# Workforce identity and SSO for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "workforce identity platform" and as "single sign-on and identity provider for employees", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/identity/workforce-identity-and-sso/enterprise/

**Standing:** Microsoft Entra ID leads with 47% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 53 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Entra ID | 47% | 9% | 67 |
| 2 | Okta | 28% | 16% | 32 |
| 3 | Okta Workforce Identity | 25% | 16% | 37 |
| 4 | Ping Identity | 0% | 16% | 61 |
| 5 | CyberArk Identity | 0% | 5% | 22 |
| 6 | SailPoint | 0% | 9% | 11 |
| 7 | IBM Verify | 0% | 24% | 17 |
| 8 | ForgeRock | 0% | 20% | 15 |
| 9 | JumpCloud | 0% | 43% | 14 |
| 10 | OneLogin | 0% | 50% | 14 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity; alternatives Okta Identity Governance
- GPT-5.4 mini: Okta Workforce Identity; alternatives Microsoft Entra ID
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Okta Workforce Identity; alternatives Auth0, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity, PropelAuth
- Perplexity Sonar: Okta; alternatives Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity; alternatives Ping Identity
- Mistral Small: Okta Workforce Identity; alternatives Frontegg, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity, SSOJet
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Okta Workforce Identity; alternatives CyberArk Identity, JumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity
- Llama 4 Maverick: Okta; alternatives CyberArk Identity, ForgeRock, IBM Verify, Microsoft Entra ID
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Microsoft Entra ID, Okta; alternatives Ping Identity
- Kimi K2: Okta; alternatives Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Okta; alternatives JumpCloud, Microsoft Entra ID, OneLogin, Ping Identity
- MiniMax M2.5: Okta Workforce Identity; alternatives CyberArk Identity, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping Identity

## Sources the answers cite

66 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- startwithidentity.com: 43 answers, 92 citations
- securityboulevard.com: 33 answers, 49 citations
- okta.com: 28 answers, 35 citations
- siit.io: 23 answers, 26 citations
- ssojet.com: 19 answers, 31 citations
- decryptiondigest.com: 15 answers, 20 citations
- cybersecurityessential.com: 14 answers, 14 citations
- majorkeytech.com: 12 answers, 13 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://startwithidentity.com/articles/top-6-workforce-identity-platforms (29 answers)
- https://securityboulevard.com/2025/12/top-12-identity-and-access-management-platforms (26 answers)
- https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-iam-platforms (24 answers)
- https://siit.io/blog/best-iam-tools (16 answers)
- https://cybersecurityessential.com/tools/iam-zero-trust/okta-entra-ping-zero-trust-iam (14 answers)
- https://startwithidentity.com/articles/top-10-enterprise-iam-platforms-2026 (14 answers)
- https://decryptiondigest.com/blog/onelogin-vs-okta-vs-ping-identity-vs-entra-id (10 answers)
- https://forrester.com/blogs/announcing-the-forrester-wave-workforce-identity-platforms-q1-2024 (9 answers)
- https://hideez.com/blogs/news/identity-service-pricing-comparison (9 answers)
- https://okta.com/products/workforce-identity (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Ping Identity: 10 of 61 labels negative. "You should be extremely cautious about organizations heavily reliant on Ping Identity and ForgeRock due to their recent merger" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Microsoft Entra ID: 6 of 67 labels negative. "You should be cautious about choosing Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) if your enterprise is not deeply invested in the Microsoft ecosystem." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Okta Workforce Identity: 6 of 37 labels negative. "Okta Workforce Identity (High Security Risk & Vendor Fatigue)... Caution is warranted if you lack the internal IAM team to harden it" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- OneLogin: 7 of 14 labels negative. "Avoid OneLogin for the *primary* workforce identity provider if you require extensive governance and complex B2B trust relationships." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.