Okta vs Azure AD

Organizations are increasingly shifting their infrastructure to the cloud and identity management is one of the biggest challenges of managing users and devices accessing applications and services remotely. Microsoft and Okta are leading solution providers for securing the identities of workforces, customers, and other stakeholders. These solutions share several commonalities like single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and user management capabilities. However, there are several differences between the two Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) solutions. Let us compare Okta vs Azure AD to further our understanding of these solutions.

What Azure AD Offers?

Azure AD is one of the most basic components in the Azure ecosystem. Every Microsoft online business service including Office 365 relies on Azure AD for sign-in and identity protection making it one of the most widely used IDaaS solutions.

Features in Free Azure AD License

All Azure AD licenses including the Azure Active Directory Free license offer user and group management capabilities, on-premises directory synchronization, SSPR, and SSO for cloud applications.

Features on Azure AD Premium Plans

Azure Active Directory Premium P1 and P2 plans are paid plans that offer advanced administration capabilities. The P1 plan has features like dynamic groups, on-premises identity and access management capabilities with Microsoft Identity Manager, and cloud-write back capabilities. The P2 plan adds even more features with Conditional Access and Privileged Identity Management.

Integration and Synchronization Capabilities

One of the most important advantages of Azure AD is its tight integration with other Microsoft services and products. For organizations using on-premises Microsoft products, Azure AD Connect is a powerful synchronization tool for secure password synchronization within Azure AD rather than externally validating user’s credentials against the on-premises Active Directory.

What Okta Offers?

Okta supports multiple sources and allows flexibility in the choice of the technology stack from a broad range of service providers including Slack, Zoom, Amazon AWS, and even Microsoft. Its cloud offerings are broadly classified into Workforce Identity Products, Customer Identity Products, and Add Ons. Each feature such as Multi-factor Authentication and Single Sign-On are available for subscription as a standalone offering. One of the standout features of Okta is an adaptive MFA that uses several modern factors and insights from multiple sources to protect applications and data.

Okta or Azure AD?

While Okta provides greater flexibility with a wider range of subscriptions, Azure AD emerges as the better option for organizations and enterprises that leverage Microsoft solutions. Considering that Office 365 alone is one of the most popular office suite technologies in the market with Azure AD available by default, the Microsoft IDaaS solution is arguably the more widely used solution.

While the premium features are available with the standalone subscriptions, they too are a part of Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans. Additionally, an interesting feature of Azure AD is the My Apps portal. It is a centralized location on which users can manage their profiles, cloud-based applications, and review their access to apps and groups.

In general, organizations’ familiarity with Microsoft systems especially the ones who started to work with the still prevalent legacy on-premises infrastructure tend to favor Azure AD for their identity management solutions even as they migrate to the cloud.

Apps4Rent Can Help with Azure AD Implementation

While there are several IDaaS solutions available in the market, the Okta vs Azure AD comparison arises because of the popularity of the two solutions. Having said that, examining Azure AD in isolation as a solution does injustice to the wider Azure cloud computing capabilities which work in cohesion in integrated solutions like Microsoft 365. The premium features in Azure AD, in particular, often turn out to be the differentiating factor in the Azure AD vs Okta comparison. As a Tier 1 Microsoft Partner, Apps4Rent can help you identify, procure, and implement an appropriate Microsoft 365 plan with the best Azure AD capabilities at promotional prices. Our Microsoft certified experts are available via phone, chat, or email 24/7 for assistance. Contact us today for Azure AD support.