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Zoho Directory

Features
Ease of use
Ease of management
Quality of support
Affordability
Market presence
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Pricing from
$2 per user per month
Free Trial
Free version
User corporate size
Small
Medium
Large
User industry
  1. Agriculture, fishing, and forestry
  2. Accommodation and food services
  3. Construction

What is Zoho Directory

Zoho Directory is a cloud-based identity and access management service used to manage users, authentication, and access to business applications. It supports centralized user lifecycle management, single sign-on for connected apps, and enforcement of authentication and password policies. The product is typically used by small to mid-sized organizations, especially those standardizing on Zoho’s business application suite, and by IT teams that need a hosted directory without running on-premises infrastructure.

pros

Tight integration with Zoho apps

Zoho Directory is designed to work closely with Zoho’s broader application ecosystem for user management and access control. This can reduce administrative overhead when an organization uses multiple Zoho services. It also provides a consistent identity layer across those services for sign-in and account governance.

Centralized user lifecycle controls

The product provides a centralized place to create, update, suspend, and remove user accounts. It supports provisioning-style workflows across connected services, helping reduce orphaned accounts when employees change roles or leave. This is useful for IT teams that want a single source of truth for identities in a cloud-first setup.

SSO and policy enforcement

Zoho Directory supports single sign-on for supported applications and can apply authentication-related policies across users. It also includes password policy controls to standardize credential requirements. These capabilities address common IAM needs without requiring a separate directory server deployment.

cons

Best fit in Zoho stack

Organizations that rely heavily on non-Zoho applications may find that the overall experience depends on the breadth and depth of available integrations. Some advanced app-connector features and edge-case configurations can require additional setup or may not be available for every target system. This can affect how broadly Zoho Directory can serve as the sole identity hub in heterogeneous environments.

Advanced IAM features may vary

Compared with more enterprise-focused IAM suites, some advanced capabilities (for example, highly granular conditional access, complex identity governance workflows, or extensive third-party ecosystem depth) may be limited or require additional Zoho services. Buyers should validate requirements around privileged access, complex compliance reporting, and large-scale federation scenarios. Fit can depend on the organization’s security and audit needs.

Less suited for complex AD needs

If an organization requires deep parity with traditional on-premises directory services and complex Windows/AD-centric management patterns, a cloud directory may not cover all legacy requirements. Hybrid identity scenarios can introduce additional design and operational considerations. Teams should confirm how Zoho Directory aligns with existing directory dependencies and device management expectations.

Plan & Pricing

Plan Price Key features & notes
Free Free — up to 10 users SSO (3 third-party apps), Directory Stores (2), Provisioning (default), Device Authentication (10 devices), Default admin roles, Reports & Audit Logs (7 days), Conditional Access Policies & Routing Policy (default), MFA, Basic conditional assignment, Cloud RADIUS (10 users), Cloud LDAP (10 users), Anomaly Detection.
Standard $2 per user/month Unlimited users; SSO (unlimited), Custom provisioning, Reports & Audit Logs (30 days), Conditional Access Policies & Routing Policy (custom), Custom domain. (Yearly billing available — save 15%).
Professional $7 per user/month Unlimited users; Directory Stores (10), Device authentication (1 device/user license), Custom admin roles, Reports & Audit Logs (90 days), Advanced conditional assignment, Cloud RADIUS (unlimited), Cloud LDAP (unlimited).

Notes: Prices are inclusive of local taxes where stated; local taxes (VAT/GST) may be charged in addition. Licensing is billed pro-rata when users are added/removed. Onboarding support and 24x5 support assistance included for all plans. 45-day free trial available (no credit card required).

Seller details

Zoho Corporation
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
1996
Private
https://www.zoho.com/
https://x.com/zoho
https://www.linkedin.com/company/zoho/

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