Identity services don’t come with a one-size-fits-all price tag. Some tools charge per user. Others bill you by login event. And then there are platforms that start out free — until your usage crosses a hidden threshold and the bill spikes. The gap between a $0.25 login and a $4.00 verification? That’s not just a pricing detail. It’s the difference between scalable and unsustainable.
The trick is knowing what you’re actually paying for. This guide breaks down real costs from top identity platforms, highlights where fees hide, and explains how pricing shifts as your business grows. You’ll also see how different tools balance features and cost — and which types of businesses they’re really built for.
Understanding Different Pricing Models in Identity Services
Identity platforms follow a few core pricing models. The most common is per-user pricing — you pay a set amount each month for every active user. Another is per-verification, where you’re billed for each login or identity check. It’s a bit like choosing between a subscription gym membership and paying per visit. Both work — but not for the same use case.
Some providers bundle features into rigid subscription tiers. Need support for 75,000 users? You might be forced into an enterprise plan with extras you’ll never use — just to hit the user cap. That kind of bundling often means paying more than you should, especially if you only need basic features like single sign-on or MFA.
Other platforms use usage-based pricing, charging by Monthly Active Users (MAU). This model works well for apps with regular users — think customer-facing portals, SaaS tools, or mobile apps. But for internal systems or employee access, it can get expensive fast. One spike in logins during a product launch or busy season, and your bill jumps overnight.
That’s why it’s important to distinguish who you’re managing access for before you dive into pricing models. Identity services generally fall into two categories:
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Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) tools are built for apps and websites with external users — your customers. Think account logins for e-commerce, SaaS, or banking platforms. These tools often charge based on Monthly Active Users (MAU) and focus on scalable authentication for millions of people.
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Workforce Identity and Access Management (WIAM), on the other hand, is all about internal access. It’s used to manage how employees log in to work systems, apps, and even physical devices. These platforms typically charge per user, workstation, or authentication method — and put more focus on security, compliance, and access policies across the organization.
Monthly Active Users vs Per-Verification Pricing Structures
So how do CIAM and WIAM providers decide which pricing model to use — and what does it say about their product focus?
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CIAM vendors tend to choose per-verification pricing. This makes sense for apps where users sign in occasionally, and each login might require extra steps like ID verification or fraud checks. Vendors like Stripe Identity, Veriff, and Persona follow this model. It’s ideal for onboarding flows, KYC compliance, or marketplaces that don’t see frequent repeat logins from the same user.
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WIAM vendors, by contrast, often rely on MAU-based pricing — but adapted for internal use. While MAU originally evolved in CIAM, it’s used in workforce identity platforms like Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), Hideez, and Okta, usually bundled with feature tiers or licensing agreements. In these environments, login frequency is high, and billing by event would quickly become unmanageable, so MAU offers a more scalable baseline.
Then there are hybrid platforms like Auth0, ForgeRock, IBM Security Verify, and OneLogin. These vendors support both CIAM and WIAM use cases and offer flexible pricing models to match. Depending on your configuration, you might be billed by MAU, per verification, or through flat licensing — often with enterprise customization layered on top.
To see how pricing models can impact costs, consider this:
Let’s say you manage 10,000 users, each logging in 20 times per month.
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With MAU pricing, you pay for 10,000 users.
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With per-verification pricing, you pay for 200,000 login events.
Depending on the provider, that could mean $500/month vs $2,000/month or more — for the same usage pattern.
Breaking Down the Real Costs: From Free Tiers to Enterprise Pricing
Here’s a look at how actual vendors price their identity services — and what users say about value for money:
Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD)
Pricing: P1 tier – $6/user/month, P2 tier – $9/user/month
Widely used in enterprise environments, especially alongside Microsoft 365. Users consistently say the P1 plan covers basic needs like MFA, app access, and group policies. P2 is typically reserved for organizations needing risk-based conditional access and privileged identity management. IT admins often describe it as solid value for the money, with predictable licensing and easy integration into existing Microsoft stacks.
Hideez Workforce Identity
Pricing: Free for up to 20 users.
Multitenant cloud version - $3/user/month, On-prem or private cloud version - $6/user/month.
Hideez stands out for offering a clean, fixed-cost model, particularly attractive for small to mid-sized teams. Users appreciate the simplicity and advanced security - Hideez offers passwordless phishing-resistant SSO, MFA, and touchless access to workstations.
The Hideez Identity Cloud platform is praised for its simplicity and flexible setup that doesn’t require deep technical expertise, while the Hideez Enterprise edition is designed for complex IT environments with mobile workforces or hybrid infrastructure. It allows all data to be stored locally, helping organizations meet compliance requirements.
Okta Workforce Identity
Pricing: $6-8/user/month depending on plan and features
Okta is known for enterprise-grade reliability and clean integrations with cloud apps. While widely respected, many admins note that costs add up fast — especially when adding MFA, lifecycle management, or external IdP connections. A common phrase: “It just works, but you’ll pay for it.”
Stripe Identity
Pricing: Around $1.50 per verification
Stripe Identity is favored for its slick onboarding experience and solid developer tools. Teams integrating KYC into fintech, marketplaces, or age-restricted platforms often choose Stripe for speed and ease of use. However, some teams note that costs can escalate rapidly at scale, especially when volume spikes aren’t predictable.
