What Entra ID is
Microsoft Entra ID is Microsoft's cloud identity service — the directory of users, groups and devices that Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365 and thousands of integrated SaaS apps authenticate against. Every Microsoft 365 tenant has one. Entra ID is the foundation Conditional Access, MFA, single sign-on, identity governance and Privileged Identity Management run on top of.
Free vs P1 vs P2
Entra ID Free comes with every Microsoft 365 tenant — basic SSO, MFA enforcement, user/group management. Entra ID P1 (in Business Premium / M365 E3) adds Conditional Access, self-service password reset, group-based licensing, dynamic groups, and enterprise SaaS provisioning. Entra ID P2 (in M365 E5) adds Identity Protection (risk-based detections), Privileged Identity Management, access reviews, and entitlement management.
Why the rebrand
Microsoft renamed Azure AD to Entra ID in July 2023 to position it as a broader identity platform — covering not just user identities but workload identities, external identities (B2B, B2C) and the new Entra suite that includes Internet Access, Private Access and Permissions Management. The technical platform is unchanged; documentation, portals and SDKs gradually updated through 2024–2026.