Skycloak Platform vs Microsoft Entra External ID
How the Skycloak Platform and Microsoft Entra External ID by Microsoft Corporation compare on price, hosting, data residency and features. The Skycloak Platform is Skycloak's own multi-tenant sign-in engine, free up to 25,000 monthly active users.
Side by side
Prices are in US dollars, as each product lists them. A Skycloak Platform feature reads Available once it has shipped and Planned until then.
| Microsoft Entra External IDMicrosoft Corporation | Skycloak PlatformSkycloak | |
|---|---|---|
| Price at 1,000 monthly active users | $0 a month on External ID BasicThe core offering is free for the first 50,000 monthly active users, billed through a linked Azure subscription. | $0 a month on Free |
| Price at 10,000 monthly active users | $0 a month on External ID Basic | $0 a month on Free |
| Price at 25,000 monthly active users | $0 a month on External ID Basic | $0 a month on Free |
| Price at 50,000 monthly active users | $0 a month on External ID BasicAt the free limit of 50,000 monthly active users. Add-ons such as SMS, M2M and Go-Local have no free tier and are billed separately. | $499 a month, billed yearly, on Scale |
| Hosting | CloudMicrosoft runs the service in its public cloud. An external tenant must be linked to an Azure subscription for billing. | Cloud |
| Data residency | US, EU, AU, JPData is stored in the North America, EMEA or Asia Pacific geography, listed here as US, EU and the Asia Pacific countries. The tenant location is chosen at creation and cannot be changed. Australia and Japan in-country storage needs the paid Go-Local add-on. | US, EU |
| Passkeys | AvailablePasskeys (FIDO2) are listed for sign-in and as a second factor in external tenants. | Planned |
| Multi-factor authentication | AvailableEmail one-time passcode, SMS and passkey. SMS is a paid add-on billed per authentication. | Planned |
| Enterprise SSO (SAML) | AvailableExternal tenants accept sign-in through SAML/WS-Fed federation and OpenID Connect federation. | Planned |
| SCIM provisioning | Not offeredThe external tenant documentation describes SCIM provisioning out to apps, not inbound SCIM from a customer identity provider. | Planned |
| Organizations for B2B customers | Not offeredThe external tenant feature comparison lists no organizations feature for business customers, and apps are single tenant. | Planned |
| Role-based access control | AvailableApplication roles and security groups can be assigned to users. Support is being phased into external tenants. | Planned |
| Custom domain | AvailableCustom URL domains need a reverse proxy such as Azure Front Door, which is a separate paid Azure service. | Planned |
The verdict
At 50,000 monthly active users, Microsoft Entra External ID costs $0 a month on External ID Basic and the Skycloak Platform costs $499 a month, billed yearly, on Scale.
Microsoft Entra External ID has shipped 5 of the 7 features compared here; the Skycloak Platform has shipped none of them yet and has all 7 planned.
Choose Microsoft Entra External ID if you need passkeys, multi-factor authentication, enterprise SSO (SAML), role-based access control and custom domain in production today.
The Skycloak Platform is not the cheaper option at that size, so weigh the full table before you choose.
Sources
Every Microsoft Entra External ID fact on this page was read on one of these pages, on the date shown. Prices and plans change, so check the vendor's page before you decide.
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/external-id/customers/concept-custom-url-domain, checked October 28, 2026
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/external-id/customers/concept-supported-features-customers, checked October 28, 2026
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/external-id/customers/faq-customers, checked October 28, 2026
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/external-id/external-identities-pricing, checked October 28, 2026
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/fundamentals/data-residency, checked October 28, 2026