Authentication methods available for Primary Authentication in Microsoft Entra ID Free

Question

I am currently considering using the Microsoft Entra ID Free plan and have a question regarding authentication methods.

According to the following Microsoft documentation, there is a table that lists authentication methods and indicates whether they support “Primary authentication”:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/authentication/overview-authentication#authentication-methodssupported-by-microsoft-entra-id

Among the authentication methods in this table where “Primary authentication” is marked as “Yes”, which ones are available when using the Microsoft Entra ID Free plan?

Could you please list all authentication methods that can be used as primary authentication with the Entra ID Free plan?

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

As per the documentation you have shared

Free plan has Primary Authentication methods set to Password which is the defaull primary authentication method in all plans.
On top of that, MS Authenticator, FIDO2/Passkeys are also available with some limitations.

So the list should be **Microsoft Authenticator passwordless, Microsoft Authenticator push notifications, Temporary Access Pass (TAP), Short Message Service (SMS) sign-in, QR code, Password

**That said, with Entra Free which comes with defaults of MFA whre authentication is available, its modtly enough with password as primary authentiucation. Incase password is not an available primary, you have to evalaute and enforec another. Not sure how this works in free plan or even if you can enfore another other with password being unavailable

Learn more here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/authentication/concept-mfa-licensing