Identity and access management has become the cornerstone of modern cybersecurity. As organizations adopt dozens of cloud applications, managing who has access to what — and ensuring former employees lose access immediately upon departure — requires centralized identity platforms. IAM solutions provide single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, lifecycle management, and access governance.
Okta is the independent market leader in cloud identity management. Its Workforce Identity Cloud provides SSO to over 7,000 pre-integrated applications, adaptive MFA with risk-based authentication, lifecycle management for automated provisioning and deprovisioning, and Universal Directory for centralized identity storage. Okta's strength is its vendor-neutral approach — it works equally well with Microsoft, Google, AWS, and any other cloud platform. Pricing starts at $2 per user per month for SSO and $3 per user per month for MFA.
Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) is the dominant identity platform for Microsoft 365 organizations. It is included with Microsoft 365 business and enterprise plans, providing SSO, MFA, conditional access policies, and integration with on-premises Active Directory. For organizations primarily using Microsoft tools, Entra ID provides the most cost-effective and seamlessly integrated identity solution. Premium P1 at $6 per user per month adds group-based access management and self-service password reset. Premium P2 at $9 per user per month includes identity protection and privileged identity management.
