Entra ID license peculiarities

[kristofpoppe]

We are setting up Entra ID backup for a customer with around 80 users.
However, I see that I am currently using a license for 1129 users. According to the user guide, it refers to enabled users who need a license. The company in question has a B2B connection with several other tenants.
As a result, I see these users in their Entra ID, active and as member users but with Identity ExternalAzureAD.
These users cannot be managed but do take up a license. This makes the product unsellable for environments that work with ExternalAzureAD users.

Which I don't think makes sense. A license is required for users with an enabled account, user type member, but NOT if they have Identity externalAzureAD.

Any solution / workaround on this ? The customer want's to protect his infrastructure, but doesn't want to pay for all the external users.

[Mildur]

Hi Kristof,

May I ask whether this is a Microsoft Entra External ID tenant, an Azure B2C tenant, or a standard Entra ID tenant?

In general, an External Azure AD member account has member‑level permissions (Microsoft Learn and therefore the same properties and relationships to protect as an internal member account. For that reason, I understand why such users currently require a license.

I’ll share your feedback with the responsible PM team. However, I suggest that you raise your request and licensing concerns with your regional sales team, as any licensing changes should be initiated on the sales side.

Best regards,
Fabian

[kristofpoppe]

Thanks Fabian,

I'm already in contact with the local sales team regarding this. I'll inform at the customer which type of tenant this is, but I'm quite sure this is standard Entra ID tenant.

Kristof