AWS IAM vs Azure Active Directory

Overview

AWS IAM

Stacks1.2K

Followers819

Votes26

Azure Active Directory

Stacks697

Followers283

Votes6

AWS IAM vs Azure Active Directory: What are the differences?

AWS IAM is Amazon's service for managing user identities and permissions within its ecosystem, while Azure Active Directory is Microsoft's cloud-based identity and access management service for authentication and authorization across Azure and other Microsoft services. Let's explore the key differences between them.

Authentication and Authorization: AWS IAM is primarily used for authentication and authorization within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) ecosystem. It allows you to create and manage users, groups, and roles, and define their permissions and access levels to AWS resources. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), on the other hand, is a comprehensive identity and access management solution provided by Microsoft for its cloud services, including Azure. It provides authentication and authorization services not only for Microsoft services but also for third-party applications and services integrated with Azure AD.
Federated Identity: While both AWS IAM and Azure AD support federated identity, there is a slight difference in their approach. AWS IAM integrates with external identity providers (IdPs) using the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) or OpenID Connect (OIDC) standards, allowing users to sign in to AWS using their existing credentials from these identity providers. Azure AD, however, provides a more extensive support for various federation protocols, including SAML, OIDC, WS-Federation, and others, enabling users to authenticate and access a wider range of applications and services beyond Azure.
Multi-factor Authentication: Both AWS IAM and Azure AD support multi-factor authentication (MFA) to add an additional layer of security to user sign-in processes. However, Azure AD offers more flexibility in terms of MFA options, allowing organizations to choose from various methods such as OTP (One-Time Password), phone call verification, SMS verification, and even integration with hardware security tokens. AWS IAM, on the other hand, primarily supports virtual MFA devices and U2F security keys for additional authentication factors.
Cross-Cloud Support: While both AWS IAM and Azure AD are designed for their respective cloud platforms, AWS IAM has limited support for cross-cloud scenarios. It is primarily focused on managing access and permissions for AWS services and resources. In contrast, Azure AD provides support for identity and access management across various clouds, including Azure, Microsoft 365, and third-party cloud services integrated with Azure AD. This makes Azure AD a more versatile choice for organizations with a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategy.
Application Management: AWS IAM provides limited support for managing access and permissions to applications. It mainly focuses on AWS resources and services. Azure AD, on the other hand, offers comprehensive application management capabilities, allowing organizations to manage access, single sign-on, and user provisioning for a wide range of applications, including Microsoft 365 apps, third-party SaaS applications, and custom applications integrated with Azure AD. This makes Azure AD a more suitable solution for organizations with diverse application landscape and a need for centralized application access management.
Enterprise Features: Azure AD offers several enterprise-level features that are not available in AWS IAM. These include advanced conditional access policies, risk-based authentication, identity protection, and privileged identity management. These features enable organizations to enforce stronger security controls, detect and mitigate identity-related risks, and streamline privileged access management processes. AWS IAM, although robust in its own right, does not provide the same level of advanced enterprise-specific features as Azure AD.

In summary, AWS IAM focuses primarily on authentication and authorization for AWS services, while Azure AD is a comprehensive identity and access management solution for various cloud services, including Azure. Azure AD offers more extensive federated identity support, a broader range of multi-factor authentication options, cross-cloud compatibility, comprehensive application management, and advanced enterprise features.

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Detailed Comparison

AWS IAM	Azure Active Directory
It enables you to manage access to AWS services and resources securely. Using IAM, you can create and manage AWS users and groups, and use permissions to allow and deny their access to AWS resources.	It is a comprehensive identity and access management solution that gives you a robust set of capabilities to manage users and groups. You can get the reliability and scalability you need with identity services that work with your on-premises, cloud, or hybrid environment.
Manage IAM users and their access - You can create users in IAM, assign them individual security credentials (i.e., access keys, passwords, and Multi-Factor Authentication devices) or request temporary security credentials to provide users access to AWS services and resources.;Manage IAM roles and their permissions - You can create roles in IAM, and manage permissions to control which operations can be performed by the entity, or AWS service, that assumes the role. You can also define which entity is allowed to assume the role.;Manage federated users and their permissions - You can enable identity federation to allow existing identities (e.g. users) from your corporate directory or from a 3rd party such as Login with Amazon, Facebook, and Google to access the AWS Management Console, to call AWS APIs, and to access resources, without the need to create an IAM user for each identity.	-
Statistics
Stacks 1.2K	Stacks 697
Followers 819	Followers 283
Votes 26	Votes 6
Pros & Cons
Pros 23 Centralized powerful permissions based access 3 Straightforward SSO integration Cons 1 No equivalent for on-premise networks, must adapt to AD 1 Cloud auth limited to resources, no apps or services	Pros 6 Backed by Microsoft Azure Cons 3 Closed source

What are some alternatives to AWS IAM, Azure Active Directory?

