# Workforce identity and SSO: 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 a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/identity/workforce-identity-and-sso/

**Standing:** Microsoft Entra ID leads with 36% of first choices; verdict contested. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Entra ID | 36% | 13% | 63 |
| 2 | Okta | 17% | 42% | 36 |
| 3 | Okta Workforce Identity | 15% | 7% | 27 |
| 4 | OneLogin | 15% | 18% | 33 |
| 5 | JumpCloud | 11% | 4% | 46 |
| 6 | CyberArk Identity | 0% | 13% | 23 |
| 7 | Ping Identity | 0% | 30% | 30 |
| 8 | SailPoint | 0% | 10% | 10 |
| 9 | ForgeRock | 0% | 27% | 11 |
| 10 | IBM Verify | 0% | 10% | 10 |

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

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

## Sources the answers cite

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

- startwithidentity.com: 41 answers, 93 citations
- siit.io: 28 answers, 33 citations
- securityboulevard.com: 23 answers, 27 citations
- forrester.com: 19 answers, 28 citations
- corma.io: 18 answers, 25 citations
- okta.com: 16 answers, 18 citations
- ssojet.com: 16 answers, 18 citations
- decryptiondigest.com: 12 answers, 13 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-iam-platforms (29 answers)
- https://siit.io/blog/best-iam-tools (27 answers)
- https://securityboulevard.com/2025/12/top-12-identity-and-access-management-platforms (22 answers)
- https://startwithidentity.com/articles/top-6-workforce-identity-platforms (20 answers)
- https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-iam-for-smb (20 answers)
- https://forrester.com/blogs/announcing-the-forrester-wave-workforce-identity-platforms-q1-2024 (14 answers)
- https://corma.io/blog/top-10-iam-solutions-for-smbs-and-mid-size-companies-2026 (13 answers)
- https://wifitalents.com/best/identity-software (9 answers)
- https://forrester.com/blogs/announcing-the-forrester-wave-workforce-identity-platforms-q2-2026 (8 answers)
- https://valtikstudios.com/blog/identity-provider-buyer-guide-2026 (8 answers)

## Warned against

- Okta: 15 of 36 labels negative. "Avoid Okta if budget is a primary concern" (Kimi K2, budget prompt)
- Microsoft Entra ID: 8 of 63 labels negative. "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: 9 of 30 labels negative. "or if you require high availability and have experienced significant downtime (Ping Identity)" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- OneLogin: 6 of 33 labels negative. "Avoid if: You cannot verify the current security posture post-acquisition (OneLogin)" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, 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.