Identity Management Platform Showdown: Which SSO and IAM Solution Works Best for UK Businesses

Your business has outgrown shared passwords and "please email IT for access" chaos. You know you need single sign-on, proper multi-factor authentication, and automated user provisioning. But which platform do you choose when every vendor claims to be "enterprise-grade" and "seamlessly integrated"?

This is the comparison article I wish existed when evaluating identity platforms for London businesses. No marketing fluff, no vendor bias, just the actual trade-offs between the platforms UK SMEs deploy.

What We're Comparing (And Why These Specific Platforms)

Commercial platforms:

• Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) – because you probably already have it
• Okta Workforce Identity – the most common "vendor-neutral" choice
• Google Cloud Identity – for Google Workspace shops
• JumpCloud – increasingly popular with MSPs and Mac-heavy businesses
• OneLogin – mid-market alternative to Okta
• Ping Identity – enterprise and regulated industries
• Auth0 (now Okta Customer Identity Cloud) – developer-focused, B2C angle

Open source options:

• Keycloak – the established self-hosted choice
• Authentik – modern, DevOps-friendly alternative
• Authelia – lightweight SSO gateway
• Zitadel – cloud-native identity platform
• Gluu – enterprise-grade open source

I'm not covering every niche player. These platforms represent what you'll encounter when speaking with IT consultancies, MSPs, and your peer businesses.

The Comparison Tables

Major Commercial Identity Platforms

Open Source and Self-Hosted Platforms

What This Means For Your Specific Situation

Mac-Heavy SMEs on Microsoft 365

Best three choices:

When to pick which:

• Choose Entra ID only if you're all-in on Microsoft 365, mostly browser/SaaS-based, and happy to manage Macs via Intune
• Add or prefer JumpCloud if you want device-centric cloud directory that treats Macs as equals while still integrating with Microsoft 365
• Bring in Okta if you have complex multi-SaaS needs, want HR-driven provisioning at scale, or operate as an MSP standardising identity across clients

Mac-Heavy SMEs on Google Workspace

Best three choices:

When to pick which:

• Go Google-only if you're small-to-mid Google-native shop, mostly browser-based, and happy with straightforward SSO/MFA
• Add JumpCloud when you want strong Mac device management plus unified directory and SSO without Microsoft tooling
• Bring in Okta when you've grown into complex multi-SaaS environment or need richer HRIS-driven provisioning than Google can provide

Windows-First SMEs on Microsoft 365

Best three choices:

Windows-First SMEs on Google Workspace

Best three choices:

The Security Track Record Question

Let's address this directly because it matters.

Okta has had multiple high-profile incidents since 2022, including their support system compromise and session token access issues. These weren't minor configuration problems. They were significant breaches that affected customer environments. Okta publishes advisories and has strong response processes, but the frequency raises questions.

Does this mean you shouldn't use Okta? Not necessarily. It means:

• Implement zero-trust architecture regardless of your IdP
• Maintain comprehensive logging and monitoring
• Have incident response procedures that assume your IdP could be compromised
• Consider whether you need the vendor-neutral layer Okta provides, or whether staying closer to your primary platform (Microsoft/Google) reduces attack surface

Open source platforms share the same protocol-level risks as commercial options. SAML, OIDC and OAuth 2.0 all have known vulnerability classes. The difference is you're responsible for staying on top of security advisories and patches. If you lack in-house expertise for this, self-hosted identity becomes a liability rather than an asset.

Microsoft and Google benefit from massive security engineering teams and are under constant scrutiny. They've had incidents (every large platform has) but nothing approaching Okta's recent run. This matters when you're trusting a platform with every login to every system your business uses.

The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions

Commercial platforms:

• Auth0 charges per identity provider connection in some tiers. If you want to federate with multiple external IdPs, costs escalate quickly.
• Okta's pricing looks reasonable until you add governance, advanced MFA, and API access management. The jump from base SSO to full enterprise suite is significant.
• Microsoft bundles identity with other services, which looks cheap until you realise you're paying for M365 E3/E5 to get features that come standard in dedicated IdPs.

Open source platforms:

• The software is free. Your time configuring, securing, patching and maintaining it is not.
• Keycloak running well requires understanding of Java, databases, load balancing, and identity protocols. Budget for this expertise.
• When something breaks at 3am, there's no support line. There's documentation, community forums, and your own technical capability.

The real cost question: What's your time worth? A £6/user/month SaaS IdP for 100 users costs £7,200 annually. If self-hosting Keycloak "saves" you that cost but requires 40 hours of senior engineer time over the year, you've not actually saved anything. You've just moved the cost from your software budget to your salary budget.

What We Recommend

At Stabilise, we typically deploy one of three approaches depending on the business:

For most Mac-heavy London businesses on Microsoft 365: Start with Entra ID P1 or P2. You're already paying for Microsoft 365, the integration with Intune works properly, and conditional access policies give you the control you need. Add JumpCloud if your Mac fleet needs richer device management than Intune provides.

For Google Workspace organisations under 100 users: Use Google's built-in identity and SSO. It works, it's included, and the complexity of adding another layer isn't justified unless you have specific compliance requirements or dozens of third-party SaaS applications.

For businesses with complex SaaS estates or regulatory requirements: Okta or Ping Identity, despite the higher cost and Okta's security history. The provisioning automation, governance capabilities, and vendor-neutral positioning justify the investment when you're managing 50+ applications or need detailed audit trails for compliance.

We don't recommend self-hosted identity platforms for most SMEs. The exception is if you already have strong in-house Linux/Kubernetes expertise and specific requirements that commercial platforms can't meet. Even then, Keycloak-as-a-service from a specialist provider is often smarter than running it yourself.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Before choosing a platform:

Do you need a separate IdP? If you're all-in on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace with simple needs, you might not. The identity tools built into those platforms handle SSO, MFA and basic provisioning adequately for many businesses.

What's your source of truth for identity? If it's your HRIS system (BambooHR, Workday, etc.), you need strong lifecycle automation. If it's your email system, simpler SSO might be adequate.

How many SaaS applications do you use? Three applications don't justify Okta. Thirty probably do.

What's your team's technical capability? Self-hosted platforms require expertise. SaaS platforms require budget. Know which constraint binds tighter.

What happens when your IdP is compromised? This isn't theoretical anymore. Your answer should inform your architecture regardless of which platform you choose.

The Honest Answer

There's no single "best" identity platform. There's the platform that matches your environment, technical capability, budget, and risk tolerance.

If you're a 50-person London creative agency running entirely on Google Workspace with ten SaaS applications, Google's built-in identity tools are probably adequate. Adding Okta would be architectural complexity for no meaningful gain.

If you're a 200-person professional services firm on Microsoft 365 with 40 SaaS applications, strict compliance requirements, and people joining and leaving every month, you need sophisticated provisioning and governance. Entra ID P2 or Okta becomes justified.

If you're an MSP managing identity for dozens of clients across different platforms, JumpCloud's multi-tenant architecture and broad protocol support might be your best option regardless of what any comparison table says.

The platforms in these tables all work. They're all deployed successfully in thousands of businesses. Your job isn't to find the "best" one in abstract. It's to find the one that solves your specific problems without creating new ones.

Need help evaluating identity platforms for your business? We work with all the major IdP vendors and can help you choose based on your environment rather than vendor marketing. We're technology advisors, not vendor resellers, so we'll tell you honestly when you don't need something.