Microsoft announced that beginning on October 1, 2023 Azure AD will be rebranded as Microsoft Entra ID. This change aligns with the broader Entra Portfolio.
The Impact
Below is what the Azure AD licensing and technology will transition to once the branding updates are complete.
| Prior to 1-Oct-2023 | Post 1-Oct-2023 | Functionality Change | Cost Increase |
| Azure AD Free | Entra ID Free | No | No |
| Azure AD P1 | Entra ID P1 | No | No |
| Azure AD P2 | Entra ID P2 | No | No |
| Azure AD Join | Entra Joined | No | No |
| Hybrid Azure AD Join | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Azure AD Registered | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Azure AD Connect | TBC | TBC | TBC |
The Why?
This is a curious move. For one, this is cannon fodder for people annoyed at constant brand changes in Microsoft’s portfolio, but I think there is more to this. Its last rebrand was 2014 and since then Azure Active Directory is a common technology choice for most organizations moving to the “cloud” and adopting Hybrid Identity to power cloud apps. It is however branded with the term “Active Directory” something that in reality, it’s not. Entra ID is a cloud native Identity Provider. It always has been and always will be. Entra ID uses modern authentication protocols (OIDC and SAML) and layered with rich security capabilities (Identity Protection, MFA, Conditional Access, etc) to keep your organizations users, apps and devices safe against modern threats. There is no sysvol, Group Policy Objects, Organizational Units, NTLM, or schema admins to deal with.
While Active Directory will live on in Windows Server I do think this is a clear and deliberate decision to began separating the two platforms.