As part of Identity and Access Management solutions, or IAM, that many organizations use, Okta Platform is a mature cloud-first IAM platform that uses many single sign-on methods. This is one use case for applications, along with MFA and federation across SaaS and custom applications.

Okta Platform helps to secure access to cloud environments, APIs, containerized workloads, and AI/GenAI services in my architecture by allowing me to create the application in Okta Platform and assign it to the right users and groups, then start configuring the authentication. The first step is multi-factor authentication, which helps secure that only the approved users and groups are allowed to use that application, whether it's an AI application or an on-premise organization application. Another important measure to avoid attackers from gaining users' credentials, such as passwords, involves single sign-on. Additionally, Okta Platform has an adaptive access policy, meaning the user, or employee in this case, does not need to remember the password. Once the administrator configures SSO, the user does not need to go through password authentication; if they are authenticated using MFA, it works directly.

The use of Okta Platform to protect non-human identities in my environment, such as service accounts, machine-to-machine access, or AI agents, is limited since in the organization I work for at Deloitte, we use Microsoft for that. Okta Platform is a great IAM solution, but it is not an IGA solution, short for Identity Governance. The first thing an organization needs to look at is to understand their use case: do they need IAM or IGA or do they only need IAM? Because if it's only IAM, Okta Platform is good, but if they also need IGA to govern non-human identities and others, it is not a solution for that.

Okta Platform helps to address specific industry or regulatory requirements such as healthcare and financial services in my cloud environment. For instance, it benefits the banking industry and the e-commerce industry as well. However, it is available for many industries because it's a very mature and cloud-first IAM platform, making it perfect for companies or startups that are just starting out; they don't need to go through on-premise setups.

What I like about Okta Platform includes its large, pre-built application integration catalog, which is very useful. It also has strong support for the SAML standard and OpenID, commonly referred to as OIDC. Additionally, it offers good API and extensibility for custom use cases and works well in hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The main benefits that Okta Platform brings to the table include strong authentication, which is the first thing, and adaptive MFA, which is very good. For example, if someone tries to log in from a country that is different from the countries they typically sign into, then Okta Platform will ask them to perform another authentication to verify that it is, in fact, the same user. Strong authentication is crucial, along with federation that I used for both cloud and on-premise systems. Federation worked very well, and it facilitates fast SaaS onboarding, with application templates in Okta Platform which make the whole configuration easier. Coming from a Microsoft background, I appreciate how Okta Platform is vendor-agnostic, meaning you do not need to depend on anything; it can work with any identity or identity governance vendor.

I noticed measurable security and operational improvements in my cloud-based workloads since implementing Okta Platform. It is very stable; we didn't have many errors when it came to users trying to log in, which is the first thing. Federation also worked, and that's one use case I can say I used it for. I had a client that was an organization with over 5,000 employees, and they wanted the authentication to go for Microsoft, but through Okta Platform. In reality, what happens is the user tries to log into an Okta Platform application and then gets redirected to Microsoft. That is federation, which refers to redirecting them to a Microsoft page. Once they complete the right authentication, they are redirected back to Okta Platform, making it a successful use case for a large organization in the insurance industry.

While there are many good things about Okta Platform, I would like to see improvements, especially in the IGA capabilities, which are limited compared to more dedicated IGA tools. I believe adding this would give them a real benefit. Additionally, it is not designed as a privileged access management solution, referred to as PAM. As I come from a Microsoft background, I see that Microsoft has both IGA and PAM capabilities, which Okta Platform lacks. Another area for improvement is pricing; it becomes complex and expensive when you add features. I would like to see licensing transparency, possibly some cost control notifications. Lastly, better policy visualization would be nice to have, showing how the policies configured can be represented more visually.

I have been working with Okta Platform for the past year.

When it comes to scalability, I find that Okta Platform's performance is very good. That's the whole point. As soon as you scale up, it often comes with additional costs, but that worked perfectly for us. We managed to implement it for a large organization with many users, so there was no problem; it was very stable.

