Microsoft Entra External ID
Customer identity and access management (CIAM) software
Identity management software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is Microsoft Entra External ID
Microsoft Entra External ID is a customer identity and access management (CIAM) service for authenticating and managing external users such as customers, citizens, partners, and guests. It supports sign-up/sign-in experiences, social and enterprise identity federation, and policy-based access controls for consumer-facing applications. The product is typically used by application teams building web and mobile apps that need scalable authentication integrated with Microsoft’s identity platform and administration tooling.
Broad identity federation options
It supports common federation standards and identity providers used in CIAM scenarios, including social identities and enterprise directories. This helps organizations reduce custom integration work when serving mixed audiences (customers plus partner or workforce identities). It also aligns with common patterns for B2C and B2B external access in Microsoft environments.
Integration with Microsoft ecosystem
It integrates with Microsoft Entra administration, policies, and related security and monitoring capabilities available in the Microsoft cloud stack. Organizations already using Microsoft identity services can centralize external identity governance and operations in familiar tooling. This can simplify operational handoffs between application teams and identity/security administrators.
Scalable managed CIAM service
As a managed cloud service, it offloads infrastructure operations such as availability, patching, and baseline scaling from the customer. It is designed for high-volume authentication workloads typical of consumer applications. This can be advantageous compared with self-managed identity stacks that require ongoing platform engineering.
Microsoft-centric architecture fit
The product fits best when applications and identity operations already align with Microsoft Entra and Azure patterns. Organizations with heterogeneous identity stacks may need additional integration work or accept split administration across tools. This can increase complexity for teams standardizing across multiple clouds or identity platforms.
Customization can require expertise
Advanced user journey customization, branding, and policy configuration can require specialized knowledge of Microsoft identity concepts and configuration models. Teams may need additional time to implement non-standard registration, verification, or progressive profiling flows. This can affect delivery timelines for highly tailored consumer experiences.
Licensing and feature clarity
CIAM capabilities in the Microsoft identity portfolio can involve multiple SKUs and consumption models depending on features and scale. Buyers may need careful scoping to understand which features are included and how usage is billed. This can complicate cost forecasting compared with simpler, single-plan offerings.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go (MAU-based)
Free tier/trial: Core offering free for the first 50,000 Monthly Active Users (MAU) — permanent free tier for those MAUs.
Billing beyond free tier: Per-MAU pricing applies for MAUs above 50,000. The public Microsoft pricing page does not display a fixed per-MAU dollar amount on the global pricing page; rates vary by region/currency and Microsoft directs customers to the Azure Pricing Calculator or to contact sales for precise quotes.
Add-ons:
- SMS Phone Authentication: billed per SMS phone verification attempt; charged using four country-cost tiers (rates listed on Microsoft’s SMS rate table).
- ID Governance for External Identities: premium add-on billed per MAU (no free tier for this add-on).
- Go-Local add-on: data residency option (Australia or Japan) as an add-on.
Example costs: Not listed on the public pricing page (region/currency dependent). Microsoft advises using the Azure pricing calculator or contacting sales for exact per-MAU rates.
Discounts/notes: The pricing pages state that listed prices are estimates and actual pricing may vary depending on the agreement, purchase date, currency exchange and taxes. See Azure pricing calculator/contact sales for tailored pricing.
Seller details
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Washington, United States
1975
Public
https://www.microsoft.com/
https://x.com/Microsoft
https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/
