IT AI Index
Index Identity and access MFA › Microsoft Entra ID vs Okta
Multi-factor authentication · September 2026 Edition

Microsoft Entra ID vs Okta

Three of twelve models named Microsoft Entra ID first on the direct prompt; four named Okta. Both were named by all twelve models and both carry 49 labels, so the shares below are directly comparable.

Microsoft Entra ID

endorsed leader

Named in eight categories this edition.

Okta

accepted challenger

Named in five categories this edition.

First-choice share30%9%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate2%12%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#3A position in a field of 9; printed, not drawn.
Labels4949Equal, which is what makes the shares comparable.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Microsoft Entra ID reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Cisco Duo was named alongside these two in eleven of the twelve direct answers. Cisco Duo vs Microsoft Entra ID · Cisco Duo vs Okta

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the multi-factor authentication page.

By framing

How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Microsoft Entra IDFirst choices, of twelve modelsOkta
Direct343 against Okta
Paraphrase311 against Okta
Comparative36
Budget-constrained601 against Microsoft Entra ID
Scale-constrained401 against Okta
Negative001 against Okta
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Microsoft Entra ID and Okta stood in it.

Both were the first choice

1 of 12 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.
Qwen 3.7 FlashMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta alternatives: Cisco Duo

Microsoft Entra ID first, Okta not the choice

2 of 12 modelsOkta was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
GPT-5.4 miniMicrosoft Entra ID alternatives: Cisco Duo
GLM 4.7 FlashXCisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID

Okta first, Microsoft Entra ID an alternative

3 of 12 modelsMicrosoft Entra ID was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Mistral SmallOkta alternatives: Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID
Llama 4 MaverickCisco Duo, Okta alternatives: Microsoft Entra ID
MiniMax M2.5Okta alternatives: Cisco Duo, Microsoft Entra ID, Rippling

Neither was the first choice, one was named

5 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Gemini 3.5 FlashCisco Duo alternatives: Clerk, Datawiza, Descope, Kinde, Microsoft Entra ID, WorkOS
Perplexity SonarCisco Duo alternatives: Descope, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, WorkOS
Grok 4.1 FastCisco Duo alternatives: Microsoft Entra ID, Okta
DeepSeek V4 FlashCisco Duo alternatives: Microsoft Entra ID, Okta
Kimi K2Cisco Duo alternatives: JumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta

Neither was named

1 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Microsoft Entra ID leads by twenty-seven points.
Microsoft Entra ID28%#2 of 11
Okta2%#6 of 11
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Microsoft Entra ID leads by twenty-one points.
Microsoft Entra ID30%#2 of 9
Okta9%#3 of 9
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Microsoft Entra ID leads by fourteen points.
Microsoft Entra ID40%#1 of 6
Okta26%#3 of 6
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Microsoft Entra ID

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Two of two in this category shown.

“Microsoft shop: Start with Microsoft Entra ID MFA + Conditional Access — cheapest, deep integration, passkey support. This is often the pragmatic default.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“Choose Microsoft Entra ID if you are already a 90%+ Microsoft shop and want to consolidate your budget using your existing licensing.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice

What the models said about Okta

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. One of one in this category shown.

“If you need a flexible, cross-platform solution with adaptive security, Okta Adaptive MFA is the top recommendation.” Mistral Small · direct prompt · first choice
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top three products in each category. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.