External tenant

Concept

A separate Microsoft Entra tenant, isolated from the workforce tenant, that holds customer identities for consumer-facing apps in Microsoft Entra External ID.

Title graphic: External tenant (Concept)

Type	Concept

Key points about External tenant

A key decision is whether to use the workforce tenant or a separate external tenant; for customer apps, separate is almost always better. · Microsoft Entra External ID - Simply Explained
Microsoft wants External ID to be fully automatable, and the suggested exercise is creating an external tenant and running the get started guide. · Microsoft Entra External ID - Simply Explained

Episodes about External tenant

Microsoft Entra External ID - Simply Explained

2026-07-19 · Video on YouTube

Microsoft Entra External ID is Microsoft's identity and access management solution for people outside your organization. It enables secure authentication and authorization for business partners, guest users, customers, and consumer applications while…

Articles about External tenant (2)

Microsoft Entra Cross-Tenant Access Guide
2026-04-29 · Mirko Peters
Learn Microsoft Entra cross-tenant access with practical guidance on security, governance, access control, implementation, and real-world use.
Microsoft Entra External Identities Pricing Guide
2026-04-29 · Mirko Peters
Learn Microsoft Entra external identities pricing with practical guidance on architecture, security, governance, implementation, and real-world use.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use a workforce tenant or an external tenant for customers?

The episode says the key decision is between your workforce tenant and a separate external tenant, and for customer-facing apps separate is almost always better, keeping customer data apart from your employee directory. · From the episode: Microsoft Entra External ID - Simply Explained

How can I try Entra External ID?

Create an external tenant in the Entra admin center and run the get started guide, which walks you through setting up a sample app in minutes. · From the episode: Microsoft Entra External ID - Simply Explained

Glossary

Community wiki

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Sources

Feed for this topic (RSS): entity/external-tenant/feed.xml
M365.FM episodes on this topic: 1
Articles on this topic: 2

Maintained by Mirko Peters (Microsoft MVP) · Last updated: 2026-11-03