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Identity / IAM · TCO Calculator

Okta vs Entra vs Ping — what does Zero Trust really cost?

3-year side-by-side TCO across the three identity platforms most mid-market shops evaluate. Includes the SKU stacking nobody publishes upfront, the M365 bundle math, and the consolidation savings from killing your legacy MFA, AD FS, and provisioning stacks.

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The number every IAM RFP misses: per-user identity cost is rarely the biggest line item. The biggest is the stack you're already paying for — legacy AD FS infrastructure, Duo for MFA, a separate provisioning tool, third-party password reset, maybe SailPoint for governance. Consolidating onto one platform typically saves 30-60% of identity spend even when the new platform's per-seat rate looks higher. This calculator includes that math.

Your Environment

Five inputs drive the model. Maturity tier and legacy stacks drive the savings.

Employees + contractors that need a workforce identity. Customer/B2C identity is priced separately.
Critical: M365 E3/E5 bundle Entra at zero incremental cost.
Longer terms unlock vendor discounts but reduce flexibility.
Drives implementation effort and ongoing operational savings from consolidation.
Partners, vendors, contractors. Priced as MAU on most platforms.

Target Maturity Tier

Pick the Zero Trust posture you're targeting. Each tier maps to a specific SKU stack per vendor.

⚠ Legacy stacks you'd consolidate

Check what you're currently paying for. Each one consolidates into the new platform's per-seat cost (no double-paying).

AD FS / on-prem federation
~$40-80/user/yr (infra + maintenance)
Duo / standalone MFA platform
~$36-108/user/yr ($3-9/mo)
Separate provisioning tool
~$48-120/user/yr (BetterCloud, etc.)
Self-service password reset tool
~$15-30/user/yr
Separate IGA (SailPoint, Saviynt)
~$100-200/user/yr
Privileged access mgmt (CyberArk, BeyondTrust)
~$80-200/privileged user/yr (subset)
3-Year Cheapest Path
Calculating...
Okta Workforce
Essentials Suite
$17 / user / mo
Per-user pricing, annual billing, $1,500 min
Year 1 subscription$0
Implementation (Y1 one-time)$0
External users (B2B add-on)$0
Year 2-3 subscription (escalator)$0
3-year total$0
Microsoft Entra
P2 + Entra Suite
$21 / user / mo
Incremental over your M365 bundle
Year 1 subscription$0
Implementation (Y1 one-time)$0
External users (MAU)$0
Year 2-3 subscription$0
3-year total$0
Ping Identity
PingOne Workforce Plus
$6 / user / mo
5,000-user minimum / $180K annual floor
Year 1 subscription$0
Implementation (Y1 one-time)$0
External users (B2B add-on)$0
Year 2-3 subscription$0
3-year total$0

Feature Parity Matrix

What you actually get at the tier and SKU selected above. Add-ons sold separately are marked.

Capability Okta Entra Ping
● Included   ● Partial   ● Add-on (extra cost)   ● Not available

3-Year Cumulative Spend

All three vendors plotted with annual escalation included.

▸ See pricing assumptions and methodology

All rates verified against vendor pricing pages and licensing guides as of April 2026. Prices may vary by region, contract negotiation, and enterprise agreements. This is a planning tool — validate against actual vendor quotes before committing.

Okta Workforce Identity (per-user-per-month, annual billing, $1,500 minimum)

  • Tier 1 Baseline: Starter Suite $6/user/mo — SSO + standard MFA + Universal Directory + 5 workflows
  • Tier 2 Conditional: Essentials Suite $17/user/mo — adds Adaptive MFA + Lifecycle Management + Identity Governance + Privileged Access + 50 workflows
  • Tier 3 Zero Trust Full: Essentials + Identity Threat Protection ($4/user/mo add-on) = ~$21/user/mo total
  • Volume discount: 15-30% off list at 1,000+ users
  • External users: $0.02-0.05/MAU add-on for B2B

Microsoft Entra ID (incremental over M365 bundle)

  • Entra ID P1 standalone: $6/user/mo · Bundled free with M365 E3
  • Entra ID P2 standalone: $9/user/mo · Bundled free with M365 E5
  • Entra Suite add-on: $12/user/mo on top of P1, or $9/user/mo on top of P2 — adds ID Governance, ID Protection, Internet Access, Private Access, Verified ID
  • Tier 1 Baseline: Entra P1 (or M365 E3 bundle = $0 incremental)
  • Tier 2 Conditional: Entra P2 (or M365 E5 bundle = $0 incremental)
  • Tier 3 Zero Trust Full: P2 + Entra Suite ($9/user/mo on top of E5)
  • External users: $0.75/MAU after first 50K

Ping Identity (5,000-user minimum)

  • PingOne Workforce Essential: $3/user/mo — SSO + standard MFA + orchestration
  • PingOne Workforce Plus: $6/user/mo — adds Adaptive MFA + passwordless + AD/O365 integration
  • PingOne Workforce Enterprise: quote-only, typically $10-15/user/mo for full governance, fraud detection, API security
  • Tier 1 Baseline: PingOne Workforce Essential
  • Tier 2 Conditional: PingOne Workforce Plus
  • Tier 3 Zero Trust Full: PingOne Workforce Enterprise
  • Important: at <5,000 users, Ping list pricing requires $180K annual minimum commitment — making it impractical for sub-mid-market.

Implementation costs

  • Tier 1: ~$25-50K for typical mid-market (SSO + MFA rollout, IdP setup, ~10 app integrations)
  • Tier 2: ~$50-100K (above + conditional access policies, device posture integration)
  • Tier 3: ~$100-250K (above + governance roles + HRIS integration + workflow design)
  • Implementation scales: ~$50-100 per user for smaller orgs, drops to $30-50 per user at scale

Legacy stack savings (per-user-per-year)

  • AD FS infrastructure: $60/user/yr midpoint (servers, certs, maintenance, admin time)
  • Duo / standalone MFA: $72/user/yr midpoint ($6/mo)
  • Separate provisioning (BetterCloud, etc.): $84/user/yr midpoint
  • Self-service password reset: $22/user/yr
  • Separate IGA (SailPoint): $150/user/yr — only ~70% of users counted (governance scope)
  • PAM platform: $140/user/yr — only applied to 10% of users (privileged subset)

What this calculator does NOT include

  • The "SSO tax" — SaaS vendors charging premium tiers to enable SSO connections (Atlassian, Notion, etc. add 50-200% to seat cost for SSO)
  • Customer Identity (CIAM) / Auth0 / PingOne for Customers pricing (separate product line)
  • Productivity gains from automation (real but hard to quantify universally)
  • Cost of professional services for complex migrations beyond ~10 apps
  • Compliance audit savings (faster SOC 2 / ISO renewal cycles with unified identity)

📄 Download the IAM TCO comparison PDF

PDF includes your full 3-year vendor breakdown, feature parity matrix, consolidation savings analysis, and a 9-item RFP checklist for IAM vendor conversations — the questions vendors hate to answer but you need answered before signing.

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Recommended next step

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