We used Azure AD for a role-based customer access mechanism. We implemented a single tenant, single sign-on for users of the application. We gave them a sign-on feature with OpenID Connect.
Technical Architect at LTI - Larsen & Toubro Infotech
We didn't have to manually create authentication server, and we were able to filter on domain
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Azure ID are the single sign-on and OpenID Connect authentication."
- "When you fix the rules and permissions, working directly on the manifest, you really need to have in-depth knowledge. If there were a graphical user interface to update the manifest, that would be good."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Previously we had to manually create the authentication server, but when we used Azure AD, we got the server directly from Azure. I didn't have to design the server.
We were also able to filter on the domain for the client I was working for.
In addition, we used Azure AD's Conditional Access feature to enforce fine-tuned and adaptive access controls. That was pretty useful because we didn't have to do much because we had attributes like authorized tags. And we configured scope, meaning who can access what, in the manifest. It was not very complicated.
And Azure ID has definitely helped save us time. Earlier, we had to depend on the infrastructure team, a different team, to manage the Active Directory permissions. But now, most of the time, the developers have access in the portal. It is saving us about 40 percent of our time.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Azure ID are the single sign-on and OpenID Connect authentication.
Also, it was very nice that the documentation, the articles and help, on how to implement what we were trying to do, were available freely on the site, making it easy to develop. We did two or three sprints because things worked. Most of the time was spent on development and testing. But the deployment was easy.
What needs improvement?
Maybe I don't have enough experience, but when you fix the rules and permissions, working directly on the manifest, you really need to have in-depth knowledge. If there were a graphical user interface to update the manifest, that would be good. For example, if I want to grant access to HR versus an admin, I have to specifically write that in the manifest file to create the various roles. That means I'm coding in the manifest file. A graphical user interface would really help.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Entra ID
August 2025

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Entra ID. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Azure AD for two-plus years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is 95 percent. We don't have any issues with it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Of course it's scalable and that's why we choose the platform. We only have two regions in the load balancer. We have not gone beyond that, so we have not faced an issue.
We deployed it in multiple locations for our customer.
How are customer service and support?
We haven't contacted Microsoft support.
How was the initial setup?
I have played a small role in deploying Azure AD, but I have not been involved in the migration process. Overall, the deployment is easy. It took us 20 to 25 days, including fixing issues. That was normal, nothing unusual.
Regarding maintenance, the team I'm on does application maintenance. For Azure, we have a cloud admin who looks at the Azure portal for things like billing, access management, and admin work.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Some people use SAML technology for single sign-on. Although I haven't used it, it seems a bit complex. I started working directly with Azure AD OpenID Connect to a single tenant, or Azure AD B2B or B2C, and it was very smooth. It was not much of a challenge. Most of the complex things are taken care of by the Azure AD login. Usually, you don't need to do a deep dive into what is happening internally.
Microsoft is like a "hovercraft", as opposed to scuba diving. With Microsoft, you can use the "hovercraft". Without touching the river you can cross it.
I have not explored many other competitive products, like GCP or AWS. I am a supporter of Microsoft products.
What other advice do I have?
With Verified ID, things were secure. In recent news, there has been some hacking due to some developer using an email ID as opposed to OpenID, but our team did not use email IDs. Even if we were using email IDs for single sign-on, the user still needed to sign up with a password, so it was not possible to impersonate someone else.
The user experience, the interface, is very smooth. We have never had any problems with the single sign-on.
When applications are hosted on Azure, you should use the advantages of Azure AD.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Senior Azure DevOps Engineer at SoftServe Ltd.
Provides a single pane of glass, consistent, and easy to manage
Pros and Cons
- "It helps with privacy control of identity data. It makes security very easy."
- "The documentation could be better."
What is our primary use case?
We're using the solution for our customers. It's for those that may have been on-premises and moved to the cloud when it started to become mainstream. Users wanted to transfer their users and permissions and so on to the cloud and onto Azure.
How has it helped my organization?
Azure is the most comfortable cloud to work with. One company we worked with had infrastructure that needed to go to the cloud, and with Microsoft, it's very easy to move. The company is flexible in terms of how you want to handle a migration or configuration. There are a lot of features that help to implement different solutions and that makes it very easy to work with.
What is most valuable?
