How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Okta is the vendor-neutral standard: the deepest app integration network, SSO from $2 a user a month as a module, suites from around $6.
- Microsoft Entra ID is the default for Microsoft 365 shops: a free tier covers basic SSO, with P1 at about $6 a user a month often already bundled in your licences.
- OneLogin is the mid-market value pick, bundling SSO, MFA and directory from about $3 to $4 a user a month with a 30-day trial.
- JumpCloud is the small-team pick: a cloud directory with SSO and device management, free for up to 10 users.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Okta | Vendor-neutral SSO at scale | From $2/user/month | No |
 Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft 365 organisations | Free tier; P1 $6/user/month | Yes |
 Ping Identity | Enterprise hybrid and regulated estates | See website | No |
 OneLogin | Mid-market simplicity and price | From $3/user/month | No |
 JumpCloud | Small teams, directory plus SSO | Free up to 10 users | Yes |
 Google Cloud Identity | Google Workspace organisations | Included with Workspace | No |
 Rippling | Identity inside an HR-driven platform | See website | No |
 Keycloak | Self-hosted open source SSO | Free (open source) | Yes |
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The best sso software in 2026
#1Okta
Best for: Vendor-neutral SSO at scale4.5/5 on
G2 (1,428 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit okta.com
Starting priceFrom $2/user/month
Free planNo
Okta is the default answer when the question is workforce identity at any complexity above the basics, because its catalogue and lifecycle depth remove the integration surprises that sink SSO projects. Enterprises standardise on it precisely because it is beholden to no productivity suite.
Its cost shape is the discipline: price the modules you will actually run (SSO, MFA, lifecycle, governance are separate lines), and have the security conversation about its history with your eyes open. For most large buyers, the evaluation still ends here.
What we like- The integration network is the moat: thousands of pre-built app connections (the Okta Integration Network) across SAML, OIDC and SCIM, so obscure SaaS apps usually just work, lifecycle management is the deepest here: joiner, mover and leaver automation driven from HR systems, adaptive MFA and risk policies round out the enterprise security story, vendor neutral by design: equally at home over Microsoft, Google or neither
Watch out for- Modular pricing stacks: SSO at $2 a user is one line
- The full suite lands far higher per user, a $1,500 annual minimum makes tiny teams overpay, annual contracts only at list, and the admin experience rewards a dedicated identity owner, its 2023 support system breach is part of the diligence record
- Okta's subsequent transparency reporting is the counterweight to weigh
#2Microsoft Entra ID
Best for: Microsoft 365 organisations4.5/5 on
G2 (915 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit microsoft.com
Starting priceFree tier; P1 $6/user/month
Free planYes
Entra ID wins by incumbency and earns it: for a Microsoft shop, the incremental cost of good SSO approaches zero because the licences are already bought, and conditional access is genuinely the feature that separates login convenience from login security.
The evaluation for non-Microsoft shops is equally simple: look at Okta or OneLogin. Entra's centre of gravity is the Microsoft estate, and fighting that gravity is a permanent tax.
What we like- If your company runs Microsoft 365, you already own the free tier (SSO and basic MFA for cloud apps) and probably P1 entitlements inside existing licences, P1 at about $6 a user a month adds conditional access, the policy engine that makes SSO safe (device, location and risk based rules), P2 and the Entra Suite (about $12) add identity governance and risk-based protection, the deepest Active Directory hybrid story: cloud SSO over an on-premises estate without a forklift migration
Watch out for- Licensing complexity is legendary: which Entra features ride in which Microsoft 365 SKU requires a spreadsheet and patience, outside the Microsoft estate the experience thins
- Google-first companies feel like guests, admin sprawls across portals and the Entra rebrand of Azure AD still confuses documentation, conditional access misconfiguration locks people out at scale
- It is powerful enough to hurt yourself with
#3Ping Identity
Best for: Enterprise hybrid and regulated estates4.4/5 on
G2 (144 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit pingidentity.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Ping is bought where identity is genuinely hard: mergers leaving three directories, partner federation, regulators demanding deployment control. In that terrain its premium is rational and its experience unmatched by the cloud natives.
Outside that terrain it is artillery at a knife fight. Match the tool to the estate: complexity you do not have should not be paid for.
What we like- The federation veteran: PingFederate's decades in SAML and enterprise federation make it the choice where identity spans companies, partners and legacy systems, built for hybrid reality: cloud SSO that respects on-premises directories and applications other vendors wave at, regulated industries (finance, healthcare, government) are its home ground, with deployment models including self-hosted and air-gapped options, workforce plans appear in comparisons from around $3 a user a month, with real deals sales-led and volume based
Watch out for- No public price list
- Every evaluation starts with a sales cycle, implementation weight is enterprise class: plan for specialists, its consumer and workforce lines can confuse first-time buyers about which Ping they are pricing, smaller companies will find OneLogin or JumpCloud reach the same outcomes in a week
#4OneLogin
Best for: Mid-market simplicity and price4.4/5 on
G2 (291 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit onelogin.com
Starting priceFrom $3/user/month
Free planNo
OneLogin occupies the space Okta priced itself out of: credible SSO, MFA and provisioning for the mid-market at published prices a finance team can approve without a task force. For a 100 to 1,000 person company, that combination is often the whole evaluation.
