We use it for SSO and directory. It's the Single sign-on.
Pros
I mean, it works. We use it to sign on to all of our systems.
Cons
I guess it's not immediately obvious to me how to set up the MFA. Whenever I use it, I've supposedly set up MFA, but I don't pay. I've never gotten it to trigger the MFA request
Likelihood to Recommend
I mean, it's well suited for SSO and directory, which is what we use for.
VU
Verified User
Employee in Information Technology (Internet company, 51-200 employees)
We use Entra ID to manage all of our identities and access management. That ties into active directory. So this is where people get access to certain groups that let them access apps and whatnot. And Entra ID is what helps us manage this.
Pros
It helps us achieve lease privilege, so that's a huge security initiative for us. So making sure our employees don't have access to tools and applications that they shouldn't have access to. So ID helps us manage privileges and permissions.
Cons
I think for us would love to just have a easier way to report on what users may have more permissions that they need. Maybe Entra ID could look at historic logs and user behavior and trends and figure out whether we should still give them those permissions or revoke them and take it back.
Likelihood to Recommend
We've used it for three years and that's been great so far. We're going to do a renewal this upcoming year as well. I think it really helps within identity and access management space tool does what we kind of wanted it to do and that's why we bought it. I don't know if it works well with other Microsoft related tools, so maybe it might not work with cloud or some of the other suite of products.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Information Technology (Computer Software company, 5001-10,000 employees)
We use it mainly to manage users and groups and then there is a very good feature, which is the applications, so the enterprise applications and we can federate open ID clients to the Entra ID so it's very useful.
Pros
You can integrate natively. For example, Google authentication, by creating enterprise application. So you can log into Google by using the Microsoft account, which is nice.
Cons
Well, as of now, I don't see an area of improvement maybe on the process to verify the applications maybe it can be more accessible, let's say.
Likelihood to Recommend
Well suited is to manage, identities in general. So groups identities. Less appropriate, maybe to manage authorization I would say because should be delegated to the applications.
Scope of the use case currently is in the context of Azure, using Azure infrastructure and access to that with Azure ID
Pros
I think it's among the leading identity providers, especially with infrastructure with Azure integrations out of the box and a lot of broad ecosystem that it supports. It's a good platform.
Cons
I think the single sign-on area in terms of the simplicity of what an Okta provides would be better in terms of deployment, usage, kind of administration kind of context.
Likelihood to Recommend
Definitely in the context of using with Azure kind of infrastructure, it's very well situated, suited for others, it depends upon the priorities the company might have.
VU
Verified User
Vice-President in Sales (Computer Networking company, 501-1000 employees)
Login users need Microsoft Entra ID as identity and access solution since it was called Azure AD managing identities for employees, partners and customers, reducing unauthorised access and improving visibility and control .
It is a cloud based product so it can be used anywhere as long as the internet access is possible and there is no network restrictions.
Pros
Good interface to administrate access to users
Gives good security for endpoints, apps and servers
Good compatibility with multi factor authentication
Valuable security features
Cons
It can get too complex
It is very demanding with licensing
Syncing issues with some devices
Likelihood to Recommend
I highly recommend Microsoft Entra ID because it is really capable of managing access controls and user identifies in large and middle size organisations with robust features such as options without password, multi factor authentication and most of all, having a centralised management which is very safe according to the latest standards. It is evident in the logs how the integration works seams less and without any security issues or unexpected behaviours.
Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure) is a great product that we utilize for deploying VMs, integrating SSO within applications, managing users, groups, and inboxes, and more. While the online software is not always intuitive for administrators to use (the UI changes frequently) and the name change caused a great amount of confusion, the product is solid, mature, and most of all does the job in all the categories mentioned above.
Pros
User and group management
VM management and deployment
SSO integration app store
Intune and MDM
Cons
UI development
Communication regarding name change
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Entra ID is well suited for most organizations who want a cloud based AD solution that allows administrators to manage users, spin up VMs, and integrate their internal applications with SSO. The software may not be well suited for businesses that use other softwares to do any of the tasks mentioned above, as they may not get their full money's worth.
VU
Verified User
Consultant in Information Technology (Computer Networking company, 11-50 employees)
We used Microsoft Entra ID formally known as Azure Active Directory to authenticate our users(both internal and external users) to our portal. Entra ID helped us enable SSO to our application, where users had their Azure/ Office 365 accounts and we were able to provide a quick login with authentication and authorization on our product.
Pros
The SDK implementation is easy and quick with .NET
We did not face any issues with the integration with our app
Microsoft Entra ID was fast and secure
Cons
Entra IDs dashboard got a bit complex than previous
There should be a good and cheaper support plan for Entra ID issues
Vendor lock-in
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Entra ID is specifically good where the user needs quick and easy solution for authentication and authorization capabilities in the software. It is less appropriate where the user wants to implement a solution where it doesn't want to get locked-in via a vendor for example Microsoft. Also the console may be a bit complex for first time users.
VU
Verified User
Employee in Engineering (Computer Software company, 11-50 employees)
I help administer the identity use cases for Microsoft Entra ID. We use it as our primary identity in a hybrid configuration with our on-prem Active Directory. This also provides the base for our Office 365 products.
Pros
Foundation for O365.
Mechanism for modern authentication (SSO, SAML, OAuth, OIDC).
Feature-rich with controls like Conditional Access to enforce MFA and other access restrictions to company applications.
Cons
I would like to see more low-code automation options.
Default options need to be set more restrictive to prevent accidentally relaxed security settings.
I would like to see more streamlined configuration pages. Many similar or related settings are scattered across different pages.
Likelihood to Recommend
If you are using Active Directory as your primary identity and want a way to enhance it for modern or cloud identity scenarios then this is a great product to interface to that. Also if you are interested in Office 365 products it becomes the most obvious choice since it is very integrated. If you are not interested in O365, then paying for the additional licensing to get all of the Entra ID features may not make as much sense for you.
VU
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (Computer Software company, 5001-10,000 employees)
Microsoft Entra ID is primarily used for identity management and authentication methods unification. The biggest business problem it solves for us is streamlining of login and registration processes, which increases data privacy and simplifies applications integration.
Pros
Multi Factor Authentication
Easy Integration
Single Sign-on
Cons
complicated pricing
lack of low-level technical configuration
Likelihood to Recommend
I think Microsoft Entra ID is well suited for solutions that runs on the cloud and require high level of authentication reliability and is less appropriate for applications that require multi-tenant administration
VU
Verified User
Team Lead in Information Technology (Information Services company, 10,001+ employees)
We use Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) both as an internal directory and single sign-on solution for the entire organization, as well as part of our cloud offering where we leverage the capabilities of Microsoft Azure Active Directory and provide additional authentication mechanisms for our business customers.
Pros
Multi-factor authentication
Conditional access
Supported by and integrates with other Microsoft products
Cons
Complexity, especially for users not familiar with the "Microsoft way" of doing things
Great for enterprises but a lot of overhead for smaller businesses
Likelihood to Recommend
If you are primarily a Microsoft shop, using Office 365, Azure, Windows, etc... then using Microsoft Azure Active Directory would be a natural choice, in fact I would say choosing anything else in this scenario would not make any sense. It has a bit of a learning curve especially if you are new coming into the Microsoft ecosystem, mostly due to its breadth and depth, but once you get a hang of it, Microsoft Azure Active Directory is a very solid identity management solution.
VU
Verified User
Employee in Information Technology (Computer Software company, 1-10 employees)