Auth0

A set of unified APIs and tools that instantly enables Single Sign On and user management to all your applications.

Stormpath

Stormpath is an authentication and user management service that helps development teams quickly and securely build web and mobile applications and services.

bitwarden

bitwarden is the easiest and safest way to store and sync your passwords across all of your devices.

Keycloak

It is an Open Source Identity and Access Management For Modern Applications and Services. It adds authentication to applications and secure services with minimum fuss. No need to deal with storing users or authenticating users. It's all available out of the box.

LastPass

LastPass Enterprise offers your employees and admins a single, unified experience that combines the power of SAML SSO coupled with enterprise-class password vaulting. LastPass is your first line of defense in the battle to protect your digital assets from the significant risks associated with employee password re-use and phishing.

Devise

Devise is a flexible authentication solution for Rails based on Warden

Firebase Authentication

It provides backend services, easy-to-use SDKs, and ready-made UI libraries to authenticate users to your app. It supports authentication using passwords, phone numbers, popular federated identity providers like Google,

Passbolt

Passbolt is an open source password manager for teams. It allows to securely store and share credentials, and is based on OpenPGP.

Amazon Cognito

You can create unique identities for your users through a number of public login providers (Amazon, Facebook, and Google) and also support unauthenticated guests. You can save app data locally on users’ devices allowing your applications to work even when the devices are offline.

KeePass

It is an open source password manager. Passwords can be stored in highly-encrypted databases, which can be unlocked with one master password or key file.

Related Comparisons

AWS IAM vs Azure Active Directory: What are the differences?

Authentication and Authorization: AWS IAM is primarily used for authentication and authorization within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) ecosystem. It allows you to create and manage users, groups, and roles, and define their permissions and access levels to AWS resources. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), on the other hand, is a comprehensive identity and access management solution provided by Microsoft for its cloud services, including Azure. It provides authentication and authorization services not only for Microsoft services but also for third-party applications and services integrated with Azure AD.
Federated Identity: While both AWS IAM and Azure AD support federated identity, there is a slight difference in their approach. AWS IAM integrates with external identity providers (IdPs) using the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) or OpenID Connect (OIDC) standards, allowing users to sign in to AWS using their existing credentials from these identity providers. Azure AD, however, provides a more extensive support for various federation protocols, including SAML, OIDC, WS-Federation, and others, enabling users to authenticate and access a wider range of applications and services beyond Azure.
Multi-factor Authentication: Both AWS IAM and Azure AD support multi-factor authentication (MFA) to add an additional layer of security to user sign-in processes. However, Azure AD offers more flexibility in terms of MFA options, allowing organizations to choose from various methods such as OTP (One-Time Password), phone call verification, SMS verification, and even integration with hardware security tokens. AWS IAM, on the other hand, primarily supports virtual MFA devices and U2F security keys for additional authentication factors.
Cross-Cloud Support: While both AWS IAM and Azure AD are designed for their respective cloud platforms, AWS IAM has limited support for cross-cloud scenarios. It is primarily focused on managing access and permissions for AWS services and resources. In contrast, Azure AD provides support for identity and access management across various clouds, including Azure, Microsoft 365, and third-party cloud services integrated with Azure AD. This makes Azure AD a more versatile choice for organizations with a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategy.
Application Management: AWS IAM provides limited support for managing access and permissions to applications. It mainly focuses on AWS resources and services. Azure AD, on the other hand, offers comprehensive application management capabilities, allowing organizations to manage access, single sign-on, and user provisioning for a wide range of applications, including Microsoft 365 apps, third-party SaaS applications, and custom applications integrated with Azure AD. This makes Azure AD a more suitable solution for organizations with diverse application landscape and a need for centralized application access management.
Enterprise Features: Azure AD offers several enterprise-level features that are not available in AWS IAM. These include advanced conditional access policies, risk-based authentication, identity protection, and privileged identity management. These features enable organizations to enforce stronger security controls, detect and mitigate identity-related risks, and streamline privileged access management processes. AWS IAM, although robust in its own right, does not provide the same level of advanced enterprise-specific features as Azure AD.

AWS IAM vs Azure Active Directory

Overview