IT AI Index
Index › Identity and access › September 2026 Edition

Workforce identity and SSO

Asked as “workforce identity platform”, and as “single sign-on and identity provider for employees”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 47 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Microsoft Entra ID
Contested
36% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 67 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small businessJumpCloud48%Clear leaderStanding →Mid-marketMicrosoft Entra ID36%ContestedThis pageEnterpriseMicrosoft Entra ID47%Clear leaderStanding →

01The standing

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. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Microsoft Entra ID36%13%63endorsed leader
02Okta17%42%36criticized challenger
03Okta Workforce Identity15%7%27accepted challenger
04OneLogin15%18%33accepted challenger
05JumpCloud11%4%46accepted challenger
Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
07Ping Identity0%30%30criticized challenger
09ForgeRock0%27%11criticized challenger
06CyberArk Identity0%13%23accepted challenger
10IBM Verify0%10%10accepted challenger
08SailPoint0%10%10accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Microsoft Entra ID vs OktaMicrosoft Entra ID vs Okta Workforce IdentityOkta vs Okta Workforce Identity

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative50%
Key
01Microsoft Entra ID36%
02Okta17%
03Okta Workforce Identity15%
04OneLogin15%
05JumpCloud11%
06CyberArk Identity0%
07Ping Identity0%
08SailPoint0%
09ForgeRock0%
10IBM Verify0%

02What they warned about

Three of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Okta
42%
15 of 36 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“**Avoid Okta** if budget is a primary concern” Kimi K2, budget prompt
Microsoft Entra ID
13%
8 of 63 labels negative · 8 of 12 models
“**Caution**: Microsoft's deep integration creates significant vendor lock-in risk, and the platform's complexity leads to frequent misconfigurations.” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Ping Identity
30%
9 of 30 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“or if you require high availability and have experienced significant downtime (Ping Identity)” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
OneLogin
18%
6 of 33 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“**Avoid if:** You cannot verify the current security posture post-acquisition (OneLogin)” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

65 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 878 links across 252 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

