as detailed reporting, role management, and enhancing its documentation. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access users mention a need for a more intuitive management console, better user interface, and simplified configuration options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Entra ID is reported to have a straightforward deployment process and reliable customer support. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access also provides efficient deployment but is noted for superior customer service quality.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Entra ID is generally considered more cost-effective, offering a better perceived ROI among users. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access, while more expensive, is seen as worth the investment due to its feature set. Users are happier with Microsoft Entra ID's pricing but acknowledge Thales offers good value for its price.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Entra ID vs. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access Report (Updated: October 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra ID vs. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access

October 2026

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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

Cisco Duo

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Cisco Duo is 3.2%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 8.4%, down from 16.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Thales SafeNet Trusted Access is 1.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Single Sign-On (SSO) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Entra ID	8.4%
Cisco Duo	3.2%
Thales SafeNet Trusted Access	1.8%
Other	86.6%

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Featured Reviews

Charles Slaustas

Information Technology Contractor at Insight global

Supports seamless authentication for users across multiple organizations and personal portals

The features I use in Cisco Duo include Duo Pushes to confirm my identity to the device, and eventually as MFA security was increased, I actually had to use exchange passcodes. Sometimes, I have to go into the site and get into Cisco Duo to retrieve the passcode, and many of them have been two-factor, where the sites send a passcode that I have to enter into Cisco Duo. It has been more of the latter. I have not seen issues with lagging or crashing on Cisco Duo's end; it was usually on the client end, often because someone set up a bad upgrade or there were connection issues with the Cisco Duo cloud through the administrative site.

Read full review

Stafin Jacob

Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance Practice Lead at Invoke

Identity has become our central gatekeeper and has provided secure single sign-on for all users

Microsoft Entra ID can improve by focusing more on new passwordless methods and becoming a primary adopter. One feature we would like to see is the ability to have security questions for password resets. I know the current capability is phasing out, so we do not have an alternative method yet. Customers who already use security questions require a smoother transition for that capability to be available. My experience with the deployment has had some challenges, particularly around the Microsoft MFA campaigns. The hardest part is moving users from a different MFA provider to the Microsoft MFA provider, as it ultimately depends on user activity. In large enterprises with numerous users across various geographies, this transition takes time. If there are ways to exert more control around that process, it would improve the situation.

Read full review

reviewer1719510

Regional Sales Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Great validation and integrity features of the endpoint

Our primary use case of Safenet is for cybersecurity incidents, particularly for remote users. I'm the customer sales leader and a key account manager and we are customers of Thales. The validation and integrity features of the endpoint are great. Whether you're using a Mac OS or other operating…

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

"Cisco Duo has been very reliable from my point of view so far, as I have not had any issues with it."

"Cisco Duo has improved our operational efficiency and reduced costs in areas such as authentication, IT support, and security operations by enhancing our security workflows; pretty much everyone is using MFA at work, making it easy for us to see who is actually accessing our network and computers."

"Cisco Duo has improved my operational efficiency and reduced costs in IT support, as we do not really hear anything from the end users unless it is not working for them, because it is really easy to use; they just get a pop-up, press the button, and that is all they are using it for."

"Clients I implemented Cisco Duo at immediately feel more confident in their security environment, and we can see a lot of illegal attempts to get in, giving me faith in the product."

"It's fast; the whole process takes less time compared to other tools we've used before, which is very helpful."

"I appreciate the simple login feature of Cisco Duo; being able to log into your actual page and then having all your apps there is convenient."

"Looking back, the biggest impact Cisco Duo has had on our company is enhancing our security posture."

"At the moment, the ease of use is what is the best feature for me. Once it has been set up and the security can hoc to my mobile device, it's very simple to use my single sign-on, get prompted for a Duo Security, push, go to my phone, accept the push, and I'm done. It's a very simple process."

More Cisco Duo pros

"I like that you can run it on-premises. I also like that I can use Azure at any time as the main one."

"The solution offers business to business and client to business support."

