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Microsoft Entra ID vs Thales SafeNet Trusted Access comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 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 Single Sign-On (SSO)
2nd
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
1st
Ranking in Access Management
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
277
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (1st), Identity Management (IM) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
Thales SafeNet Trusted Access
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
19th
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
25th
Ranking in Access Management
28th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID is 9.0%, down from 24.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Thales SafeNet Trusted Access is 1.9%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Entra ID9.0%
Thales SafeNet Trusted Access1.9%
Other89.1%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

Stafin Jacob - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
GauravMathur - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President Information Technology at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Simple to use, easy to set up, and performs well
I'm not saying that we want to switch the product, however, since the requirement has increased, we are looking at other options that may be better suited. The scalability may not there. We have a few specific use cases where we have to avoid the cloud. Especially in Europe, we're not allowed to carry their phone in factories. We need some sort of secure access solution. There's a dependency on Microsoft Azure. I am paying to SafeNet and in parallel, I also need to pay Microsoft to use the same service. That makes no sense, to pay double. If they could do something about it, that would be very good.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It offers features that improve our security posture such as multifactor authentication, which is the second layer of protection that is used when we log into the cloud."
"Overall, my experience with Active Directory has been very good."
"It is a central point where we provide the cloud lock-in for our company. We focus the multi-factor authentication within Azure AD before jumping to other clouds or software as a service offerings. So, it is the central point when you need to access something for our company within the cloud. You go to Azure AD and can authenticate there, then you move from there to the target destination or the single sign-on."
"The implementation of Microsoft Entra ID has definitely made app access easier and more seamless for working with Azure registered apps by allowing them to be integrated within the system and setting up SSOs and secure authentication through Entra."
"After implementing Conditional Access policies in Microsoft Entra ID, we observed significant improvements in our security metrics, with unauthorized access attempts reduced by approximately 60 to 80% due to strict policy enforcement, MFA adoption rate increasing to nearly 100% for critical applications, and the ability to automatically block or challenge a higher number of risky sign-ins detected by the system while also seeing a significant decrease in security incidents related to identity compromise after implementation."
"It's a very scalable solution."
"If you are familiar with Microsoft, this is the product to use."
"I would recommend Azure Active Directory to others; it is integrated with all Microsoft platforms and has a lot of useful features that can help security IT administrators."
"Right now, we only have a small use case for the product, however, it has performed well."
"I recommend this solution because it protects information."
"The interface is easy to use."
"The validation and integrity features of the endpoint are great."
"The solution is simple to use."
 

Cons

"Azure Active Directory could be made easier to use."
"There is a concept of cross-tenant trust relationships, which I believe Microsoft is actively pursuing."
"For the end users, it can be confusing if they have worked for another company that had the Authenticator app."
"Having everything in the cloud and Active Directory, Azure AD is not able to provide Kerberos or Kerberos authentication if you're running only Azure AD it is a limitation."
"I'm not certain about the return on investment with Microsoft Entra ID."
"However, if you use Exchange Online or with Microsoft 365, then your ability to make modifications is limited."
"I'm satisfied with the features provided by Microsoft. They are continually improving their offerings, and I don't have any downsides or issues with Microsoft Entra ID. We're integrating a lot of Azure virtual machines and utilizing the Azure side. We love Microsoft licensing, all that stuff. And Yeah. It's just, you know, just using the CSP portal as well has just been a game changer for us too."
"Though the installation was seamless, it took longer than expected to be completed."
"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 think we're on the E3 — I think it was about 35 dollars per user."
"There are add-on components and services, such as identity services, that we have to add to our Azure subscription. Only then can I actually say it's on par with the on-prem server edition. Why should I pay for a component? It should be included in my subscription."
"I'd recommend Azure Active Directory if you are a big company. For small or medium companies, it's probably not the best idea in the world because of the pricing. If you are a small company, you can probably deploy your own solutions because you're not handling a website with tons of traffic. If you are not like Adidas, Nike, or Walmart, you can do it in a way that is more localized than handling everything through a big price solution. However, Azure tends to provide you with solutions that are easier to use. If it was cheaper, I'd definitely recommend going for it."
"The pricing for companies and businesses is okay, it's fair. But if you are trying to teach someone about Azure AD, there is no licensing option for that... It would be nice to have a 'learning' license, one that is cheaper for a single person."
"The licensing model is straightforward. I don't think there are any issues with the E3 license or E5 license."
"We got a good deal. If you get rid of all the products providing features that Azure Suite can provide, then it makes sense cost-wise."
"We have a yearly license."
"It is a really nice tool and we have a license for the more complex model."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Construction Company
10%
Performing Arts
9%
Legal Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business89
Midsize Enterprise42
Large Enterprise162
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that going through and being able to use these things is always part of delivering an M365 bundle, so I don't think the experience is great ...
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory?
Microsoft Entra ID can be improved by open-sourcing it. You already have Windows Subsystem for Linux, which is open-source Linux in Microsoft. One major shift for Microsoft would be using the commo...
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Also Known As

Azure AD, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Authenticator
SafeNet Trusted Access, Gemalto SafeNet Trusted Access
 

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.
IBM, Western Union, Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, Novartis, and AT&T.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra ID vs. Thales SafeNet Trusted Access and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
907,816 professionals have used our research since 2012.