Run the trial against your real application list (that is what it is for) and read its security disclosures like a customer, not a prospect. Both exercises are quick, and both are the diligence this category deserves.
What we like- Straightforward bundles: Basic from about $3 a user a month covers SSO and MFA
- Essentials around $6 adds lifecycle management and an advanced directory
- Business around $10 adds desktop MFA and RADIUS, the simplest admin experience among the enterprise credible names, with a 30-day trial on unlimited test users, part of One Identity, with managed service providers using its multi-tenant management for client fleets, smart MFA policies (risk based step-up) at mid-market prices
Watch out for- Catalogue is smaller than Okta's, especially at the long tail of SaaS, its 2025 credential incident under a previous disclosure cycle is diligence material
- Ask for the current security posture review, less depth than Ping or Okta in exotic federation and governance, growth ceiling: very large enterprises usually graduate from it
#5JumpCloud
Best for: Small teams, directory plus SSO4.5/5 on
G2 (4,104 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit jumpcloud.com
Starting priceFree up to 10 users
Free planYes
JumpCloud is the answer for the company whose IT is one person and whose fleet is mixed: directory, devices and SSO from one console, free until ten users, sane thereafter. Its understanding of small-team reality is the best in this list.
It will not be the last identity platform a fast-growing company buys, and it does not pretend otherwise. For the first five hundred users it may be the only one needed.
What we like- A cloud directory first: user accounts, device management (Windows, Mac, Linux equally) and SSO in one platform, replacing the Active Directory a small company never wants to run, free tier for up to 10 users is genuinely usable, and paid tiers stay small-team priced, cross-platform honesty: where Microsoft favours Windows and Apple shops struggle, JumpCloud treats all three operating systems as citizens, SSO covers web apps via SAML and OIDC, with LDAP and RADIUS for the older corners
Watch out for- App catalogue is smaller than Okta's
- Niche SaaS may need custom SAML work, modular packaging makes the invoice harder to forecast as you add device and directory features, enterprise governance depth trails the big three, per-user costs at scale approach the leaders while depth does not quite
Starting priceIncluded with Workspace
Free planNo
Google shops should start here for the same reason Microsoft shops start at Entra: the identity already exists, the incremental cost is minimal, and basic SSO needs are met. Cloud Identity is a competent default, honestly bounded.
Know its ceiling before you build on it: provisioning automation is where audits bite (ex-employees retaining app accounts), and if your app list outgrows its SCIM support, the migration conversation to Okta begins. Price that future in, even if it never arrives.
What we like- The Entra pattern for the other ecosystem: Workspace accounts already carry Google identity, and Cloud Identity extends SSO across third-party apps via SAML and OIDC, zero incremental identity vendor for Google-first companies: your users' Google login is the SSO, bundled tiers of Workspace include the core
- Premium Cloud Identity features come with higher Workspace and Cloud Identity premium editions, Google's consumer-grade sign-in experience is the one your staff already know
Watch out for- Notable gap in comparisons: SCIM provisioning is limited or absent for many apps, weakening the deprovisioning story that justifies SSO budgets, catalogue and lifecycle depth trail Okta and Entra clearly, only rational inside the Google estate, admin and feature naming across Workspace and Google Cloud consoles confuses newcomers
#7Rippling
Best for: Identity inside an HR-driven platform4.8/5 on
G2 (13,464 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit rippling.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Rippling is the lifecycle argument taken to its conclusion: most SSO failures are HR process failures (nobody told IT she left), so Rippling owns the HR record itself. For companies already consolidating HR and IT tooling, that is a compelling architecture.
Standalone identity buyers should look above: Rippling's SSO is a feature of a platform decision, and should be evaluated as one, total contract and all.
What we like- Identity as a consequence of HR: Rippling's platform runs payroll, HR, devices and IT together, so a hire in HR creates accounts, a laptop order and app access in one workflow, and a termination removes all of it in one click, SSO and provisioning across hundreds of apps ride on its employee graph, the strongest joiner-leaver automation story here, because it starts where the truth lives: the HR record, device management ships the laptop with the accounts already on it
Watch out for- Quote-only pricing, and the value case assumes buying into the wider Rippling platform, SSO alone is not its sale, app catalogue smaller than Okta's dedicated network, platform breadth means identity depth (federation exotica, governance) trails the specialists, switching HR systems later makes the identity layer a hostage negotiation
Starting priceFree (open source)
Free planYes
Keycloak closes the list as the sovereignty and developer pick: full control, no licence, no per-user toll. Engineering-led organisations and public sector buyers run identity on it at national scale.
