# Customer identity and access management for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "customer identity platform" and as "CIAM solution for a product's users", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/customer-identity-and-access-management/2026-09/enterprise

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/customer-identity-and-access-management/enterprise/index.md

**Standing:** Auth0 leads with 47% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Auth0](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/auth0/index.md) | 47% | 16% | 61 |
| 2 | [WorkOS AuthKit](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/workos-authkit/index.md) | 13% | 26% | 23 |
| 3 | [FusionAuth](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fusionauth/index.md) | 11% | 15% | 13 |
| 4 | [Microsoft Entra External ID](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-entra-external-id/index.md) | 9% | 4% | 49 |
| 5 | [LoginRadius](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/loginradius/index.md) | 6% | 0% | 14 |
| 6 | [Ping Identity](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ping-identity/index.md) | 4% | 13% | 46 |
| 7 | [Descope](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/descope/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 15 |
| 8 | [Frontegg](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/frontegg/index.md) | 2% | 18% | 17 |
| 11 | [IBM Verify](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ibm-verify/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 15 |
| 12 | [WSO2 Identity Server](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/wso2-identity-server/index.md) | 0% | 14% | 14 |
| 13 | [ForgeRock Identity Platform](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/forgerock-identity-platform/index.md) | 0% | 21% | 14 |
| 24 | [Keycloak](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/keycloak/index.md) | 0% | 33% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 55 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: Auth0; alternatives Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: WorkOS AuthKit; alternatives Frontegg
- Perplexity Sonar: Auth0, WorkOS AuthKit; alternatives Frontegg, Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity
- Grok 4.20: Auth0; alternatives Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity, WorkOS AuthKit
- Mistral Small: Auth0; alternatives LoginRadius, Thales OneWelcome
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Auth0, WorkOS AuthKit; alternatives Frontegg, Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice; alternatives Thales OneWelcome
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: SSOJet, WorkOS AuthKit; alternatives Auth0, Microsoft Entra External ID, Stytch
- Kimi K2: Auth0; alternatives Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Auth0, Descope; alternatives IBM Verify, Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity, WSO2 Identity Server
- MiniMax M2.5: Auth0; alternatives LoginRadius, Microsoft Entra External ID, OneLogin, Ping Identity

## Sources the answers cite

66 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- startwithidentity.com: 47 answers, 92 citations
- loginradius.com: 37 answers, 60 citations
- securityboulevard.com: 36 answers, 51 citations
- guptadeepak.com: 35 answers, 54 citations
- expertinsights.com: 31 answers, 33 citations
- descope.com: 22 answers, 23 citations
- workos.com: 21 answers, 33 citations
- guideflow.com: 21 answers, 21 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://expertinsights.com/identity-and-access-management/top-customer-identity-and-access-management-ciam-solutions (31 answers)
- https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-ciam-for-enterprises (29 answers)
- https://securityboulevard.com/2026/08/top-5-enterprise-ciam-platforms-in-2026-in-depth-comparison (26 answers)
- https://loginradius.com/blog/identity/top-ciam-for-large-enterprises (25 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/ciam-software (21 answers)
- https://guptadeepak.com/top-5-enterprise-ciam-platforms-in-depth-comparison (21 answers)
- https://descope.com/blog/post/ciam-solutions (17 answers)
- https://workos.com/blog/top-ciam-providers-in-2026 (16 answers)
- https://miniorange.com/blog/ciam-vendors (15 answers)
- https://idmworks.com/insight/customer-identity-and-access-management (14 answers)

## Warned against

- Auth0: 10 of 61 labels negative. "Avoid Auth0 / Clerk / AWS Cognito for this specific goal" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, budget prompt)
- Amazon Cognito: 8 of 16 labels negative. "Avoid Auth0 / Clerk / AWS Cognito for this specific goal" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, budget prompt)
- Ping Identity: 6 of 46 labels negative. "Buying into legacy on-prem ForgeRock or older Ping components today carries a significant risk of forced migration" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- Stytch: 5 of 13 labels negative. "large enterprises should avoid using them for core, complex identity estates" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, September 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.