"It has been very instrumental towards a lot of services we run, especially on the single sign-on side. For example, we have 160 countries that all run their own IT but we still are able to provide users with a single sign-on experience towards global applications. So, they have a certain set of accounts that they get from their local IT department, then they use exactly the same account and credentials to sign into global services. For the user, it has been quite instrumental in that space. It is about efficiency, but also about users not having to remember multiple accounts and passwords since it is all single sign-on. Therefore, the single sign-on experience for us has been the most instrumental for the end user experience."

"The security features, multi-factor authentication, and service management features are valuable."

"A couple of features are valuable, but the one that comes across the most to me is multi-factor authentication."

"The cloud security part is very valuable. Security is the most important thing in today's world. With Azure Active Directory, there are some features that tell you how you need to improve your security level. It informs you if you set up certain policies, e.g., this is where my users sign in. It tends to let you know if your organization has been breached with this security set up. Therefore, it is easier to know when you have been breached, especially if you set up a Conditional Access policy for your organization."

"The UI of Microsoft Entra ID is very intuitive, and I appreciate the integration with Azure because it works seamlessly. This is the best aspect I appreciate about Microsoft Entra ID."

"The most valuable feature is the possibility to create multi-tenant applications alone, or in combination with Azure Active Directory B2C."

More Microsoft Entra ID pros

"The interface is easy to use."

"The solution is simple to use."

"I recommend this solution because it protects information."

"Right now, we only have a small use case for the product, however, it has performed well."

"The validation and integrity features of the endpoint are great."

Cons

"There is another issue with removing the application from your computer. It is difficult to remove the application on Windows."

"We first deployed Duo Security for our company with the VPN, and afterward, about a year later, we implemented it for a customer of ours where we offered infrastructure as a service. When I tried to establish a VPN connection through Duo Security, it did not function well on that version, which was the latest one at the time. So, I had to make a copy of the machine and then implement Duo Security with the VPN because it did not function well with the newer version."

"I wouldn't mind seeing some options for remembering a device for a short period of time or a specific login, particularly for administrative engineering staff, as we may be logging in to four or five different services."

"There is always room for improvement."

"An AI support robot or bot that provides direct answers to questions without requiring the search for facts or documents to find solutions would be an improvement."

"Cisco Duo is stable, but occasionally there are emails about incidents that affect some services temporarily."

"For response time, there may be a little bit of improvement needed because sometimes you have to wait a little bit, not too long, but sometimes you really want a quick response, and it is not always like that."

"Microsoft is somehow making it harder for Cisco Duo to do its job seamlessly with some of the hooks that Microsoft has in the OAuth connection."

More Cisco Duo cons

"The technical support can be confusing - if you're looking for something very specific, it can be hard to get the right answer or a solution."

"I would rate their technical support a six out of ten. It requires starting at the bottom and working our way up, which is time-consuming."

"Microsoft needs to add a single setup, so whenever resources join the company or are leaving the company, all of the changes can be made with a single click."

"To improve Microsoft Entra ID, it should be made simpler because there is a lot of stuff to do in the platform, which could be reduced to fewer buttons."

"We have just recently started implementing write-back caching. We were able to go from AD to cloud, but we were not going from cloud back down to AD."

"It would be awesome to have a feature where you can see the permissions of a user in all their Azure subscriptions. Right now, you have to select a user, then you have to select the subscription to see which permissions the user has in their selected subscriptions. Sometimes, you just want to know, "Does that user have any permissions in any subscriptions?" That would be awesome if that would be available via the portal."

"I believe that Microsoft Entra ID can be improved by adding more granularity in options within Conditional Access specifically, because there are certain scenarios that we cannot address due to insufficient options to set up those rules."

"Compared to what we can do on-prem, Azure AD lacks a feature for multiple hierarchical groups."

More Microsoft Entra ID cons

"There's a dependency on Microsoft Azure."

"The scalability may not be there."

"SafeNet's reporting and monitoring features could be improved."

