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

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "customer identity platform" and as "CIAM solution for a product's users", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/customer-identity-and-access-management/2026-11/enterprise

**Standing:** Auth0 leads with 38% of first choices; verdict contested. 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) | 38% | 13% | 71 |
| 2 | [Ping Identity](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ping-identity/index.md) | 17% | 9% | 65 |
| 4 | [Microsoft Entra External ID](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-entra-external-id/index.md) | 4% | 6% | 50 |
| 5 | [LoginRadius](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/loginradius/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 10 |
| 6 | [Okta](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/okta/index.md) | 4% | 22% | 23 |
| 7 | [IBM Verify](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ibm-verify/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 26 |
| 8 | [WorkOS AuthKit](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/workos-authkit/index.md) | 2% | 8% | 24 |
| 9 | [WSO2 Identity Server](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/wso2-identity-server/index.md) | 2% | 5% | 20 |
| 10 | [Frontegg](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/frontegg/index.md) | 2% | 6% | 18 |
| 11 | [Amazon Cognito](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-cognito/index.md) | 2% | 29% | 24 |
| 17 | [Descope](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/descope/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 12 |
| 18 | [Transmit Security](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/transmit-security/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 11 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 74 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: Ping Identity; alternatives Auth0
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Auth0, WorkOS AuthKit; alternatives Frontegg, Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity
- Perplexity Sonar: Auth0; alternatives Amazon Cognito, Frontegg, Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity
- Grok 4.20: Ping Identity; alternatives Auth0, LoginRadius, Okta, Salesforce
- Mistral Small: Auth0, Ping Identity; alternatives Frontegg, Microsoft Entra External ID, WorkOS AuthKit
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Auth0; alternatives Frontegg, Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Frontegg; alternatives Auth0, Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity
- Kimi K2: Auth0; alternatives Descope, Frontegg, IBM Verify, Microsoft Entra External ID
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Auth0; alternatives Frontegg, IBM Verify, Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity
- MiniMax M2.5: Auth0, LoginRadius; alternatives Frontegg, WorkOS AuthKit
- GPT-6 Luna: Auth0; alternatives Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity, WorkOS AuthKit
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Auth0, Microsoft Entra External ID, Ping Identity; alternatives Frontegg, Kinde, LoginRadius, WorkOS AuthKit

## Sources the answers cite

72 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- securityboulevard.com: 44 answers, 111 citations
- pingidentity.com: 30 answers, 47 citations
- startwithidentity.com: 28 answers, 33 citations
- okta.com: 21 answers, 33 citations
- guptadeepak.com: 21 answers, 29 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 19 answers, 19 citations
- g2.com: 18 answers, 20 citations
- workos.com: 17 answers, 19 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://securityboulevard.com/2026/08/top-5-enterprise-ciam-platforms-in-2026-in-depth-comparison (29 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-ciam-solutions (19 answers)
- https://securityboulevard.com/2026/08/top-5-enterprise-ciam-platforms-in-2026-in-depth-comparison-2 (17 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/customer-identity-and-access-management-ciam/enterprise (14 answers)
- https://ibtimes.com/top-5-best-customer-identity-access-management-ciam-solutions-2026-3800878 (13 answers)
- https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-ciam-for-enterprises (12 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/identity-and-access-management/top-customer-identity-and-access-management-ciam-solutions (11 answers)
- https://pingidentity.com/en-us/docs/assets/3555-customer-identity-buyers-guide (11 answers)
- https://startupstash.com/customer-identity-and-access-management-ciam-tools (10 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/ciam-software (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Auth0: 9 of 71 labels negative. "Avoid selecting Auth0 solely on technical capability unless the vendor will provide a firm price cap" (Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt)
- Ping Identity: 6 of 65 labels negative. "What to Avoid: ForgeRock & PingIdentity ... you should avoid these vendors." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, budget prompt)
- Amazon Cognito: 7 of 24 labels negative. "avoid using basic cloud-provider auth scripts (AWS Cognito) for complex consumer apps" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- Firebase Authentication: 4 of 4 labels negative. "Platforms like Clerk and Firebase Auth should be avoided for identity governance bundled with CIAM use cases." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Auth0 at 38%.

- Ping Identity: 6% to 17%, +11. Cleared the floor by 0 points · rank 3 → 2 of 74.
- Auth0: 47% to 38%, −9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 1 of 74, unchanged.
- Microsoft Entra External ID: 10% to 4%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 2 → 4 of 74.
- LoginRadius: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 10 → 5 of 74.
- Okta: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 15 → 6 of 74.
- IBM Verify: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 16 → 7 of 74.
- WorkOS AuthKit: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 → 8 of 74.
- WSO2 Identity Server: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 17 → 9 of 74.
- Frontegg: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 10 of 74.
- Amazon Cognito: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 of 74, unchanged.
- Descope: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 22 → 17 of 74.
- Transmit Security: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 19 → 18 of 74.

## Record

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