We are using the solution on different projects. Depending on the project, we use different features. It's great for handling user groups and security policies.
We can use it with Office 365 and Exchange.
It provides a single pane of glass.
It's given us good consistency in terms of the user's sign-on experience.
Microsoft makes a very good product. It makes the policies quite easy and everything is quite understandable. It provides different tools to implement the same scenario.
The admin center for managing all identity and access risks across an organization is very cool.
Verified ID is very useful for onboarding remote employees. It helps with privacy control of identity data. It makes security very easy. It makes it simple to protect the client. This feature helps IT and other teams protect the business.
We used permission management about a year ago. I had some experience with AWS. I didn't use GCP. Mostly we use Azure. In our case, when we implemented it with the current client, we didn't have any issues with it. It was clear and very simple. It has helped us in a few cases reduce risk when it comes to identity permissions.
Sometimes the client doesn't need the full functionality; they just need a small part of it - and it still works in those cases.
The product has helped us save time in IT and HR. If you create your directory with some logic, it allows you to streamline tasks. It can help more quickly handle requests. The management aspect helps simplify user interactions with various departments.
Azure has very good services that showcase how much money you are spending. It gives you advice on how to protect yourself from spending too much money. It's helpful when we have new clients. You can show them the financials from Microsoft and it will help illustrate how much it costs, and how much it will cost if you scale. It's very transparent on how much money you would spend depending on the setup.
It's had a positive effect on the employee user experience.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes it is difficult to understand the structure of the menu. Sometimes they make some changes in the configuration structure and you might have trouble finding a button or some functionality based on a UI update. That can be annoying. Too many interface changes can make it confusing.
The documentation could be better. Microsoft documentation is confusing. We do not like working with documents. There is not one big website where you can find whatever you want. Instead, there are thousands of websites that cover certain parts or services. On top of that, they often have old, out-of-date information that hasn't been checked. This is the most difficult part of dealing with Microsoft.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for almost four and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution hasn't had any downtime. Everything works perfectly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We've had some issues with performance around scalability. When we tried to deploy in certain areas, we didn't have enough scalability. This was an unusual situation. Typically, scalability is not an issue, however.
How are customer service and support?
Sometimes we contact technical support, however, not usually during the initial setup. We tend to fix any issues by ourselves.
Microsoft has different support teams in different countries. Who you speak to depends on what service you are using.
Automatically, your request is sent to a certain team or location. We have had a lot of issues with the Azure DevOps team, which is routed to India and the level of support is much lower. We had to have multiple calls to close a very simple task.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used any other different solution previously.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the initial deployment. The setups are always complex.
How long it takes to deploy depends on the client. We've done it in two days or one week. However, the main work is typically done across two days.
We tend to have two to three people involved in the implementation.
It doesn't require any maintenance on our side.
What about the implementation team?
Typically, we always do the setup by ourselves. We handle the setups for the clients. We sometimes ask Microsoft for input.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft has various pricing tiers.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I've read about Okta, however, I have never used it or evaluated it.
What other advice do I have?
We are a Microsoft gold partner.
I've used the conditional access feature, however, not very often.
If your company has more than ten users, you need this service. It gives you a lot of features to help manage your organization. A small startup with a handful of employees likely won't need it. However, if you have an organization with a financial department, a developer department, et cetera, it will get complicated handling access and permissions. Without this solution, you can't be sure you'll be safe - especially as you scale up your employees.
We use different models, including on-premises and cloud.
If you are a regular user, you don't need any special knowledge. However, if you are a technician, you can take exams from Microsoft and find materials about the product and really learn about it. That said, anyone can get a sense of the product simply by searching for it on YouTube.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Entra ID
August 2025

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Entra ID. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Interim Head at Division Public Education - St. Maarten
Significantly enhanced the user experience for our employees and helped our IT administrators and department save time
Pros and Cons
- "The two-step authentication is the most valuable."
- "The price has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for sign-on authentication to our devices.
How has it helped my organization?
During the pandemic, we were able to smoothly shift our employees to work from home. Azure Active Directory played a crucial role in ensuring the security of our systems by verifying the identity of the authorized personnel logging in.
We started using Azure Active Directory because it helped our IT administrators and department save time, which was one of the main reasons.
Azure Active Directory saved our organization money.
