What workforce identity costs in 2026: published prices compared

Published 2026-09-29 · NextGen Identity Security desk · 4 min read

Workforce identity is one of the few security categories where most vendors publish prices. This post sets out what each vendor on our workforce IAM page publishes, as of 29 September 2026, and what the figures do and do not include. Prices change often, so check each vendor's page before relying on a figure.

The published prices

• Okta: Starter $6, Core Essentials $14 and Essentials $17 per user per month, billed annually, with a $1,500 annual minimum contract. Professional and Enterprise are priced on request. Starter has a 30-day trial.
• Microsoft Entra ID: Free, included with Microsoft cloud subscriptions; P1 at $7.00 and P2 at $10.00 per user per month. P1 is included in Microsoft 365 E3 and Business Premium, and P2 in Microsoft 365 E5. Entra Suite is $12.00 and requires P1.
• Ping Identity: PingOne for Workforce Essential at $3 and Plus at $6 per user per month, based on an annual contract with a 5,000-user minimum. Both have a 30-day trial.
• Google Cloud Identity: a Free edition, and Premium at $7.2 per user per month.
• JumpCloud: SSO at $11 per user per month billed annually or $13 billed monthly; Device Management at $9 or $11; Device Identity Management at $13 or $15. Platform tiers are priced on request, and there is a 30-day trial.
• NewCore: no pricing published.

What the entry plans include

The headline price buys different things. Okta Starter includes SSO, MFA, Universal Directory and five Workflows, and Core Essentials adds Adaptive MFA and more Workflows. Entra ID P1 adds Conditional Access, and P2 adds ID Protection and risk-based Conditional Access. PingOne Essential covers SSO, a directory, OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, SCIM, LDAP, Kerberos and a RADIUS gateway; Plus adds adaptive MFA, Microsoft ecosystem integrations and passwordless with FIDO. Google keeps Context-Aware Access, Secure LDAP and automated provisioning to third-party apps for Premium. JumpCloud's SSO product includes SSO, MFA and a password manager.

Minimums change the answer

Minimums matter most for small organizations. At 100 users, Okta Starter comes to $7,200 a year at list price, above the $1,500 minimum. At 20 users the list price would be below it, so the minimum applies and the cost is $1,500. Ping's published prices assume at least 5,000 users: a 500-person company on Essential pays for 5,000, which is $180,000 a year at list price, or $30 per actual user per month. JumpCloud's monthly billing costs more per user but avoids an annual commitment.

A worked example at 500 users

Using list prices and the default plan for each vendor in our calculator, a 500-user organization would see these annual costs:

These are list prices before any discount, and they are not like-for-like, because each plan includes different features. Many Microsoft 365 customers already have Entra ID P1 or P2 through their existing licences.

What is not in the price

• Add-ons. Okta sells Identity Threat Protection and Okta for AI Agents as add-ons; JumpCloud sells features such as conditional access and passwordless as add-ons from $3 to $6.
• Agent features. Microsoft says extended security features for AI agents need Microsoft Agent 365.
• Workload identities. Microsoft prices Workload ID at $3.00 per workload identity per month.
• Implementation and migration work, which no vendor prices publicly.

Where NewCore fits

NewCore does not publish pricing, which is one reason it scores lowest on pricing transparency on the workforce IAM page. It describes a coexistence model that preserves existing federations and policies, so a buyer considering it would typically be adding it next to an existing identity provider rather than trading one price for another. Ask for pricing in writing, including how AI agents are counted.

Try your own numbers

The calculator applies these published prices and minimums to your user count and lets you choose the plan for each vendor. It also re-weights our scores, so cost and fit can be read side by side.