startwithidentity.com
41 answers · 93 citations · 10 models
siit.io
vendor site · Siit28 answers · 33 citations · 8 models
securityboulevard.com
23 answers · 27 citations · 9 models
forrester.com
19 answers · 28 citations · 9 models
corma.io
vendor site · Corma18 answers · 25 citations · 9 models
okta.com
vendor site · Okta16 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
ssojet.com
vendor site · SSOJet16 answers · 18 citations · 8 models
decryptiondigest.com
12 answers · 13 citations · 7 models
wifitalents.com
11 answers · 14 citations · 6 models
majorkeytech.com
11 answers · 11 citations · 5 models
nhimg.org
10 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
microsoft.com
vendor site · Microsoft9 answers · 14 citations · 5 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-iam-platforms
29 answers · 9 models
siit.io/blog/best-iam-tools
27 answers · 8 models
securityboulevard.com/2025/12/top-12-identity-and-access-management-platforms
22 answers · 9 models
startwithidentity.com/articles/top-6-workforce-identity-platforms
20 answers · 9 models
startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-iam-for-smb
20 answers · 9 models
forrester.com/blogs/announcing-the-forrester-wave-workforce-identity-platfo…
14 answers · 7 models
corma.io/blog/top-10-iam-solutions-for-smbs-and-mid-size-companies-2026
13 answers · 7 models
wifitalents.com/best/identity-software
9 answers · 6 models
forrester.com/blogs/announcing-the-forrester-wave-workforce-identity-platfo…
8 answers · 6 models
valtikstudios.com/blog/identity-provider-buyer-guide-2026
8 answers · 5 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best workforce identity platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which single sign-on and identity provider for employees would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top workforce identity platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best workforce identity platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a workforce identity platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which workforce identity platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Okta Workforce Identity
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, One Identity
Microsoft Entra ID, OktaChanged
Three alternativesAuth0, JumpCloud, Ping Identity
Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity
Three alternativesCyberArk Identity, ForgeRock, Ping Identity
JumpCloud, Microsoft Entra IDagainst: Oktano first choiceagainst: Okta
GPT-5.4 miniMicrosoft Entra ID
One alternativeOkta Workforce Identity
against: Ping IdentityMicrosoft Entra IDHeld
One alternativeOkta Workforce Identity
Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity
Two alternativesIBM Verify, PingOne for Workforce / PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud
against: ForgeRock, One Identity, OneLogin, Oracle, RSA, ThalesMicrosoft Entra ID
Two alternativesGoogle Cloud Identity, JumpCloud
against: Oktano first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashMicrosoft Entra ID
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Okta Workforce Identity, OneLogin
JumpCloudChanged
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity
Microsoft Entra ID
Four alternativesCyberArk Identity, JumpCloud, Okta Workforce Identity, Ping Identity
Microsoft Entra ID
Four alternativesAuthentik, Google Workspace, JumpCloud, OneLogin
against: Keycloak, OktaOkta
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, Rippling
against: Broadcom/CA SiteMinder, ForgeRock, IBM Verify, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, OneLogin, Ping Identity, older Oracle IAM suites
Perplexity SonarOneLogin
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta
OneLoginHeld
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta
against: Clerk, SSOJet, WorkOSMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity
Three alternativesForgeRock, JumpCloud, Ping Identity
Microsoft Entra ID
Two alternativesJumpCloud, OneLogin
against: Oktano first choiceagainst: Auth0, Cisco Duo, CyberArk Identity, IBM ISAM, Iru Workforce Identity, Microsoft Entra ID, Oracle Identity Governance, SailPoint, Saviynt, WorkOS
Grok 4.1 FastMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta
Two alternativesJumpCloud, One Identity
against: Ping IdentityOktaChanged
Two alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID
against: OneLoginMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity
Three alternativesCyberArk Identity, JumpCloud, Ping Identity
Microsoft Entra ID
Five alternativesAuth0, Cisco Duo, Google Cloud Identity, JumpCloud, OneLogin
against: KeycloakOkta Workforce Identity
Two alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID
against: Okta, OneLogin, Ping Identity
Mistral SmallOkta
Two alternativesJumpCloud, OneLogin
Microsoft Entra ID, OktaChanged
Two alternativesJumpCloud, OneLogin
against: Ping IdentityOkta
Four alternativesForgeRock, JumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity
miniOrange
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, OneLogin
no first choiceagainst: JumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, Ping Identity
DeepSeek V4 FlashOkta Workforce Identity
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, OneLogin
Microsoft Entra IDChanged
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Okta Workforce Identity, OneLogin
Okta Workforce Identity
Five alternativesCyberArk Identity, ForgeRock, JumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity
JumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID
Three alternativesCisco Duo, Okta Workforce Identity, OneLogin
Okta
Four alternativesGoogle Cloud Identity, JumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, OneLogin
against: Auth0, CyberArk Identity, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity, PingOne for Customers, SailPoint IdentityNow/IdentityIQ, Windows Hello
Llama 4 MaverickOneLoginOneLoginHeld
Two alternativesOkta, SSOJet
no first choiceno first choiceagainst: Oktano first choiceagainst: Ping Identity, SecureAuth
Qwen 3.7 FlashMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity
Two alternativesJumpCloud, Ping Identity
Microsoft Entra IDChanged
One alternativeOneLogin
against: OktaOkta
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, SailPoint
Cisco Duo
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, miniOrange
against: Okta, OneLoginno first choiceagainst: Apple Business Manager, Authelia, CyberArk Identity, ForgeRock, Gluu, Google Workspace, JumpCloud, Keycloak, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity
Kimi K2Okta Workforce Identity, OneLogin
Two alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID
JumpCloudChanged
Two alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta
Okta Workforce Identity
Five alternativesCyberArk Identity, JumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity, Ping Workforce360
JumpCloud
Three alternativesMicrosoft Entra ID, OneLogin, miniOrange
against: Oktano first choiceagainst: ForgeRock/Ping Identity, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta
GLM 4.7 FlashXMicrosoft Entra ID
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Okta Workforce Identity, OneLogin
Okta Workforce IdentityChanged
Three alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, OneLogin
against: Ping IdentityMicrosoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity
Three alternativesForgeRock, JumpCloud, Ping Identity
Microsoft Entra ID
Seven alternativesAuthentik, JumpCloud, Keycloak, Okta Workforce Identity, OneLogin, Ory, miniOrange
no first choiceagainst: Auth0, IDScan, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, OneLogin, Ping Identity
MiniMax M2.5Okta Workforce Identity, OneLogin
Two alternativesJumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID
OktaChanged
Four alternativesGoogle Cloud Identity, Microsoft Entra ID, OneLogin, Ping Identity
Microsoft Entra ID, Okta
Four alternativesCyberArk Identity, ForgeRock, JumpCloud, Ping Identity
Cisco Duo, OneLogin
One alternativeMicrosoft Entra ID
no first choiceagainst: Microsoft Entra ID, Okta
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 08:54yes99 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 08:59yes311 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 08:47yes1825 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:03yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 08:31yes3915 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 08:44yes55 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 08:19yes1618 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 08:30yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 09:08no045 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 08:31yes922 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 08:51yes1555 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 08:43yes935 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 08:44no04 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 08:36yes24 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:10yes1227 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:07yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 08:16yes4018 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 08:49yes1010 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 08:51yes1011 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 08:45yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 09:00yes551 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 08:56yes2085 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 08:32yes1535 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 08:51no028 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 08:50yes98 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 08:52yes89 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:12yes1627 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 08:56yes206 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 08:38yes3216 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 08:51yes55 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 08:37yes1018 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 08:43yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 08:35yes1068 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 09:08yes1334 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 08:35yes33160 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 08:29yes526 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 08:36yes2811 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 08:28no03 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 08:16yes1323 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 08:58yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 08:37yes3816 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 09:08yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 09:00yes811 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 09:05yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 08:49yes521 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 08:22yes1023 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 08:49yes1323 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 08:45yes513 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 08:27no07 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 09:01no07 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:09yes1027 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 08:58yes208 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 08:54yes1810 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 09:02no010 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 09:11yes1925 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 08:37yes54 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 08:27yes536 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 08:53yes1539 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 08:26yes1349 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 09:12yes515 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 08:53yes2711 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 08:55yes46 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:08yes2128 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 08:36yes207 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 08:49yes4917 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 08:20yes55 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 09:03yes2944 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 08:19yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 08:31yes1563 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 09:10yes3045 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 08:31yes30120 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 09:12yes2040 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
CyberArk read as CyberArk Identity
CyberArk (Idira) read as CyberArk Identity
Microsoft Entra read as Microsoft Entra ID
Microsoft Entra (formerly Azure Active Directory) read as Microsoft Entra ID
Ping read as Ping Identity
Unresolved, counted raw
Broadcom/CA SiteMinder
IDScan
Iru Workforce Identity
Ory
PingOne for Workforce / PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud
older Oracle IAM suites
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in identity and access

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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