I would evaluate customer service and technical support for Okta Platform by noting that we did need assistance once when we blocked ourselves out and had to contact Okta Platform support. It took about two days for them to respond, which I think is reasonable. However, this also depends on the support license that you have. We had the minimum one, but still, two days is acceptable as they helped us resolve the issue.

My experience with the deployment of Okta Platform is that the initial setup is straightforward for standard use cases such as fast SSO and MFA. However, complex environments such as hybrid AD, custom applications, or lifecycle automation require careful design and skilled implementation to avoid the technical debt that's often referenced.

Regarding the pricing of Okta Platform, while it is high and complex, I find it does bring a return on investment. The important thing is for companies to evaluate the total cost and not just the base licensing because once you add more features, the total cost increases. This evaluation varies based on the organization's use case; if it's below around 100,000 users, it should be fine. However, if you plan to go beyond that, evaluating the total cost becomes crucial.

I decided to switch to Okta Platform for different use cases for different organizations, particularly at Deloitte. We noticed that many of these organizations that are very Microsoft-heavy, meaning they have many products with Microsoft, find that Microsoft Entra ID, which is an IAM and IGA solution, fits them perfectly because they are already in that Microsoft ecosystem. However, for organizations that are not heavily involved with Microsoft, then Okta Platform is a great solution because they do not need to be dependent on any vendor. It's cloud-first, and so if you need specific IAM without being tied to Microsoft, I think Okta Platform is the best alternative.

Given my experience with Okta Platform and with other technologies, my advice to other organizations considering it is to clearly define if they want IAM versus IGA requirements as early as possible. Okta Platform is not a full IGA platform, and organizations need to understand that coming in. They should also evaluate the total cost and not just the base licensing. Lastly, if they are Microsoft-heavy organizations, they might consider Microsoft Entra ID, but if they are not deeply tied to Microsoft, then definitely go with Okta Platform. I would rate my overall experience with Okta Platform as an eight out of ten.

Our company is an educational training platform operating as a global online training model. We focus on IT services and training, managing global employees and user accounts while handling the onboarding and offboarding process. We specifically use Okta Platform to manage MFA, SSO, and logins for multiple applications. It is integral to our identity and access management strategy, effectively centralizing our application management. We opted for Okta Platform because we wanted a separate, unique platform solely dedicated to identity management, unlike Microsoft Azure, where additional interconnections like Entra ID and Intune might be required.

Okta Platform offers valuable features such as centralized identity and access management, which allow for a single sign-on process, simplifying user authentication across applications. Its scalable management solutions provide strong multi-factor authentication, integrating easily with various applications using protocols like SAML, OAuth, and OpenID Connect. An intuitive admin interface makes user roles and access policies easy to manage, enhancing overall operational efficiency and security.

Security improvements are notable, with centralized identity control and reduced IT workload through automation. Okta Platform supports onboarding and offboarding employees, improving user experience with fewer logins needed.

Overall security posture with adaptive multi-factor authentication centralizes access control, especially benefiting hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Smooth deployment and scalability eliminate lag, providing seamless and stable operations in managing user accounts and identities.

Okta Platform's pricing model can be expensive for smaller organizations, affecting user feature accessibility. Initial setup and configuration require careful planning and experience from administrators. Cloud-based infrastructure may lead to access issues during downtime or service disruptions. Support response time could be improved, especially for non-premium customers.

Pricing could be more competitive compared to alternatives like Ping Identity, OneLogin, and Microsoft Azure AD. More responsive customer service, enhancements in setup configuration, and support could improve the platform. Prioritizing customer issues in support tickets based on urgency level might enhance response time, helping businesses manage crises more efficiently.

We have been using Okta Platform for almost three and a half years.

Okta Platform is absolutely stable, with no experienced lag. This ensures immediate action upon changes applied within Okta Platform, stabilizing operations in managing user accounts, identities, logins, and user profiles. With functionalities running smoothly, it fulfills stability expectations effectively.

Okta Platform's scalability is robust and performs well. It responds quickly and does not delay processes, yielding timely, appropriate results. There is no lag, allowing the platform to function smoothly. It is secure, providing needed scalability without impacting performance.

