{"id":33935,"date":"2023-03-16T10:41:29","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T14:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?p=33935"},"modified":"2024-08-15T17:57:14","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T21:57:14","slug":"auth0-vs-azure-ad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/auth0-vs-azure-ad","title":{"rendered":"Auth0 vs. Azure AD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the world continues to shift to the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model of application delivery, developers are starting to find ways to make their processes more manageable. One such avenue is the use of customer identity and access management (IAM)<\/a> solutions to offload the chore of managing end user databases. Auth0 and Microsoft Azure AD are two commonly compared solutions for this use case. More specifically, Auth0 is often compared against Azure AD\u2019s B2C solution. AAD B2C is designed to manage customer access to applications rather than internal users\u2019 access to resources, which makes it a closer match to Auth0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This blog will explore Auth0 and Azure AD, their benefits and drawbacks, and how they compare to one another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Azure AD?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Azure AD is an identity management platform, and its core offering is a B2B solution for managing internal identities. However, it also has a B2C offering, as noted above, which is the solution we\u2019ll focus on in this blog. That\u2019s because Auth0 vs. Azure AD comparisons are usually looking at Auth0 and Azure AD B2C, which is an identity management platform designed to manage customer identities for web and mobile applications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the legacy Microsoft Active Directory (AD)<\/a> platform, Azure AD is cloud-based. Its legacy counterpart, Microsoft Active Directory, is a long-standing and well-known directory solution. It\u2019s particularly popular among Microsoft users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When companies began moving to the cloud, Microsoft introduced Azure AD as a cloud-based solution to on-premises AD. However, Azure AD is not simply a cloud copy of, nor a replacement for, AD. It\u2019s an entirely different tool: AD and Azure AD\u2019s architecture, security policies, and functionality are different, and they function independently from one another. Learn more about Azure Active Directory.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n Breaking Up with Active Directory <\/p>\n

\n Don\u2019t let your directory hold you back. Learn why it\u2019s time to break up with AD. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

\n Read Now<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

What Is Auth0?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Auth0 is a user authentication solution for mobile and web applications. Generally, companies use Auth0 to authenticate external identities rather than internal ones. This involves user identity management to an extent, but it\u2019s more of a customer identity database than an internal IAM platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auth0 is a bit younger (founded in 2013) than Azure AD, but it\u2019s growing fast \u2014 it was purchased in 2022 by Okta<\/a>. Over the last decade, it has become another popular solution for managing end user application access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparing Azure AD and Auth0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Compatibility and Integrations <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Both Azure AD B2C and Auth0 offer a wide variety of integrations with different solutions and platforms. However, as a Microsoft product, Azure AD is designed to work within the Microsoft ecosystem. It can work with external identities, but this often comes at a price \u2014 either via cost, complexity, or both. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working within a Microsoft environment often calls for roundabout custom configurations, confusing licensing, and third-party add-ons. Over time, these make the environment brittle, expensive, and difficult to manage. They also make it harder to pry different elements apart should your organization want to move away from Azure AD or Microsoft in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This problem of Microsoft lock-in is becoming more widespread as heterogeneity in organizations grows. For example, businesses are introducing more SaaS applications into their environments and employees are using different types of devices, including varied operating systems and mobile devices. In fact, about three-quarters of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs<\/a>) reported that at least some of their employees use their personal devices for work purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microsoft has historically favored its own product suite and Windows devices, which has made managing diverse and multi-OS environments difficult. Microsoft Intune was released to combat the problem by offering a mobile device management solution (MDM)<\/a> for non-Windows devices; however, Intune is a product suite<\/a> in and of itself and incurs additional licensing costs. It also continues to favor the Microsoft product suite in certain regards \u2014 for example, by requiring Microsoft Edge for certain functionalities<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usability<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important that the solution you choose works with your environment, processes, and teams. Your IT team\u2019s preferences and the solution\u2019s ability to work with what you have in place can determine whether the solution is ultimately a good fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recommend getting input from your IT teams on their preferences and testing out each solution in your environment. Both solutions have a free pricing tier, which could act as a trial account to enable teams to test drive each. You could also schedule demos of each and ask your IT team to join to see how each solution works and ask questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reviews can help as well. Azure AD B2C, for example, scored an average user rating of 8.4 on TrustRadius<\/a>. TrustRadius highlights the following pros that were commonly cited in user reviews: <\/p>\n\n\n\n