Price it honestly: the licence is $0 and the platform team is not. Below a few hundred users, JumpCloud's free tier or OneLogin's $3 will usually beat it on total cost; above that, or where self-hosting is mandated, Keycloak is the correct kind of free.
What we like- The open source identity server (CNCF project, stewarded by Red Hat): SAML, OIDC and OAuth 2.0 brokering, user federation to LDAP and Active Directory, and social login, at zero licence cost, self-hosted anywhere: your data centre, your cloud, your jurisdiction, which regulated and sovereignty-sensitive buyers require, the engine inside many commercial products and national platforms, with a large global community, extensible by design: custom authentication flows and themes are code, not tickets
Watch out for- Free software, expensive operations: you run, patch, scale and secure it, forever, with identity outages now being business outages, SCIM support is a known gap in comparisons
- Provisioning often needs custom work, no vendor to call at 3 a.m. unless you buy support (Red Hat's build of Keycloak is the commercial route), admin and upgrade effort is a permanent line item disguised as zero dollars
How we chose
Platforms were included if they provide workforce SSO today across SAML and OIDC, spanning suite defaults, specialists, mid-market and open source. Prices are published per-user monthly rates billed annually from October 2026 comparisons (CloudEagle's SSO review, SSOJet's provider comparison): Okta SSO from $2 with suites around $6, Entra ID free with P1 at $6, OneLogin from $3 to $4 by bundle, JumpCloud free to 10 users, Ping workforce plans from around $3 in comparisons with enterprise deals quoted. Auth0, the customer-facing sibling in Okta's family, is not listed separately because this guide covers workforce SSO; its free tier to 25,000 monthly users makes it the CIAM default elsewhere. No platform was deployed first-hand for this guide; test your own application list in trials, as several entries advise.
The deprovisioning test
SSO projects are sold on the login screen and judged on the exit. In every trial, run the leaver scenario end to end: disable one account in the identity platform and time how long until the test user is locked out of every application, including the ones connected by password vaulting rather than federation. The gaps you find are your real risk register.
Ask about the catalogue honestly: count your applications, and ask each vendor to classify them (pre-built SCIM, pre-built SAML only, generic template, password based). The last two classes are where projects stall and where Okta's network earns its premium.
Finally, price year two: per-user rates are stable, but your user count, module creep and the governance tier you will inevitably add are not. The suite price at your future headcount is the number for the business case, not the SSO module at today's.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between SSO and MFA?
SSO decides how many times you log in (once, to the identity platform, which then vouches for you to each app). MFA decides how strongly that one login is verified (password plus a second factor such as an authenticator app or security key). SSO without MFA concentrates risk on one credential, which is why every platform here bundles or pairs the two, and why conditional access (Entra) or adaptive MFA (Okta, OneLogin) exists to step up verification when a login looks risky.
How much does SSO cost a 100-person company?
At published rates: SSO plus MFA runs about $200 to $600 a month for 100 users at OneLogin or Okta module pricing, with full lifecycle suites landing between roughly $600 and $1,700 a month across the market's $6 to $17 full-stack range. Microsoft shops often already own Entra P1 in their 365 licences, making the incremental cost near zero. Annual billing and minimums (Okta's $1,500 floor) apply, so small teams should model the year, not the month.
Do I need SCIM provisioning as well as SSO?
If controlling leavers matters, yes. SSO governs the front door; SCIM provisioning creates and removes the accounts themselves in each application automatically from the identity platform. Without it, a disabled SSO account can leave live application accounts behind, reachable by password reset. Comparisons flag SCIM as the main differentiator among these platforms, and Google Cloud Identity's relative weakness there is noted in its entry for exactly this reason.
What is the difference between workforce SSO and customer identity?
Workforce SSO (this list: Okta workforce, Entra, OneLogin, Ping, JumpCloud) manages employees signing into company applications, priced per user. Customer identity, or CIAM (Auth0, Ping's customer line, Keycloak in many product builds), manages your product's users signing into your application, priced per monthly active user, with registration, social login and consent features. Buying one to do the other's job is the category's classic mistake.
Can open source Keycloak really replace Okta?
Technically, for standards-based SSO and federation, largely yes, and large organisations run it in production. Commercially, the comparison is licence cost versus operations: Keycloak needs hosting, patching, upgrades and on-call ownership, and lacks native SCIM provisioning. Red Hat sells a supported build for organisations that want the engine with a vendor behind it. The right answer depends on whether your scarce resource is budget or platform engineers.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.