"I'd like to see more networking features, such as the ability to integrate network monitoring solutions and authenticate the app users."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I haven't seen it in a while, but it's at par with everything else licensing-wise."

"The cost was reasonable. Licensing was pretty straightforward for a change."

"Overall, the pricing is fair. Customers can wrap it into their Enterprise Agreement, making it easier for them to solve their issues."

"From a reseller perspective, it's still challenging to explain the whole license strategy to a client, so we really have to be ahead of that for all the true forward conversations."

"I believe the licensing model is excellent as it offers flexibility to our customers, allowing them to adopt a crawl, walk, or run approach."

"Cisco's licensing is always a bit complicated to understand, but the price is fair. It could be more expensive than others, but the way they integrate everything, it has a fair price."

"The licensing is very good because it does not cost a lot of money. It's affordable for all-sized customers, including enterprises. There is an additional cost for premium support."

"It is affordable for what's coming to the table with it, but in this day and age, the cost is looked at under a microscope, and companies need to very finely define what is needed versus what is critical. In some cases, it might not be cost-effective for a company to have it. In a lot of other cases, it is the cost of doing business."

More Cisco Duo pricing and cost advice

"Pricing-wise, they offer a stepladder approach. You can start with the lowest level features, then start increasing based on new requirements."

"We are working with the Premium P2 licenses, which are reasonable. If you invest in the on-premises environment setup, then it costs so much. However, on-prem AD gives you the ability to manage your organization in a very organized manner, where you can create a group policy."

"The price is fine. It's a good value for the money compared with other solutions."

"The pricing depends on the use case and can be negotiated based on volume."

"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."

"Make sure that you get the most out of your Office 365 licenses for Azure AD. If you have additional concerns for users who don't have an Office 365 license, consider Azure AD Premium P1 and P2. Be aware that you have to evaluate your license usage beforehand."

"It is costly."

"It is in line. Because we are so early, we have not had to come back on a cycle where we are having to negotiate again."

More Microsoft Entra ID pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Comms Service Provider

11%

Performing Arts

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	64
Midsize Enterprise	28
Large Enterprise	82

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	91
Midsize Enterprise	42
Large Enterprise	162

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 Du...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Duo Security?

Regarding the pricing, what actually happened was that we got the product purchased through our HQ, so the costing as...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Duo Security?

I do not have a straight answer for how Cisco Duo can be improved at this time. With the implementation that we are g...

See all answers

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

I primarily use Microsoft Entra ID's free tier, so I have not faced any issues with pricing; I hope this free tier re...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory?

To improve Microsoft Entra ID, I believe it should be openable with third-party applications to use Microsoft Authent...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Azure Active Directory?

My main use case for Microsoft Entra ID is the authentication of M365, Azure, and third-party applications like Sales...

See all answers

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Comparisons

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

Yubico YubiKey vs Cisco Duo

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Compared 23% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

Ping Identity Platform vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 2% of the time

Auth0 Platform vs Microsoft Entra ID

Compared 1% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

OneLogin by One Identity vs Thales SafeNet Trusted Access

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

IBM Security Verify Access vs Thales SafeNet Trusted Access

Compared 2% of the time

More Thales SafeNet Trusted Access Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Duo

November 2026

Download Cisco Duo product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra ID

October 2026

Download Microsoft Entra ID product report

Buyer's Guide

Single Sign-On (SSO)

November 2026

Download Thales SafeNet Trusted Access product report

Also Known As

Duo Security

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

SafeNet Trusted Access, Gemalto SafeNet Trusted Access

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Cisco

Microsoft

Demo not available

Thales

Overview

Cisco Duo is a cloud-based identity security platform safeguarding critical resources for any user and device worldwide. Known for its ease of use, Duo offers seamless protection across multi-cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments.

Cisco Duo is designed to secure access with identity-first protection and provides extensive visibility throughout an organization's identity ecosystem. Offering multi-factor authentication, Duo facilitates easy integration and management, allowing teams to protect data effectively on VPNs, applications, and networks. Its single-pane management improves security processes while enhancing trust, making it suitable for diverse IT infrastructures.

