Okta Pricing 2026

Okta Workforce Identity pricing starts at $2/user/month for basic SSO as an a la carte product. The Starter Suite costs $6/user/month, Core Essentials is $14/user/month, and Essentials is $17/user/month. Professional and Enterprise suites require custom pricing from sales.

No, Okta does not offer a free plan for Workforce Identity. However, they provide a 30-day free trial and have a separate free developer tier for Customer Identity (Auth0). The minimum annual contract for Workforce Identity is $1,500.

The cheapest Okta option is SSO purchased a la carte at $2/user/month. The cheapest suite is the Starter Suite at $6/user/month, which includes SSO, standard MFA, Universal Directory, and 5 workflows. All plans require annual billing.

Yes, Okta pricing is negotiable, especially for organizations with 5,000+ users. Volume discounts, multi-year commitments, and end-of-quarter timing can yield 15-30% savings. Enterprise customers regularly negotiate significant discounts from list price.

Okta is billed annually only. There are no monthly or quarterly payment options. Pricing is displayed as per-user-per-month for easy comparison, but you pay the full annual amount upfront with a $1,500 minimum contract.

The Starter Suite ($6/user/mo) includes SSO, standard MFA, and Universal Directory with 5 workflows. The Essentials Suite ($17/user/mo) adds Adaptive MFA, Lifecycle Management, Access Governance, Privileged Access, and 50 workflows for more mature identity programs.

The 'SAML tax' refers to the premium that third-party SaaS applications charge to enable SAML-based SSO with providers like Okta. While Okta itself provides the SSO infrastructure, many apps like Slack charge $4-$6/user/month extra to support SAML, with some nearly doubling their base price. Zoom charges about $4.14/user/month more, and Atlassian Access is $4/user/month. For a company with even 3-5 apps, these surcharges can exceed the cost of Okta itself.

Okta's pricing is higher than competitors like OneLogin, Azure AD, and Google Workspace for several reasons: (1) a la carte SKU model where features like Workflows, Advanced MFA, and IGA are charged separately; (2) per-user pricing for admin-only features; (3) non-public minimum spend requirements that prevent small teams from buying; (4) frequent price increases—some customers report costs tripling over their contract lifetime. Vendr data shows 14% average discount, suggesting list prices have headroom for negotiation. Competitors like Microsoft bundle identity with broader platform licensing, making per-feature comparisons difficult.

Okta Workflows Light tier costs $4/user/month for up to 5 active flows. For 100 users, that totals $400/month. Identity Governance (IGA) includes Workflows, so purchasing IGA instead of standalone Workflows is more cost-effective if you need governance capabilities. Workflows was previously included at no cost with core licenses but is now a separate paid SKU, which has frustrated existing customers.

Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) is typically cheaper, especially when bundled with E3/E5 licenses. Entra ID P1 costs approximately $6/user/month, while Okta's comparable Starter Suite is $6/user/month plus add-ons. However, Microsoft charges for all users regardless of activity, while Okta can be more flexible. The key difference: Microsoft works best in Microsoft ecosystems, while Okta is vendor-agnostic and integrates equally well with any cloud provider.

Okta Workflows was previously included at no cost with core licenses, making it a major selling point. Okta moved to charging Workflows as a separate SKU priced per user, which frustrated existing customers who discovered this during renewals. The per-user pricing is controversial because only super admins can use Workflows (there's no RBAC), so the cost doesn't align with actual usage. For 100 users, Workflows Light costs $400/month even if only 2-3 admins actually use it.