Azure Active Directory significantly enhanced the user experience for our employees. We observed a notable increase in employee usage and positive communication regarding their experience, particularly after the pandemic.
What is most valuable?
The two-step authentication is the most valuable.
What needs improvement?
I would like to have an additional security option to prevent spam.
The price has room for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is extremely stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is highly scalable. We are a school district that is compromised of seven schools. The solution is implemented in multiple locations, and we have over 200 employees and 1,600 students.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good. They are always responsive and provide quick resolutions.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Office 365 but all of the employees started to use their personal emails which affected security so we added Azure AD.
How was the initial setup?
We obtained certification for the deployment of the solution. Microsoft provided a document outlining all the deployment rules and steps, as well as a planning team that provided instructions for all email templates. The deployment required three people.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment using Azure AD.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are currently on the education plan, so the price is slightly better than the development plan. However, I believe there is room for even better pricing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We assessed Google Cloud Identity but ultimately chose Azure AD due to the Microsoft product familiarity among our team. We believed the transition would be smoother, which has been confirmed. Moreover, since not everyone was using Gmail, it would have been challenging for them to learn a new system. However, at that time, everyone in our school was using Microsoft products.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution a nine out of ten.
We have a full-time IT staff and part of their role is to maintain the solution.
Azure AD is an excellent and highly stable product. Its user interface is intuitive for those who have prior experience with Microsoft products. With some training, deployment can be carried out successfully. Our deployment experience was hassle-free, but the pre-training we received proved to be very helpful.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Application Support Engineer at Sika AG
Fast support, easy to use, and works very well
Pros and Cons
- "It's a very intuitive platform. It's easy to create groups and add people."
- "When it comes to Azure, creating certain things or getting different resources isn't very clear. You need a certain level of knowledge of the system. It could be a little bit more friendly so that some of the things can be done easily, but after everything is created, it's easy to use."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for the single sign-on to different products that we have, and it works pretty well.
How has it helped my organization?
In general terms, we use it as an admin tool. If we want to set up accounts for people, it's easier for us to do it like this because everything is connected to different groups.
What is most valuable?
It's a very intuitive platform. It's easy to create groups and add people.
What needs improvement?
I have used Okta in the past. Okta is easy to use, and it's also very friendly. Even users who have no tech experience would be able to use Okta.
When it comes to Azure, creating certain things or getting different resources isn't very clear. You need a certain level of knowledge of the system. It could be a little bit more friendly so that some of the things can be done easily, but after everything is created, it's easy to use.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for five years. In this company, I've been using it for two years, and before that, I used it for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's good. It has never hung up.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
They're good. We don't have issues with scalability because we are not like Amazon or other companies that are super huge and have got tons of traffic.
How are customer service and support?
I don't handle it directly now, but based on my previous experience, they're pretty fast. I'd rate them a 10 out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
There was probably the Google management system, but it works similarly to Azure AD.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in its deployment.
In terms of our environment, it's a private cloud. We have the infrastructure within the platform, but all the software, all the usage, and other things are handled by us. We're private because we're a big company, so we're able to afford it. We're not an IT company, so we don't need so much processing power. So, we use Azure as a PaaS solution.
We use it as a connector for different applications. We have Adobe Sign and applications on AWS. AWS has a translation solution, and people have accounts over there. They have their translations of different products and things like that. That's how we use it.
In terms of maintenance, everything is done by Microsoft. We are just the end users.
What was our ROI?
The return on investment is easier to calculate with Okta. It's a bit complicated to calculate in the case of Azure. Of course, Azure is already a trusted platform. It's pretty big, and it's handled by Microsoft, so there are no issues with that, but it's easier to check the return on investment with Okta.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I didn't evaluate any other solution.
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate Azure Active Directory a 10 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Infrastructure & Tech Support Manager at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Users can work at home or office and files are synchronized, with a single sign-on wherever they are
Pros and Cons
- "Let's say we decide that our users need to have MFA, multi-factor authentication. It is very easy to implement that with Azure Active Directory."
- "You can manage the users from the Office 365 administration center, and you can manage them from Azure Active Directory. Those are two different environments, but they do the same things. They can gather the features in one place, and it might be better if that place were Azure."
What is our primary use case?
