Identity & Access Management Differences Across AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure

If you’re working with cloud apps—whether you’re an IT pro, a system architect, or on the security team—it’s important to know how each major cloud provider handles identity and access management (IAM). AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud all have their own IAM services and ways of controlling who gets access to what. Understanding these differences can help you pick the best platform, set up strong security, and follow company rules. It’s especially useful when you’re mixing cloud platforms or using more than one at the same time, since you’ll need to get them working together and keep risks low.

AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud each have their own IAM service names, ways of controlling access, and focus on things like temporary permissions and checking context before giving access.

Here’s a simple comparison of how their IAM features stack up.

1. Core Identity Provider and Access Model

Cloud Provider	Primary IAM Service	Access Control Model	Key Components for Access
AWS	AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)	Policy-based access control, focusing on explicit Allow or Deny statements.	IAM Policies (JSON documents) attached to Users, Groups, or Roles.
Azure	Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory)	Role-Based Access Control (Azure RBAC) combined with dynamic Conditional Access.	Roles (sets of permissions) assigned to Security Principals at a defined Scope (management group, subscription, resource group).
Google Cloud	Cloud Identity	Unified IAM/Endpoint Management (IAM/EMM) centered on the BeyondCorp security model.	Context-Aware Access that enforces controls based on user identity and the context of the access request.

2. Granular Access Control and Advanced Policy Features

The services offer sophisticated tools to refine permissions based on context, resources, and organizational structure:

AWS Specific Features

AWS IAM is focused on defining precise permissions via JSON policies:

• IAM Policies: Policies define the specific Effect (Allow/Deny), Action (e.g., s3:GetObject), and Resource. Policies can be attached directly to users, groups, or roles.

• Least-Privilege Tools: AWS provides IAM Access Analyzer to generate least-privilege policies based on observed access activity logged in AWS CloudTrail. It also validates IAM policies for secure and functional permissions.

• Organizational Guardrails: Service Control Policies (SCPs) are used across multiple accounts managed by AWS Organizations to establish permissions guardrails for all IAM users and roles.

• Permissions Boundaries: These are used to set the maximum permissions that an identity-based policy can grant to an IAM role, often used when delegating permissions management within an account.

• Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC): Allows creating granular permissions based on user attributes, such as department or job role.

Azure Specific Features

Azure IAM uses roles and conditions to determine access:

• Azure Role-Based Access Control (Azure RBAC): Provides fine-grained access management where roles (like Owner, Contributor, Reader) are assigned to security principals at a specific scope (subscription, resource group, or resource).

• Conditional Access Policies: These policies filter, detect, and block unauthorized access automatically based on criteria like user identity, location, device health, workload context, and data classification. Risk-based Conditional Access uses Microsoft Entra ID Protection to respond to detected risks in real-time.

• Role Conditions: Azure RBAC can be refined by adding conditions on the role assignment based on context, actions, and attributes for fine-grained control.

Google Cloud Specific Features

Google Cloud emphasizes context and endpoint security:

• Context-Aware Access: This is a core component of Google's BeyondCorp security model. It allows for enforcing granular and dynamic access controls based on the user’s identity and the context of the access request, often eliminating the need for a traditional VPN.

• Unified Management Console: Cloud Identity uses a single admin console to manage user, access, application, and device policies.

• Account Takeover Protection: Cloud Identity includes built-in, multilayered hijacking protection that uses Google’s intelligence to detect anomalous login behavior and present additional challenges to prevent account takeovers.

3. Identity for Workloads and Privilege Management

All three providers prioritize minimizing long-term credentials for machine and service identities:

Feature Area	AWS Implementation	Azure Implementation	Google Cloud Implementation
Workload Identity	Uses IAM Roles to grant temporary security credentials to AWS compute services (like EC2 or Lambda). IAM Roles Anywhere allows requesting temporary credentials for external workloads using an X.509 Certificate.	Promotes Managed Identities for Azure resources, where the platform manages all credentials for the application. Also uses Workload Identities and Service Principals.	Endpoint access is managed through Cloud Identity credentials for traditional LDAP-based applications using Secure LDAP.
Privilege Management	Uses best practices like Least Privilege, Permissions Boundaries, and IAM Access Analyzer to generate refined policies.	Uses Privileged Identity Management (PIM) to enforce Just-in-Time (JIT) and Just Enough Access (JEA) for high-impact roles. PIM provides time-bound access and requires approval/MFA for activation.	Focuses on using the Advanced Protection Program for the most at-risk users, which bundles Google's strongest account security settings.
MFA Enforcement	Requires MFA for IAM users and the root user. AWS IAM Identity Center includes MFA capabilities.	Supports various MFA methods, prioritizing phishing-resistant MFA (like FIDO2/Windows Hello). MFA can be enforced based on risk using Conditional Access policies.	Supports multiple user-friendly MFA methods including push notifications, phishing-resistant Titan Security Keys, and using a device as a security key.

4. Enterprise and Hybrid Integration

• AWS Workforce Access: AWS IAM Identity Center is the recommended tool for centrally managing workforce access to multiple AWS accounts and applications. It connects to external identity providers (IdPs) that support SAML 2.0 or Microsoft Active Directory.

• Azure Hybrid Identity: Azure provides robust, dedicated tools for synchronizing on-premises Active Directory (AD) identities: Microsoft Entra Connect and the modern Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync. It also offers Application Proxy for secure remote access to on-premises web applications without a VPN. Identity is treated as the primary security perimeter.

• Google Cloud Hybrid Identity: Cloud Identity extends Microsoft Active Directory users to the cloud using Google Cloud Directory Sync (GCDS). It uses Secure LDAP to allow users to access traditional LDAP-based applications and infrastructure using their Cloud Identity credentials.

AWS uses customizable policies for access control; Azure relies on role-based access and real-time risk checks through Microsoft Entra ID; Google Cloud focuses on a single management console with context-aware, zero-trust access via BeyondCorp.

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security   AWS   Azure   BeyondCorp   Conditional Access Policies   Context-Aware Access   Entra Connect   GCDS   GCP   Hybrid Identity   IAM   IAM Policies   Identity and Access Management   JEA   JIT   Least Privilege   Managed Identities   PIM   Policy-based Access Control   Privilege Management   Privileged Identity Management   RBAC   Role-Based Access Control   Workload Identity   access control   access control list   Secure Architecture   secure engineering   2024