While the deployment process was smooth, helped by Okta Platform's support team, more immediate assistance post-deployment is required. Currently, the support response time is too long, adversely affecting business during urgent issues or scenarios. A suggestion is improving the customer support experience by introducing a priority system for issues, allowing urgent cases to be addressed swiftly. Adding features in support ticketing to prioritize urgency could enhance effectiveness.

By offering a system to set varying priority levels on support tickets, urgent issues could receive quicker attention, benefiting business continuity and customer satisfaction.

We considered other identity platforms available in the market and ultimately chose Okta Platform for its unique, standalone identity management capabilities.

Oakta Platform's deployment and initial setup were smooth and straightforward. We were guided effectively by Okta Platform's support team on how to configure it to fit our business needs and tenant setup.

Our team implemented the platform internally without utilizing external consultants, integrators, or resellers, except for support guidance from Okta Platform's support team.

We have a basic business standard license for Okta Platform. If we go beyond that, it is a little pricey compared to other models. Alternatives like Ping Identity, OneLogin, and Microsoft Azure AD offer minimal costs.

Comparisons were made with platforms like Microsoft Azure, which require interconnections, unlike Okta Platform's independent design. Our management team ultimately preferred Okta Platform for its unique identity management focus, taking insights from Okta Platform's demo presentations.

Okta Platform's genuine uniqueness in focusing on identity is appreciable, unlike other tools requiring interconnected services. However, the pricing, initial configuration, and support response need improvements for enhanced customer satisfaction. A customer feedback mechanism to prioritize urgent issues might ensure timelier assistance during crises, maintaining business continuity and satisfaction. I would rate this overall experience as an eight out of ten.

In my current job, we do rely a lot on Okta Platform but we are not using some more advanced features from them; we have some basic subscription with Okta Platform regarding the single sign-on product they offer.

In both my previous job and in this one, we are using it as our main identity provider for our employees to log in into as many apps as possible with it, just to keep things as secure as possible and provide a good employee experience. Instead of our employees having to remember a lot of passwords and credentials, they rely on one single Okta Platform account to access as many systems as possible.

We are not relying on Okta Platform to secure access to cloud infrastructure, APIs, centralized workloads, or AI/GenAI services in our architecture at this time. I know there are ways to leverage Okta Platform for securing APIs and servers, but we mostly rely on Okta Platform for human access.

We do have some service accounts that we rely on, but I wouldn't say we are using more advanced features from Okta Platform. We do use those service accounts to integrate with other platforms, but I understand that the question was mostly about more advanced features from Okta Platform.

Both in my current job and the previous one, we were in Fintech companies in the financial space. One of the reasons to go with Okta Platform is because they are a well-reputed company, providing some attestations such as SOC 2. We try to go with a reliable, reputable company that other companies in the same space tend to choose, so it's a no-brainer to go with Okta Platform.

Okta Platform is the gold standard when it comes to identity providers and the single sign-on experience. I haven't tested similar solutions or any of the competitors, but I'm happy that both companies I worked for decided to go with Okta Platform, which is the gold standard. Most documentation out there provided by other platforms that integrate with Okta Platform usually has an Okta Platform sample; they document how to integrate with Okta Platform, and they may not do the same for integrating with other platforms. Their documentation is pretty good, and there are some communities built around Okta Platform as well. I participate on the Mac Admins Slack, which is a large IT community with a few channels dedicated to Okta Platform products or services, and there is also an Okta Admins community with Okta Platform employees engaged. I appreciate that they build a community around their product, and I can reach out to them on these other channels instead of having to open a ticket with them.

They have good documentation and there are subject matter experts engaging in these communities, including some Okta Platform employees. Their user interface is pretty good.

Okta Platform certainly speeds up the onboarding and offboarding process for employees. When we onboard them, in most cases we only need to grant them their Okta Platform credentials and they will be all set with their accesses. It's also easy to add new apps; if someone joins the company and they have all the apps they need, but then someone requests access to some other app, it's easy to grant them access to that app without jumping through hoops. Similarly, when it comes to offboarding, we know that deactivating their Okta Platform account is removing the keys to everything they have access to. In my current company, we don't have the lifecycle management product by Okta Platform, which automates the provisioning of users across platforms, but I used that at my previous job and it was a time-saving feature.