What are the key features of Cisco Duo?

Multi-factor Authentication: Strengthens user verification with multiple methods.
Push Notifications: Simplifies authentication with quick approvals.
Single Sign-On: Enhances convenience by allowing one set of credentials.
VPN Access: Secures remote connections with reliable authentication.
User Activity Visibility: Offers comprehensive insights into access patterns.

Which benefits and ROI should users consider?

Quick Deployment: Facilitates rapid integration within existing systems.
Effective Management: Streamlines IT operations with centralized control.
Regulatory Compliance: Aids in meeting industry standards for data protection.
Enhanced Trust: Strengthens security posture across networks.
User-friendly Approach: Simplifies authentication for non-technical users.

In industries like education and finance, Cisco Duo is widely employed to secure multi-factor authentication across platforms such as email, databases, and servers. Its integration capabilities with Microsoft 365, Active Directory, and VPNs like AnyConnect are instrumental in verifying user identities using mobile apps or OTPs, catering effectively to both remote and on-premise environments.

Cisco

Microsoft Entra ID offers advanced identity management capabilities, ensuring security and efficiency with features like single sign-on and multifactor authentication.

Designed for hybrid environments, Microsoft Entra ID provides seamless synchronization between on-premises Active Directory and Azure Active Directory, enhancing security with multifactor authentication and conditional access. By integrating with a broad spectrum of cloud services, it supports user authentication and mobile device management, facilitating streamlined application registration and secure API access.

What are the most notable features of Microsoft Entra ID?

Robust Security Measures: Implements strong security protocols to protect identities.
Single Sign-On: Enables users to access multiple applications with one set of credentials.
Conditional Access Policies: Provides a framework to control access based on predefined conditions.
Third-Party Integration: Ensures compatibility with external applications for comprehensive use.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Improved Security Posture: Enhances protection against unauthorized access through advanced security features.
Simplified Onboarding: Streamlines the process of integrating new users and systems.
Operational Efficiency: Reduces identity and access management workload, boosting productivity.

In finance and healthcare, Microsoft Entra ID plays a crucial role in managing access to sensitive information while maintaining compliance with industry regulations. Retail and manufacturing sectors leverage its capabilities for secure supply chain operations and partner collaboration.

Microsoft

Thales SafeNet Trusted Access provides a flexible and secure solution for managing identities and access policies. It streamlines identity management across multiple platforms, enhancing security and compliance.

Thales SafeNet Trusted Access offers comprehensive identity and access management supporting complex IT environments. It simplifies authentication processes and enforces security policies through a cloud-based platform that integrates with existing systems. This ensures users enjoy a seamless authentication experience while maintaining the required security posture, essential in today's cybersecurity landscape.

What are the key features of Thales SafeNet Trusted Access?

Single Sign-On: Simplifies user access by allowing single credential use across resources.
Multi-Factor Authentication: Enhances security with multiple authentication methods.
Access Management: Provides detailed control over who can access sensitive systems.
Cloud Integration: Easily integrates with cloud services for streamlined operations.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Increased Security: Reduces risk through enhanced identity verification methods.
Operational Efficiency: Minimizes overhead by automating access management tasks.
Compliance Support: Assists in meeting regulatory requirements with detailed reporting tools.
Scalability: Adaptable to growing or changing IT needs without significant cost increases.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Thales SafeNet Trusted Access helps secure sensitive data through stringent identity verification mechanisms. Retailers use it to manage access across digital channels, while educational institutions benefit from its streamlined access for students and staff. This versatility demonstrates its effectiveness in diverse technology ecosystems.

Thales

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

IBM, Western Union, Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, Novartis, and AT&T.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra ID vs. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access

October 2026

Free Report: Microsoft Entra ID vs. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra ID vs. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access and other solutions. Updated: October 2026.

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