Microsoft Entra ID (formerly known as Azure Active Directory) offers different premium plans, notably Premium P1 and Premium P2. Both plans provide enhanced identity and access management capabilities, but they have distinct features that cater to varying levels of security and compliance needs.
Microsoft Entra ID Premium P1
Key Features:
- Conditional Access:
- Provides policies to control access to apps based on conditions such as user location, device state, and app sensitivity.
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA):
- Adds a layer of security by requiring two or more verification methods.
- Self-Service Password Reset:
- Allows users to reset their passwords without IT intervention.
- Hybrid Identities:
- Synchronizes on-premises directories to the cloud for hybrid identity management.
- Dynamic Groups:
- Automates group membership based on user attributes.
- Application Proxy:
- Provides secure remote access to on-premises web applications.
Microsoft Entra ID Premium P2
Includes all features of Premium P1 plus additional advanced security and identity protection features:
Key Features:
- Identity Protection:
- Advanced risk-based conditional access policies that detect and respond to potential security risks using machine learning.
- Privileged Identity Management (PIM):
- Provides just-in-time privileged access, time-bound access, and access reviews for administrative roles to ensure least privilege access.
- Access Reviews:
- Regularly reviews and certifies user access to applications and resources, ensuring that only the right users have access.
- Entitlement Management:
- Manages lifecycle access to resources by automating access requests, approvals, and reviews.
- Conditional Access Based on Risk:
- Allows the creation of policies based on user risk, sign-in risk, and device risk levels detected by Identity Protection.
- Azure AD Identity Governance:
- Ensures compliance with governance policies, including access reviews, terms of use, and automated lifecycle management.
Summary of Differences:
- Conditional Access: Both P1 and P2 provide conditional access, but P2 includes risk-based conditional access, which is more advanced.
- Identity Protection: P2 includes advanced machine learning-based identity protection features that P1 does not offer.
- Privileged Identity Management (PIM): Only available in P2, offering advanced management of privileged roles and access.
- Access Reviews: Only in P2, helping maintain proper access controls over time.
- Entitlement Management and Governance: Advanced governance features in P2 help ensure compliance and manage access lifecycle.
Choosing Between P1 and P2:
Choose Premium P1 if:
- You need strong identity and access management without the need for advanced risk detection and governance features.
- Your primary requirements are around MFA, conditional access, and hybrid identity management.
Choose Premium P2 if:
- You require advanced identity protection with risk-based policies and machine learning-based threat detection.
- You need privileged identity management to control and monitor access to administrative roles.
- Your organization needs to perform regular access reviews and entitlement management to ensure compliance and proper access controls.
- You seek comprehensive identity governance to automate and manage access lifecycles.
Conclusion:
For your company's requirements, if you prioritize advanced security, compliance, and governance, Microsoft Entra ID Premium P2 would be the best choice. However, if your needs are primarily around conditional access and MFA without the advanced identity protection and governance features, Premium P1 might be sufficient. Considering you mentioned a comprehensive solution, Premium P2 seems to align better with advanced security and management needs.
