Pricing and Subscription required for setting up MFA for my Active Directory

Question

I manage an active directory system and aim to implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for user security. I'm considering Azure Entra ID as the solution. However, after reviewing documentation, it appears that enabling MFA necessitates a P1 or P2 subscription.

The estimated cost for a P1 subscription is roughly $6 per user monthly. With 5000 users, this would amount to approximately $30,000. Could you confirm if my understanding regarding the cost is accurate?

Additionally, I'm seeking advice on any alternative, more cost-effective methods to achieve MFA implementation for this scale of users within my active directory system. Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi @Devendra singh Khurana

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft QnA!

There are some options for MFA when using the Entra ID free tier, specifically "Security Defaults" which would allow your users to use the Microsoft Authenticator application, but not SMS and Phone options.

We have some details on the various licensing options here - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/authentication/concept-mfa-licensing

Also note that Entra ID provides MFA for cloud based applications, so you would need to integrate your on-prem apps with Entra if you wish to utilize MFA. We have some guidance on this here - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/authentication/howto-mfa-getstarted#plan-integration-with-on-premises-systems

Let me know if you have any further queries and I would be happy to help.

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