What should I check in an Okta identity and access management evaluation?

Start with the bundle you actually need. Okta Workforce Identity is sold in suites (Starter $6, Core Essentials $14 and Essentials $17 per user per month, billed annually, with a $1,500 annual minimum as of 5 November 2026), and Professional and Enterprise are quote-based. Then test Okta Identity Engine policies for phishing-resistant sign-in (FastPass or Passkey FIDO2 WebAuthn), HR-driven lifecycle, and the Okta Integration Network connectors for your top apps. Finally, review tenant hardening after the 2023 support-system and help-desk incidents.

Who owns Okta and what has it acquired?

Okta is a public company listed on NASDAQ as OKTA. It owns Auth0, bought in May 2021 for about 6.5 billion dollars in stock and still run as a separate developer-facing product. Recent security deals are Spera Security (February 2024, 58 million dollars), Axiom Security (September 2025, 54 million dollars, just-in-time privileged access) and Permiso Security, which Okta completed on 26 August 2026 according to its 10-Q for the quarter to 31 July 2026.

How much does Okta cost?

As of 5 November 2026, Okta's pricing page lists Workforce Identity Starter at $6, Core Essentials at $14 and Essentials at $17 per user per month, all billed annually, with a $1,500 annual contract minimum. Professional and Enterprise are quote-based. Customer Identity starts at a $3,000 per month Enterprise base platform billed annually, with usage-based add-ons. There is a 30-day free trial but no production free tier for workforce use.

What are the best Okta competitors for workforce identity and access management?

Microsoft Entra ID is the usual alternative for Microsoft 365 organizations, since Entra ID P1 is included in many Microsoft 365 plans and sold standalone at $7 per user per month. Ping Identity fits regulated enterprises that need self-managed or hybrid deployment. JumpCloud suits SMBs that also want device management, and OneLogin is a lower-cost mid-market SSO option. For customer identity, Auth0 is Okta's own product.

Okta vs Ping Identity: how do they compare for workforce identity?

Okta is SaaS only and wins on integration breadth, with more than 8,000 pre-built Okta Integration Network connectors and published entry pricing. Ping Identity offers multi-tenant SaaS, dedicated-tenant cloud and self-managed software, plus PingOne DaVinci orchestration, which matters for banks, governments and complex migrations. Ping pricing is quote-only. Pick Okta for fast, broad workforce SSO; pick Ping when deployment control or federation depth decides the deal.

IAM Platform

Okta

Name: Okta review
Item: Okta
Rating: 4.7
Author: SWI Community Team

Founded 2009San Francisco, CA, USAPublic (NASDAQ: OKTA)Score 4.7/5Evaluated 2026-11-05Website ↗

Capability scores

Methodology →

Authentication: 4.5
SSO & Federation: 5.0
Authorization: 3.5
Lifecycle & Provisioning: 4.5
MFA & Passwordless: 4.5
Governance & Audit: 4.0
Developer Experience: 4.0
Deployment Flexibility: 3.0
Pricing Transparency: 3.0
Support & Ecosystem: 5.0

Scored 0–5 against a published rubric. Independent analysis, no vendor sponsorship.

Overview

Okta is a public (NASDAQ: OKTA) identity company and, in 2026, still the reference workforce identity platform that most enterprises benchmark others against. Its 10-Q for the quarter to 31 July 2026 reported 805 million dollars of revenue and 5,255 customers with annual contract value above 100,000 dollars. It also owns Auth0, run as a separate developer-focused customer identity product. Okta's appeal is breadth and neutrality: it integrates with almost everything and favors no single ecosystem, which is why heterogeneous enterprises pick it over a stack-native option like Microsoft Entra.

Okta has been buying its way into post-login security. After Spera Security (2024) and Axiom Security (2025), it completed the acquisition of Permiso Security on 26 August 2026, a deal announced on 30 July. The 10-Q says Permiso is expected to broaden Okta's ITDR across human, non-human and agentic identities. Ask how much of that is integrated in your tenant today.

What it is good at

The Okta Integration Network lists more than 8,000 pre-built integrations covering SSO and automated SCIM provisioning. SAML and OIDC federation are mature, lifecycle automation from HR sources is strong, and Universal Directory handles messy multi-source identity well. For phishing resistance, Okta documents Okta FastPass and Passkey (FIDO2 WebAuthn) as phishing-resistant authenticators, enforced through Identity Engine policies. The support and partner ecosystem is deep.

Where it falls short

Authorization beyond role and group assignment is thin compared with a dedicated fine-grained engine. The platform is SaaS only, so strict on-prem or air-gapped requirements rule it out. Pricing stacks by suite and add-on, so a realistic deployment (SSO, MFA, lifecycle, governance, device trust) gets expensive.