I have my own wish list of things that I would like Okta Platform to have. They released some features related to device access, such as Okta Device Access, which is an add-on that requires payment. I would expect Okta Platform to include more features over time in their less expensive subscriptions. I wish Okta Workflows could be included in a better way; we currently only have five workflows available, which doesn't provide much value. More workflows available in a paid subscription would be beneficial.

With AI permeating every service, I would like to have some kind of AI chatbot available on Okta Platform interface to ask questions about Okta Platform and how to integrate things. I relied on Google's AI chatbot to ask similar questions, but I would feel more confident asking them to an Okta Platform AI bot. I think someone mentioned there may be something coming from Okta Platform related to this.

I have been working with Okta Platform for about five or six years.

I haven't had any crashes, downtimes, or performance issues with Okta Platform; it has been very reliable for us.

I would think Okta Platform is easy to scale; we are a small company, but we're growing and adding new employees regularly. I haven't faced any significant scalability issues yet, but I believe Okta Platform can be scaled easily.

I have opened some tickets with Okta Platform customer support, but I often prefer to dive into documentation or reach out to relevant communities instead to find answers quickly. We do have access to their support, but I find it sometimes slower than engaging with knowledgeable people in those communities.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate Okta Platform's technical support around an eight or nine. I've only opened a few tickets, and I have had a good experience receiving answers.

I didn't use any different product previously and didn't evaluate other solutions available in the market. We relied on Google for some single sign-on features but I haven't implemented Google's SAML solution in a broad way.

In my previous job, I was kind of in charge of deploying Okta Platform to the entire company. I took a three-day training from Okta Platform, which helped transition me from being a non-believer to a believer in Okta Platform. Deployment was quite a challenge, but taking that training made a difference. In my current job, they already had a contract in place with Okta Platform, but the deployment was easier because we were primarily using the single sign-on feature and adaptive MFA; it was a simpler deployment overall.

We went directly with Okta Platform and didn't go through partners or any marketplace for purchasing it.

I would think there are measurable improvements on our security and operational costs just by relying on Okta Platform. We're a small startup, and we aren't measuring these things closely, but I would think there are improvements due to our use of Okta Platform.

I don't have specific data points to share regarding ROI, as I am not much into hard data. Maybe I could get some numbers from colleagues or my manager eventually, but right now I don't have an answer for this.

Regarding my experience with the pricing aspect, I am not much into the pricing side of things, but I think Okta Platform is not an expensive company for the service they provide. We don't have Okta Workflows or Lifecycle Management due to cost, but the value we get from Okta Platform makes it a non-expensive expense for us.

I didn't use any different product previously and didn't evaluate other solutions available in the market.

I have my own wish list of things that I would like Okta Platform to have.

They have good documentation and there are subject matter experts engaging in these communities, including some Okta Platform employees. Their user interface is pretty good.

I haven't had any crashes, downtimes, or performance issues with Okta Platform; it has been very reliable for us.

Both in my current job and the previous one, we were in Fintech companies in the financial space. One of the reasons to go with Okta Platform is because they are a well-reputed company, providing some attestations such as SOC 2.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate Okta Platform's technical support around an eight or nine. I've only opened a few tickets, and I have had a good experience receiving answers.

Regarding my experience with the pricing aspect, I am not much into the pricing side of things, but I think Okta Platform is not an expensive company for the service they provide. We don't have Okta Workflows or Lifecycle Management due to cost, but the value we get from Okta Platform makes it a non-expensive expense for us.

I would rate this review a 10 out of 10.

My main use case for Okta Platform is single sign-on.

As a specific example of how I use Okta Platform for email sign-on in my organization, we log in to our browser and then enter our username and password, and then we receive a Google Authenticator code, a six-digit code which we enter, and then we can log in.

Okta Platform offers features that allow you to log in to multiple applications, including GitLab, Looker, Workday, and many more with single sign-on.