We are a Microsoft-oriented company. All our main infrastructure for user systems and productivity, like Microsoft Office and email, are from Microsoft. So we use Microsoft products and we use Active Directory on-premises. We have also built a cloud infrastructure and we now have a completely hybrid architecture. As a result, it was mandatory to configure Azure Active Directory to synchronize with the on-premises Active Directory.
We have finished that project and now we use Azure Active Directory for users who are on the cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
Entra is very good for the organization because we now have many users, due to COVID, who are working from a distance. With Microsoft, we can give them the opportunity to download all the applications on their personal PCs, like Teams, OneDrive, et cetera. They have a single sign-on and they can log on from everywhere.
The solution has improved things a lot for our organization because it has improved productivity. One specific effect is that we used to use a lot of VPN access, but we have decreased that access by 80 percent because they don't need the VPN anymore. And productivity has also improved very much, because users can do their jobs from everywhere, even on their mobile phones, because they have their files on OneDrive. With Azure Active Directory, we don't have security issues thanks to the added security on the cloud, such as MFA and also Defender for Endpoint.
But it's not only productivity tools that we have on Azure, we have other applications as well that we have set up for our users, like SAP. We have also diminished our telecom costs.
We have saved a lot of money, I'm very sure about that. We pay for the solution but because it is in the pricing agreement, we have more tools available and we don't have to buy more. I would estimate it has saved us more than 40 percent.
In addition, before, we had to work through all the horizontal firewalls and security sensors in the company. Now, we have separated the productivity tools like Word, Excel, OneDrive, and Teams. That means our users are very pleased with the user experience. They like using it. They can work from home or at the company and their files are synchronized.
Overall, we feel our security has improved and we are confident.
What is most valuable?
I like the fact that I can manage the users, but it's also a security resource. Let's say we decide that our users need to have MFA - multi-factor authentication. It is very easy to implement that with Azure Active Directory.
What needs improvement?
What could be improved is the environment. It still has administration centers in Office 365, and the same is true for Azure in general. You can manage the users from the Office 365 administration center, and you can manage them from Azure Active Directory. Those are two different environments, but they do the same things. They can gather the features in one place, and it might be better if that place were Azure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Azure Active Directory for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good. We don't have incidents. The only issues we had were to do with synchronization that took some time between Active Directory on-prem and Azure Active Directory. But that might have had something to do with other issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a 100-percent scalable solution and that is one of the reasons we chose it.
We have installations on-premises, and people all over the country, including the islands, the north, and everywhere. Our users are in multiple locations. It's used across different departments with different applications and needs. At this moment, we have about 2,300 users.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft's technical support needs to be improved. It's a bit bureaucratic, to put it in one word. The procedure for opening a case is that someone sends you an email to give them all they need. I would like the technical support proceedings to be faster. Sometimes, my company doesn't have this time. We need to find a solution very quickly.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used on-premises products like System Center Configuration Manager. We used Microsoft's products, but for on-prem administration, not on the cloud.
How was the initial setup?
Due to the fact that we have a hybrid architecture, not a clean cloud solution, it took us a lot of time. We had to consider how everything, all the applications, was going to work. Active Directory is also involved in emails and there were many procedures to consider and test. There were also many users who were staying on-prem. We also had to consider external cooperation with other European and domestic energy companies. So it took us about one year. Our company is not a simple company, like a sales company or a manufacturer. We deal with critical infrastructure and we have to control and operate the power for the whole country. We had to think about every step of the journey.
We had 10 to 12 people involved. I was the project manager and there were three groups of people, in addition. One was from telecom and security. There were a few people from infrastructure and technical support, and there were some people from the application side, to test that all our applications were active.
We also have teams for projects, like when we do a large construction for something like power lines. We form teams between departments and these special teams may work for a year on a specific project. We also needed to consider them because they have different needs and work from different places and are mobile.
Because we have on-premises firewalls in our company, we had to do some work before we implemented AAD to arrange access between the company's security system and the Microsoft cloud system so that they could cooperate and communicate. We had to open the protocols, et cetera. As a result, we don't have any problem with the consistency of our security policies.
In the beginning, it was a matter of getting used to the procedures. We needed to explain things to the users so we sent them a guide. We rolled it out to our 2,500 users in many batches over about four months.
There is periodical maintenance, such as upgrades, as well as ad hoc maintenance. For example, if we modify public folders, we need to do some work because, on one occasion, cloud users couldn't see a public folder that was on-premises.
