Unofficial. Independent community helper — not a Microsoft product, not endorsed by Microsoft. Verify licensing with your Microsoft account team. The Microsoft Product Terms are the source of truth.

Identity profile

External ID / B2B guest / CIAM

Partner / vendor / contractor / customer identity. Pick the scenario → exact MAU free / P1 / P2 / Verified ID / CIAM recommendation.

Start the assessment for this profile → Compare with other profiles
  • Entry node q_extid_features
  • Reachable results 4
  • Premium buckets covered 2 / 9
  • Profile tone primary

What this profile is

Partner / vendor / contractor / customer identity. Pick the scenario → exact MAU free / P1 / P2 / Verified ID / CIAM recommendation.

First question · External ID tier

What's the actual use case for these external identities?

External ID is a family of products with separate billing meters. Pick the scenario that matches your use case — pricing and feature sets differ.

Premium capabilities this profile can land on

Each chip is a premium Microsoft 365 capability bucket the external id / b2b guest / ciam decision path can recommend. Click through to the matching reference entry.

Recommendations on this path (4)

Every result your decision path can reach is listed below. Click any badge to open the full reference entry with all bullets and Microsoft source citations.

  1. External ID — free MAU tier

    Entra External ID — Free MAU tier

    Basic B2B collaboration. First 50,000 Monthly Active Users (MAU) per tenant are free; no per-seat M365 license needed.

    License: No per-seat license. Microsoft Entra External ID free MAU tier (first 50,000 MAU per tenant free)

    Why this lands here: You picked External ID and confirmed basic B2B collaboration is enough — no risk-based CA, no PIM, no Verified ID. The free MAU tier covers normal guest collaboration scenarios for most tenants.

    • First 50,000 Monthly Active Users (MAU) per tenant are free — covers basic B2B invitations + shared content access.
    • Includes B2B Collaboration (invite guests from other Entra tenants) and B2B Direct Connect (Teams shared channels) at the basic tier.
    • Guests do NOT need an M365 service license to consume shared Teams / SharePoint content — they use the inviting tenant's licensed resources.
    • Beyond 50,000 MAU per tenant, billed monthly at the free-tier per-MAU rate.
  2. External ID — P2 MAU

    Entra External ID — Premium P2 MAU pricing

    Premium features (risk-based CA, Identity Protection, PIM for guests) priced per active MAU.

    License: Microsoft Entra External ID Premium P2 — per Monthly Active User in scope of premium policies

    Why this lands here: You picked External ID and need premium identity features for guests — risk-based Conditional Access, Identity Protection, or PIM for external users. External ID P2 MAU pricing covers premium features per active guest user.

    • External ID Premium P2 enables risk-based Conditional Access, premium risk detections, and PIM workflows scoped to external identities.
    • Billed per Monthly Active User in scope of the premium policy — not a flat per-tenant fee.
    • External ID P1 (risk-based CA without Identity Protection's premium detections) is a cheaper option if you don't need P2's risk evaluation.
    • Free MAU tier (first 50,000 per tenant) still applies to the underlying B2B collaboration — premium pricing is purely the uplift for premium feature scope.
  3. External ID — Verified ID

    Microsoft Entra Verified ID — per credential issued

    Decentralized verifiable credentials for high-trust scenarios. Priced per credential issued.

    License: Microsoft Entra Verified ID — per verifiable credential issued (separate from MAU pricing)

    Why this lands here: You picked External ID and need to issue Microsoft Entra Verified ID credentials. Verified ID is priced separately from the MAU model — per verifiable credential issued — and is the right SKU for decentralized identifier scenarios.

    • Verified ID lets you issue verifiable credentials (W3C VCs) to guests, employees, or customers for high-trust scenarios (employment verification, partner attestation, etc.).
    • Pricing is per credential issued, not per MAU — separate billing meter from External ID free/P1/P2.
    • If you also need premium identity features (risk-based CA, PIM) for the same guests, layer External ID P1 or P2 on top.
    • Microsoft Entra Suite bundles Verified ID + Internet Access + Private Access + Governance + P2 — evaluate Entra Suite when scaling Verified ID for many user populations.
  4. External ID for customers (CIAM)

    Microsoft Entra External ID for customers (CIAM)

    Customer-facing apps with sign-up / sign-in / social identity providers. Separate product and pricing from B2B.

    License: Microsoft Entra External ID for customers (CIAM) — separate MAU-based pricing tier from B2B; see External ID pricing page

    Why this lands here: You picked External ID and confirmed the use case is customer-facing apps (CIAM), not B2B partners. External ID for customers is a separate product line with its own pricing and feature set, optimized for consumer sign-up / sign-in / social IdPs.

    • Use for customer-facing apps that need sign-up / sign-in / social identity providers (Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft Account).
    • Separate billing meter from B2B External ID — see the External ID pricing page for current CIAM MAU rates.
    • Custom branded sign-up / sign-in pages, user attribute collection, and self-service password reset are included.
    • Replaces the legacy Azure AD B2C product line for new tenants.

Microsoft sources behind this profile

Combined citation list from the entry question and every reachable result, deduped by URL (9 links).

Start the External ID / B2B guest / CIAM assessment → ← Back to all profiles