Out of those applications, single sign-on is the feature I find most valuable because it saves a significant amount of time for the user. If any new user is onboarded into the company, instead of giving them access to all the applications individually, we add them into the Okta Platform group and that is all that is needed. They can access all the company-based applications within approximately one minute.

Okta Platform has positively impacted our organization as it eliminates the manual intervention work of providing access to new users who join the company to multiple applications. Instead of that process, providing access to Okta Platform allows them to access all our applications. The time saved is approximately two to three hours.

I do not see any bugs or improvements needed in Okta Platform because it functions perfectly, and I have not faced any issues with Okta Platform in my career.

I have been using Okta Platform for seven years.

Okta Platform is stable.

Okta Platform's scalability is good.

I have not faced any issues, so I have never contacted customer support.

I did not previously use a different solution before Okta Platform.

I have not set up Okta Platform in my organization because when I joined, it was already deployed.

There is no specific team mentioned for the implementation.

I have seen a return on investment because only a few people are required to manage Okta Platform, and it saves a significant amount of time for us, approximately four to five hours.

There is no information provided regarding the setup cost.

There is no mention of any alternate solutions being considered.

If you are looking for single sign-on, then Okta Platform is the best option; you can confidently go with it.

Okta Platform could be a little faster. I have given this solution an overall rating of 10 out of 10.

Okta Platform is essentially the gateway for everything we do. We have the Okta app on our phones and computers, and it is the only way we can access any of our interfaces on a day-to-day basis, including work messaging on Slack or any of our apps. We go through Okta FastPass to gain access. Every 60 days, I have to reset that on my phone by logging out of everything, doing Face ID, and verifying my credentials before I can log back in and keep everything secure. Additionally, we have to update our password every 180 days or so. I basically start my day every morning with Okta identification or verification.

Okta Platform helps to secure access to cloud infrastructure, APIs, containerized workloads, and AI generative AI services. It pairs well with some of the AI tools we use. I even have a verification method for ChatGPT and Glean, which is another AI interface. Okta Platform essentially applies to anything I use on a day-to-day basis. I do not get any pop-ups throughout my day, which indicates that it is securing the interface or network I am using or even just the application.

Okta Platform protects our benefits and payments app through Workday, so it definitely protects my benefits, my pay information, and any type of personally identifiable information such as first name, last name, and Social Security number.

Ease of use is what I value most about Okta Platform. It is not difficult to learn or navigate. Once you have a username and password, you can have your computer memorize it. On my phone, I use Face ID so that I am not having to type in my password every single time, but it does make things very secure. If I ever were to leave my laptop anywhere by accident and not be able to recover it that same day, I would be able to trust that it would block anybody from getting access to anything because that is something you have to log into every day. Ease of use and the ability to trust the product are what I value most.

Okta Platform does not recognize when I have already verified myself once on my HubSpot login across multiple tabs. I have to verify myself for every single tab. If there were a way to recognize that I already verified myself on that URL or domain and just give me access to the rest of the tabs instead of having to click one by one, that would be an improvement.

Okta Platform does not recognize when I have already verified myself once on my HubSpot login across multiple tabs. I have to verify myself for every single tab. If there were a way to recognize that I already verified myself on that URL or domain and just give me access to the rest of the tabs instead of having to click one by one, that would be an improvement.

I have been using Okta Platform for at least five years.

Okta Platform does not lag. The only thing that might happen every once in a while is that I will click Okta FastPass, it will spin, I will click submit, and then nothing will happen. I just have to refresh my tab and then do it again. However, that happens pretty infrequently.

Okta Platform definitely supports our whole company, which is not small at all. It is good to know that it can support both smaller and larger teams.

I have not had to contact Okta's technical support or customer support, which is probably a good thing.

I have used Cloudflare in the past. I know it is not really a direct competitor, but that is maybe the only thing else that I would mention.

I did not do the initial deployment, but when I was first brought on, I had to go through the whole setup of everything to tie to my email address and all my information to be a verified user on the account for Okta Platform through HubSpot. It was pretty easy. I had to set it up on my phone, download the app, and scan the QR code. It was pretty simple on both my laptop as well as my phone.

Okta Platform does not protect non-human identities in my environments.