What was our ROI?
We can see a return on the investment by comparing the prices we know from previous years. We don't use so many data centers now and we don't need as many installations and to pay as much rent.
Our return on investment is that the costs are very small, like one-tenth what they were, by going from owning on-premises data centers to what we have now. Over a period of five years, our return on investment is 100 percent. The money we pay for this contract is not much compared to the money you need for buildings, data centers, power, and technicians.
The price is also very good if you consider the money you save by not having to pay for many contracts with different companies to create a corporate solution. You pay one company, like Microsoft, and you have the whole solution. We have saved a lot of money by doing that.
Of course, you need to give it time and in-house resources. People have to be trained. Otherwise, if you have many environments and many products that you don't know very well...
Maybe using multiple companies is good. That's why we do use some other products, but not many.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is fair. It's not very expensive given what they offer. Of course, we did some negotiating with Microsoft. We didn't pay the list price. We have been a Microsoft customer for many years, so when the contract comes due every three years, we discuss it. Afterward, there are some discounts.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Amazon and Google. We chose Microsoft mainly because it has the whole package, meaning it has the security, the applications, and the infrastructure, so it's a more holistic approach compared to the others. It's not that Google and Amazon don't offer something like that, but they need more time to improve because they were not on-premises companies.
Microsoft gives you the space, the data centers on the cloud, and backups; it gives you everything. From the others, something was always missing. Microsoft may not be perfect, but it has everything you need.
What other advice do I have?
It's a very good solution, an excellent solution. It's very stable and robust. You don't need to do a proof of concept unless you have a special case, like, for example, fleet management, and have a very specialized application.
We use Entra’s Conditional Access feature but we also use other tools from other vendors. From our experience so far, we haven't had problems. Entra seems robust enough. We haven't even had one incident of malware. Of course, we have added some more tools to our cloud infrastructure for the mail applications in the network. So although it's robust enough, because we're handling critical infrastructure, as a company we decided to have more tools.
We use Intune and Endpoint Manager. Any device that is connected, even if it is a personal device, needs to be registered via Intune. We do not accept non-registered devices.
Azure Active Directory, and Azure in general, is a very big solution that we are developing further. It takes a lot of time, but by using it, we don't need so many other resources from outside companies. We can manage everything in-house. It takes a lot of time, but it's better than other options. It has more tools and better monitoring. Those extra tools mean more time spent on it by the administrators. But it has dashboards that they didn't have before. So the administration is easier and more centralized, but you need time with all these tools.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
VP of IT at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Makes user management easy and works very well with the Microsoft ecosystem
Pros and Cons
- "The user management groups are valuable. It is a pretty basic product, but user management, in general, is valuable with the ability to differentiate between business lines and add different policies, group-based management, and dynamic user groups."
- "Allowing for more customization would be very useful. There is a limited metadata capability. When you look at a user, there are only six pieces of information you can see, but organizations are way more complex, so having that metadata available and being able to use that for dynamic user groups and other policies would be very helpful."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for access and identity management.
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft Entra ID has improved the way we administer the technology. One strong capability is our ability to use single sign-on. Using identity is an important component of our security, so we have been able to consolidate. Instead of having to manage users for different applications, we use single sign-on. We use Microsoft Entra ID to be the core of identity management across all applications. We have the capability to do so, so it reduces the burden of onboarding, offboarding, and giving different permissions because we have a centralized way to handle that.
Microsoft Entra ID does a pretty good job of providing a single pane of glass for managing user access. For zero trust and the more modern security approaches, it is key to have a single pane of glass. We are able to be very regimented and have processes that are repeatable and reproducible. It provides that consistency, so it is easier to be very consistent.
Microsoft Entra ID has helped to save time for our IT administrators, but I would have a hard time quantifying that. We do not have a lot of users. We are dealing with hundreds of users and not thousands or tens of thousands of users. We are able to use logic and rules to handle most permissioning versus having to do administrative things manually. There is less touch. We touch it only when we have to troubleshoot. If we have a good set of rules, it handles what we need to handle.
What is most valuable?
The user management groups are valuable. It is a pretty basic product, but user management, in general, is valuable with the ability to differentiate between business lines and add different policies, group-based management, and dynamic user groups.
