# The most used authentication and identity tools As of October 2026, the most used of the 22 authentication and identity tools runsonwhat tracks is Auth0, found at 5,393 companies, ahead of Microsoft Entra ID (3,079) and Okta (1,775). Identity tools come in two kinds. Customer identity (Auth0, Clerk, Stytch, WorkOS, Amazon Cognito) handles sign-up and login inside a product. Workforce identity (Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, OneLogin, Ping Identity) handles how employees sign in to the company's own apps. Both are sticky: once users, sessions and SSO connections live in one provider, switching means migrating every account, which is why the adoption dates on these tools tend to be old. ## Authentication and identity tools ranked by companies using them | # | Tool | Companies | Share of category | Last 30 days | Most popular with | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | [Auth0](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/auth0) | 5,393 | 39% | +25 −3 | Software (4.1×) | | 2 | [Microsoft Entra ID](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/entra-id) | 3,079 | 22% | +15 −5 | 1,001–5,000 employees (2.9×) | | 3 | [Okta](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/okta) | 1,775 | 13% | +6 −2 | 10,000+ employees (13×) | | 4 | [Clerk](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/clerk) | 1,102 | 8.0% | +28 −2 | B2B (187×) | | 5 | [SAP Customer Data Cloud](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/sap-customer-data-cloud) | 811 | 5.9% | +2 | Newspapers (28×) | | 6 | [WorkOS](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/workos) | 550 | 4.0% | +4 | Engineering, Product and Design (197×) | | 7 | [Stytch](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/stytch) | 273 | 2.0% | – | 1–10 employees (6.1×) | | 8 | [Ping Identity](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/ping-identity) | 123 | 0.89% | +1 | 201–1,000 employees (2.3×) | | 9 | [PropelAuth](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/propelauth) | 123 | 0.89% | – | 1–10 employees (30×) | | 10 | [Akamai Identity Cloud](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/akamai-identity-cloud) | 108 | 0.78% | – | – | | 11 | [FusionAuth](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/fusionauth) | 90 | 0.65% | +1 | 51–200 employees (1.6×) | | 12 | [Descope](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/descope) | 66 | 0.48% | +3 | – | | 13 | [ForgeRock](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/forgerock) | 59 | 0.43% | – | – | | 14 | [Ory](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/ory) | 56 | 0.41% | +1 | – | | 15 | [LoginRadius](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/loginradius) | 40 | 0.29% | – | – | | 16 | [Zitadel](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/zitadel) | 30 | 0.22% | – | – | | 17 | [Amazon Cognito](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/aws-cognito) | 29 | 0.21% | +1 | – | | 18 | [Frontegg](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/frontegg) | 22 | 0.16% | +1 | – | | 19 | [cidaas](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/cidaas) | 17 | 0.12% | +1 | – | | 20 | [OneLogin](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/onelogin) | 16 | 0.12% | – | – | | 21 | [Keycloak](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/keycloak) | 11 | <0.1% | – | – | | 22 | [JumpCloud](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/jumpcloud) | 1 | <0.1% | – | – | Share is each tool's part of all 13,774 matches in this category; a company using two tools counts for both. ## How to compare authentication and identity tools - Customer or workforce identity. Some vendors do both; most specialize. - Enterprise features: SAML and OIDC SSO, SCIM provisioning and audit logs. - Pricing per monthly active user, which grows quickly for consumer products. - Hosted login pages versus components you embed in your own UI. ## How runsonwhat finds authentication and identity tools Identity providers show up in domain-verification TXT records, in login subdomains that point at the vendor (login.example.com → Auth0 or Okta), in OpenID discovery documents and in the sign-in scripts a site loads. ## FAQ ### What are the most popular authentication and identity tools? As of October 2026, the most popular authentication and identity tools by number of companies using them are Auth0 (5,393 companies), Microsoft Entra ID (3,079 companies) and Okta (1,775 companies), according to runsonwhat. Auth0 alone accounts for 39% of the 13,774 Auth & Identity matches runsonwhat has, and the top three together for 74%. 22 authentication and identity tools have at least one confirmed customer. ### Auth0 vs Microsoft Entra ID: which is more popular? Auth0 is more popular: 5,393 companies show public evidence of Auth0, against 3,079 for Microsoft Entra ID (1.8× as many), according to runsonwhat (October 2026). Okta is third with 1,775. ### Which authentication and identity tools do small businesses use most? Among companies with up to 50 employees, the most used authentication and identity tools are Auth0 (1,982 companies), Microsoft Entra ID (1,088 companies) and Clerk (586 companies), according to runsonwhat (October 2026). The counts cover companies with a known headcount; see each tool's page for the full size breakdown. ### Which authentication and identity tools do large companies use most? Among companies with more than 1,000 employees, the most used authentication and identity tools are Auth0 (386 companies), Okta (374 companies) and Microsoft Entra ID (292 companies), according to runsonwhat (October 2026). Large companies often run more than one tool in a category, so the same company can count for several. ### Which authentication and identity tools are most popular in the United States? In the United States, the most used authentication and identity tools are Auth0 (2,334 companies), Microsoft Entra ID (1,357 companies) and Okta (941 companies), based on companies runsonwhat has located there (October 2026). Auth0 has 38% of the Auth & Identity matches among companies based in the United States. ### Which authentication and identity tools are most popular in the United Kingdom? In the United Kingdom, the most used authentication and identity tools are Auth0 (380 companies), Microsoft Entra ID (128 companies) and Okta (74 companies), based on companies runsonwhat has located there (October 2026). Auth0 has 51% of the Auth & Identity matches among companies based in the United Kingdom. ### Which authentication and identity tools do software companies use? Software is the industry with the most Auth & Identity matches, and its companies use Auth0 (856 companies), Okta (157 companies) and WorkOS (117 companies) most, according to runsonwhat (October 2026). Each tool's page breaks its customers down by industry, so you can check where a tool over-indexes. ### Which authentication and identity tools are companies adopting right now? In the 30 days to October 2026, the most new adoptions runsonwhat recorded were for Clerk (28 companies), Auth0 (25 companies) and Microsoft Entra ID (15 companies). A start is counted when a recheck finds a tool that the previous check of the same company, done the same way, did not. ### What is Auth0's market share among authentication and identity tools? Auth0 has 39% of the Auth & Identity matches runsonwhat has found (5,393 companies of 13,774), as of October 2026; Microsoft Entra ID has 22%. This is share of companies with public evidence of each tool, not share of revenue or seats, and a company that runs two tools counts for both. ### How does runsonwhat rank authentication and identity tools? runsonwhat counts the companies where a public record shows each tool in use and ranks by that count. Identity providers show up in domain-verification TXT records, in login subdomains that point at the vendor (login.example.com → Auth0 or Okta), in OpenID discovery documents and in the sign-in scripts a site loads. A company counts only when a direct record backs it up. The full method is at https://www.runsonwhat.com/methodology. ## Related categories - [Frontend](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/frontend-frameworks.md) - [Backend & Database](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/backend-databases.md) - [AI](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/ai-tools.md) - [Payments & Billing](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/payments.md) - [Search](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/site-search.md) - [Media & UI](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/media-ui.md) --- Source: runsonwhat, https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/authentication (updated October 2026). Counts are companies with direct public evidence of the tool (DNS records, certificates, website code, a real-browser crawl, subprocessor lists), so they are lower bounds. Methodology: https://www.runsonwhat.com/methodology.