My use cases for Okta Platform involve having a single place for authentication, as my company requires it for all of our applications that we use with our organization, which includes SAML and SSO. It's a critical piece for authentication, and the token generally lasts about eight hours based on our company's configuration, allowing us to sign in once a day and eliminating the need to enter credentials multiple times for different applications. Okta Platform authentication is essential because it minimizes the hassle of signing into multiple applications while maintaining security. Essentially, all my critical apps are secured with Okta Platform, which also provides features like second-factor authentication through cell phone verification or facial recognition. Overall, it's very functional and an integral part of our business processes.

Regarding how Okta Platform helps secure access to cloud infrastructure, APIs, containerized workloads, or AI services in our architecture, I can't provide an authoritative answer on how security is hardened since I wasn't involved in that aspect. However, I know that it provides security. My company has been using it for four years without plans to change because it remains secure, even as we increase our internal applications and expose some to clients.

The workloads secured by Okta Platform are hosted across multiple cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, and some GCP, so it encompasses all of those.

For AWS, we have integrated EC2 instances with Okta Platform, and I'm not sure about other services or buckets related to the things you mentioned, such as Amazon Voice.

I see the benefits of Okta Platform immediately upon deployment, as it saves time. Dealing with multiple authentications without a federated system is time-consuming, requiring different passwords for different applications, which is a hassle. As soon as Okta Platform was implemented, there was an immediate improvement in the ease and speed of secure authentication.

Personally, I have noticed measurable security and operational improvements since implementing Okta Platform, primarily due to the ease of access it provides in a more secure manner while saving time.

What I dislike about Okta Platform is that sometimes there has been some downtime. It doesn't happen often, but ironically, it did occur on a day I knew this call was coming, leading to a brief period when Okta Platform authentication didn't work. We had to rely on third-party IT support to resolve it. When this happens, it stops us from accessing what we need until the issue is fixed.

I have to mention some occasional downtime with Okta Platform. It doesn't occur very often, but when it happens, it's crucial because you can feel stuck without it.

I have been working with Okta Platform for just over four years.

Regarding stability, there hasn't been much to note aside from some occasional downtime, but I appreciate the different options provided by Okta Platform for verification. You can manually enter a password, use push notifications, or facial recognition, which can be more convenient depending on the context, whether mobile or at a desk.

I believe Okta Platform has been scalable. My company has integrated all major applications, and it has supported our growth without issues.

I've contacted internal company IT support a few times while learning the intricacies of Okta Platform, but I've never reached out to Okta Platform's direct customer support.

My organization hasn't tried any alternatives to Okta Platform, and I personally haven't had the need to seek them out. Some people look for alternatives such as password managers, but those are not the same. Implementing a solution such as Okta Platform isn't straightforward without a team behind it, so once it was working here, there wasn't a felt need to explore other options. I'm unsure of what the previous system was, but I believe they considered Cisco Duo at one point without ultimately proceeding.

The initial deployment of Okta Platform was easy and without any significant bumps, as far as I know.

The deployment of Okta Platform involves a lot of collaboration across the security team, working with the CISO to ensure adherence to standards such as SOC and FINRA. Though technically it's not a one-person job, my company wouldn't implement it that way either, as there is always a team behind it.

I probably don't think of anything else, as Okta Platform does what it intends to do. Given my experience in the field, I recognize that these tools work well, but they're only as effective as their configuration and security hardening. My company has done an excellent job with Okta Platform, and I feel it's a quality product because it effectively integrates single sign-on and SAML authentication.

I'm not entirely sure if our organization uses Okta Platform to protect non-human identities, such as service accounts or AI agents, as we've rolled out chatbots and are developing them. I can't confidently answer that question.

Okta Platform does help address specific industry or regulatory requirements, such as those in healthcare and financial services, for both our organization as an outsourced IT service provider and internally when accessing platforms.

On my end, there are updates from time to time for apps on mobile devices or operating systems that need to be addressed, but company policies manage updates for company-owned workstations, so it's not too burdensome.

I'm not aware of any formal partnerships with Okta Platform in my department, so I can't speak to that.

I would rate this review an 8 overall.