What needs improvement?
Allowing for more customization would be very useful. There is a limited metadata capability. When you look at a user, there are only six pieces of information you can see, but organizations are way more complex, so having that metadata available and being able to use that for dynamic user groups and other policies would be very helpful.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Microsoft Entra ID for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
For the most part, it is very stable. I am not worried about its stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Typically, the people who provide us support want to provide good service, but overall, there is a lot of room for improvement because the subject matter experts basically follow the script, and sometimes, they neglect to listen to what we are asking for. We would have already gone through the steps, and we explain it, but we have to repeat ourselves multiple times.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In my past experiences, I have used Okta and the other ones. In my current organization, I have not used any other solution. When I came in, thankfully, we had Azure AD. We stuck with it, and we made that the primary. It is not perfect for sure, but it works very well in the Microsoft ecosystem. It works well together with Intune and other Microsoft solutions. Because we have a single stack in Microsoft, it works very well with Intune. In the past, I have had different identity and access management, and then you have interoperability issues. Even though Microsoft Entra ID is not perfect, there is less of that. You get one vendor, and usually, things work out eventually.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in its deployment in my current organization, but I was spearheaded into bringing from a basic use case to a lot more security and a lot more automation and manageability.
Initially, the initial setup was very basic, and then we modernized it and improved it. We used a lot more policy, and dynamic user groups were a big aspect of that single sign-on in the app management, app registration, and various other aspects.
What about the implementation team?
We took a little bit of external help to make sure that our approach was optimized.
What was our ROI?
It is difficult to quantify that. Because there is the cost of switching, usually, it ends up being a wash.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing could always be better. You pay the premium for Microsoft. Sometimes, it is worth it, and at other times, you wish to have more licensing options, especially for smaller companies.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are currently not evaluating other options.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Entra ID an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Specialist at Global Biotech Products
Improves security and is easy to use for admins
Pros and Cons
- "The security features, multi-factor authentication, and service management features are valuable."
- "One thing that they need to improve is the cost."
What is our primary use case?
We use it as the Active Directory on the cloud. We have the systems on-premises and on the cloud. We connect the AD data to Azure. We have a single sign-on service on multi-cloud. We use the single sign-on feature on, for example, AWS.
In terms of the version, we use it as a service, and it is always updated to the latest version.
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft Entra ID helps to synchronize information from on-premise Active Directory. There are security features such as multifactor authentication. We can also use a single sign-on to connect with the other application on the cloud.
It helps our admins to have more security. It is helpful for authentication methods, log checking, and audit trails in case of security concerns. However, it has not saved them time.
Microsoft Entra ID has not helped to save our organization money, but it helps to improve security.
What is most valuable?
The security features, multi-factor authentication, and service management features are valuable.
Microsoft Entra ID provides a single pane of glass for managing user access. Its menus are properly categorized, and they make it easy to use for our work and processes.
What needs improvement?
One thing that they need to improve is the cost. It already has a lot of features, but more protection of the identity would be beneficial for customers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. In our environment, we mostly have Microsoft solutions such as Microsoft 365, email, OneDrive, SharePoint, Power Apps, etc. Entra ID is deployed across multiple locations for multiple users. We have a Microsoft 365 license for all employees. We have two admins who take care of configuration and monitoring for security and data loss prevention.
We have plans to increase its usage.
How are customer service and support?
I have not contacted their support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use any other similar solution previously.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in its deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is costly.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others. Overall, I would rate Microsoft Entra ID an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Security Architect at CloudsWizards.com
Helps with centralized identity management and provides an easy sign-in experience
Pros and Cons
- "My two preferred features are conditional access and privileged identity management."
- "They can combine conditional access for user actions and application filtering. Currently, they are separated, and we cannot mix the two. I do not know how it would be possible, but it would be interesting."
What is our primary use case?
There are many use cases. The main use case is identity synchronization to on-prem with AD Connect. Another main use case is related to conditional access. Automated licensing is also one of the use cases.
It is also used for identity access management with specific workflows, rules, etc. Permission or role management for applications is another use case, but I have never used that in production. I have demonstrated it to multiple customers, but they were not there yet.
How has it helped my organization?