Veriff
Pricing: Around $0.80 per verification, with optional features adding $0.30+
Veriff is a frequent choice for international products thanks to broad document support and high match accuracy. While its base rate is attractive, added services like AML screening or fraud signals can significantly inflate total spend. One common note from users: “Solid product, but the final invoice is never as low as you expect.”
Persona
Pricing: $0.30-$0.50 per verification, with a $49/month minimum
Persona is often praised for being friendly to smaller teams thanks to low per-check pricing and generous configurability. Developers like the flexibility of the API and UX options. That said, many teams report that once usage ramps up or extra checks are enabled, pricing quickly approaches that of larger competitors.
Auth0
Pricing: Free for up to 7,500 MAUs; paid plans from $35/month (500 MAUs)
Auth0 is especially popular with developer-first teams. The platform offers rich customization, granular security controls, and excellent documentation. However, users frequently warn that it’s easy to outgrow the free tier — “Feature limitations push you into the next tier quickly, and then it gets expensive.”
ForgeRock
Pricing: Custom pricing, typically via enterprise contracts
ForgeRock is designed for complex, large-scale deployments where flexibility, compliance, and deep integration matter most. IT leads praise the platform’s capabilities but stress the need for upfront investment in both time and budget. It’s often described as a great fit for mature organizations with dedicated IAM teams.
IBM Security Verify
Pricing: Approximately $1.80/user/month (SSO + MFA + Adaptive Access)
IBM’s cloud-based IAM platform is positioned for mid-market and enterprise teams that want strong security and brand trust. The pricing is straightforward for workforce use, though some customers point out that external user management (CIAM) often requires separate licensing and configuration.
One Login
Pricing: Starting around $4-6/user/month depending on features and scale
OneLogin is often chosen by mid-sized businesses or managed service providers looking for simplicity. It delivers clean SSO and MFA out of the box, with a reputation for responsive support. Some teams highlight it as a “no-nonsense alternative to Okta” for companies that don’t need heavy customization.
Hidden Fees That Impact Your Total Identity Service Investment
Many IAM vendors charge extra for basics like IdP connections, MFA, or support — making it hard to predict your real cost until the invoice arrives.
The most insidious hidden costs come from per-IdP connection fees that can dwarf your base subscription costs. For example, Auth0 charges approximately $11 per month for each enterprise connection, meaning a business requiring 1,000 identity provider connections faces $132,000 annually in connection fees alone. These fees are particularly problematic because identity provider connections are often non-negotiable requirements for enterprise customers who need to integrate with existing directory services.
SMS authentication costs may represent another significant hidden expense, with regional variations creating unpredictable bills. Google Identity Platform charges $0.01 per SMS in the United States but $0.34 in some other regions, while providing only 10 free SMS messages per day. For businesses with global user bases, these SMS costs can easily exceed $10,000 monthly.
Setup and integration fees often catch businesses off guard during implementation. Many providers charge one-time setup fees ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 for enterprise implementations, plus ongoing support fees that can reach $2,000 monthly. These costs aren't reflected in the advertised per-user pricing but can represent significant upfront investments.
Comparing Major Identity Platforms: Google, Stripe, and Specialized Providers
At first glance, volume discounts sound like a win — the more users you have, the less you pay per unit. But there’s a catch: most of these discounts come with minimum annual commitments that can lock you into spend levels you may not reach.
For example, Google Identity Platform lowers its rate from $0.0055 to $0.0025 per MAU once you exceed 10 million monthly users. That’s over 50% off — but only if you’re operating at global scale. Most businesses never hit that threshold.
Some platforms also enforce monthly minimums. Persona, for instance, requires a $250/month commitment with a 12-month contract. That’s $3,000 per year regardless of actual usage — a tough fit for seasonal businesses or startups with unpredictable growth.
Enterprise-level pricing can drop sharply — but only with six-figure contracts. Reports suggest Auth0 may offer rates under $1 per MAU for massive deployments, but deals like that typically require $500,000+ annually and long-term lock-ins.
Volume-based savings are real — but only if your usage is stable, your growth is predictable, and you’re ready to commit. For everyone else, flexibility often matters more than raw discounts.
When (and If) It Makes Sense to Build Your Own Identity Solution
Building your own identity solution becomes economically viable when you're processing more than one million verifications annually and have the technical expertise to maintain secure systems. At this scale, the per-verification costs of third-party services can exceed $500,000 annually, while a custom solution might cost $50,000 in development and $10,000 annually in operational costs. However, this calculation only works if you have experienced security engineers and can maintain compliance with evolving regulations.
The real challenge? Regulatory compliance. Industries like healthcare, finance, and government require strict adherence to standards like HIPAA, PCI DSS, or FedRAMP. Achieving that in-house can easily add six figures to your cost. That’s why most third-party IAM platforms spread compliance costs across all clients — giving you built-in coverage without the overhead. This shared-cost model is a cornerstone of enterprise IAM cost savings.
Then there’s the technical complexity. Supporting multiple authentication methods, handling password resets, managing user profiles, and preventing fraud requires ongoing engineering investment. Many businesses discover that identity management becomes a significant distraction from their core product development. A comprehensive business workflow management strategy should always seek to outsource non-core, complex functions like identity to specialists.
Ready to make an informed decision about your identity service provider? Don't let confusing pricing structures or hidden fees derail your budget planning. Compare these options against your specific use case, factor in your expected user growth, and remember that the cheapest option today might not scale with your business tomorrow. Take the time to test the platforms that fit your budget range and see which one delivers the security, user experience, and reliability your users deserve.
