Platform for external identities from Microsoft, spanning B2B collaboration and customer (CIAM) tenants. New customers use it in place of Azure AD B2C.
Also called External Identities.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
AZ-104SC-500AZ-900SC-900SC-300
Each book explains Microsoft Entra External ID in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- B2B collaboration
Microsoft Entra feature that invites external users one by one as guests; by itself it doesn't provision, approve or expire their access automatically.
- CIAM
Customer identity and access management lets a business's customers and consumers create accounts, sign in and manage their profiles. Microsoft's offering is Microsoft Entra External ID, run in an external tenant.
- Azure AD B2C
Identity platform for customer-facing apps; since 1 May 2025 new customers can't buy it and are directed to its successor, Microsoft Entra External ID. Tokens it issues can be checked by API Management's
validate-jwtpolicy via its OpenID configuration.
Related terms
- B2B
Business-to-business features in Microsoft Entra External ID for working alongside partner organisations. Direct connect lets people share Teams channels with no guest account needed, whereas collaboration brings partners into your tenant as guests.
- B2C
Microsoft stopped selling Azure AD B2C to new customers on 1 May 2025. It was the older customer identity (CIAM) offering, now succeeded by Microsoft Entra External ID running in an external tenant.
- MAU
Short for monthly active users. Microsoft Entra External ID charges per distinct external user signing in within a calendar month, with 50,000 free on the core offer; an Azure subscription must be linked to the tenant.