The main benefit is that you have one repository for identities. That is very important for main companies. If you have worked with or are familiar with the concepts of on-prem Active Directory, you can easily start with Microsoft Entra ID. You have everything in one area. You have application identities, workload identities, and other identities in one area. It is very convenient and powerful. It helps with centralized identity management. You can also connect with your partner organizations. It is quite powerful for collaboration with your partners, customers, etc.
Microsoft Entra ID provides a single pane of glass for managing user access. It is pretty good in terms of the sign-on experience of users. It is easy to understand for even non-technical people.
With this single pane of glass, we also have a good view of the security part or security policies. From an admin's perspective, we have complete logs of everything that is happening in almost real time. We have pretty much everything we need. In recent times, I have not come across many use cases that could not be covered.
With conditional access, you can make sure that you have control at any time. It is a part of the zero-trust strategy. Any access is verified. You have a very good grasp on identity and devices for compliance. You can manage any issues through Microsoft Entra ID. Most companies I have worked with let you bring your own device, and device management is very important for them. They have a tight grasp on who can connect and which devices can connect to their network or cloud resources.
There have been improvements in the onboarding and the leaving process. It has always been a challenge to make sure that people are given the right access right at the beginning and that their access is disabled at the right moment. Historically, while auditing clients, I could see people who left the company five years ago, but their access was still active. Permission management has been helpful there. It is a nice thing to implement.
In terms of user experience, we have not received any feedback from the users about Microsoft Entra ID, which is good because it means it is transparent to them. It works as expected.
What is most valuable?
My two preferred features are conditional access and privileged identity management. They are very powerful. I like conditional access a lot. It is an easy way to secure identities.
Privileged identity management helps to control who is requesting access, when, and what for. It gives you a nice overview of what is happening in your tenant and why people are doing certain things. You can easily detect outliers or if something is wrong.
What needs improvement?
They can combine conditional access for user actions and application filtering. Currently, they are separated, and we cannot mix the two. I do not know how it would be possible, but it would be interesting.
For permission access, there can be a bit more granular distinction between Microsoft applications. Currently, you have a pack of things, but sometimes, you only want to allow one of the things and not the whole pack. For example, you just want to allow the Azure portal, not the whole experience. However, such scenarios are rare. Overall, I am pretty happy with where we are today. It is always exciting to do new things, but for the customers I have worked with, it covered 99% of the scenarios.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it since I started using Azure and M365. It has been almost six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. I have not met any limitations, but I do not have clients with more than 2,000 users.
How are customer service and support?
I have used their tech support one or two times. It is pretty good. I would rate them a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have worked a bit with Okta and AWS IAM, but they are more expensive than Microsoft Entra ID. I last worked with Okta about two years ago. At that time, Okta was more advanced and intuitive in certain aspects.
Microsoft Entra ID is a no-brainer if you already do not have a solution and if you have on-prem Active Directory. If you already have something, then the choice can be different. Microsoft Entra ID works for various use cases because you have connectors with pretty much every application on the planet. You have a lot of possibilities to integrate. You can also integrate with on-prem. In terms of security, there are a lot of features to protect your identity. It is quite helpful and appealing, so if you do not have anything and you are going to use Microsoft technologies, it is a no-brainer. Similarly, if you are a cloud company just starting, and if you choose Azure, Microsoft Entra ID is a no-brainer. If you choose another cloud, you can go for another solution.
How was the initial setup?
I have been working with cloud and hybrid deployments. There are a few cloud deployments, but I work a lot with hybrid deployments.
Its setup is straightforward. I am very used to it now, and for me, it is pretty straightforward. The deployment duration depends on the features that you want to enable. Features such as conditional access require discussions with the customers. Generally, two weeks are enough. You might also have to train the internal team on it, which could take a bit more time.
You do not require too many people for deployment. One or two people are normally enough.
In terms of maintenance, it is very easy to maintain. You might have to add another business case for your customers or simplify something you put in place. You have to be aware of the new features, etc.
What was our ROI?
Microsoft Entra ID must have saved organizations money, but I do not have the data.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Its price is okay. It is easy to go from a P1 to P2 license. It is not exactly a bargain, but I would recommend the P2 license.
What other advice do I have?
Make sure to use MFA and conditional access wherever possible.
Overall, I would rate Microsoft Entra ID a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator

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Updated: August 2025
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Buyer's Guide
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