The security record is the bigger caveat. In October 2023 an attacker used a stolen service account to reach Okta's customer support system and lifted session tokens from HAR files, and in August 2023 Okta warned that attackers had talked customer help desks into resetting super administrator MFA. Earlier came the LAPSUS$ access via Sitel and the 0ktapus phishing campaign. Client-side flaws include CVE-2024-7061 in Okta Verify for Windows and CVE-2025-67505 in the Okta Java SDK. Tenant hygiene is an operational task, not a one-time setup.

Pricing

Published entry pricing with quote-based upper tiers (checked 2026-11-05, Okta pricing). Workforce Identity: Starter $6, Core Essentials $14 and Essentials $17 per user per month, billed annually; Professional and Enterprise are quote-based; $1,500 annual contract minimum; 30-day free trial, no permanent free tier for production workforce use. Customer Identity: Enterprise base platform $3,000 per month billed annually, add-ons usage-based. Model the full bundle with our TCO calculator.

Best for, and who should look elsewhere

Choose Okta when you want the most neutral, broadly integrated workforce platform and you are comfortable with SaaS. Look elsewhere if you are deeply Microsoft-centric (Entra is usually cheaper and tightly integrated), if you need on-prem deployment (Ping Identity), or if deep authorization is the priority. See Okta vs Ping Identity, Okta vs Microsoft Entra and Okta alternatives.

Bottom line

The safe, capable default for mid-to-large enterprises that value integration breadth and neutrality over bundled cost savings, provided they budget for tenant hardening.

Integrations: see what Okta Workforce Identity documents for clouds, HR systems, SaaS apps and legacy directories in the Identity Integration Matrix.

Breaches involving Okta

Incidents in our sourced breach database where Okta was the abused surface or the path in. Inclusion is not a judgement on the product: most record stolen credentials, tokens or misconfiguration on the customer side, and each record says which.

Okta customer support system breach and HAR-file session token theft 2023 · Stolen credentials
MGM Resorts help desk social engineering and ransomware 2023 · Help desk social engineering
Help desk resets of Okta super administrator MFA at multiple customers 2023 · Help desk social engineering
0ktapus SMS phishing campaign against Okta users 2022 · Credential phishing
LAPSUS$ access to Okta support via Sitel engineer workstation 2022 · Third-party access

Browse the full database

Okta: frequently asked questions

What should I check in an Okta identity and access management evaluation?: Start with the bundle you actually need. Okta Workforce Identity is sold in suites (Starter $6, Core Essentials $14 and Essentials $17 per user per month, billed annually, with a $1,500 annual minimum as of 5 November 2026), and Professional and Enterprise are quote-based. Then test Okta Identity Engine policies for phishing-resistant sign-in (FastPass or Passkey FIDO2 WebAuthn), HR-driven lifecycle, and the Okta Integration Network connectors for your top apps. Finally, review tenant hardening after the 2023 support-system and help-desk incidents.
Who owns Okta and what has it acquired?: Okta is a public company listed on NASDAQ as OKTA. It owns Auth0, bought in May 2021 for about 6.5 billion dollars in stock and still run as a separate developer-facing product. Recent security deals are Spera Security (February 2024, 58 million dollars), Axiom Security (September 2025, 54 million dollars, just-in-time privileged access) and Permiso Security, which Okta completed on 26 August 2026 according to its 10-Q for the quarter to 31 July 2026.
How much does Okta cost?: As of 5 November 2026, Okta's pricing page lists Workforce Identity Starter at $6, Core Essentials at $14 and Essentials at $17 per user per month, all billed annually, with a $1,500 annual contract minimum. Professional and Enterprise are quote-based. Customer Identity starts at a $3,000 per month Enterprise base platform billed annually, with usage-based add-ons. There is a 30-day free trial but no production free tier for workforce use.
What are the best Okta competitors for workforce identity and access management?: Microsoft Entra ID is the usual alternative for Microsoft 365 organizations, since Entra ID P1 is included in many Microsoft 365 plans and sold standalone at $7 per user per month. Ping Identity fits regulated enterprises that need self-managed or hybrid deployment. JumpCloud suits SMBs that also want device management, and OneLogin is a lower-cost mid-market SSO option. For customer identity, Auth0 is Okta's own product.
Okta vs Ping Identity: how do they compare for workforce identity?: Okta is SaaS only and wins on integration breadth, with more than 8,000 pre-built Okta Integration Network connectors and published entry pricing. Ping Identity offers multi-tenant SaaS, dedicated-tenant cloud and self-managed software, plus PingOne DaVinci orchestration, which matters for banks, governments and complex migrations. Ping pricing is quote-only. Pick Okta for fast, broad workforce SSO; pick Ping when deployment control or federation depth decides the deal.

Okta comparisons

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Last reviewed November 5, 2026By SWI Community TeamSuggest a correction How we research

By SWI Community Team · Last evaluated 2026-11-05

Independent, community-driven analysis. No vendor sponsorship. Compiled from public research and community input and verified on a best-effort basis, so details may be incomplete or out of date. Scores are opinions, not advice. Trademarks belong to their owners; mention does not imply affiliation or endorsement. See the full disclaimer, or send corrections to community@startwithidentity.com.