# microsoft-entra-verified-id

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/decentralized-identity/microsoft-entra-verified-id/
Last updated: 2026-09-20
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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## Overview

Microsoft Entra Verified ID is the verifiable credentials service built into Entra ID, letting an organisation issue, verify and revoke digital credentials such as employment proofs or training certifications. It has been generally available since August 2022 and reached a genuinely useful milestone in May 2026 when Entra ID account recovery using Verified ID went GA.

Its commercial position is the strongest argument for it: up to [50,000 transactions per month at no cost](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/microsoft-entra-verified-id/), and the service is included with any Entra ID subscription including the free tier. For organisations already on Entra, the barrier to trying verifiable credentials is close to zero.

## What it is good at

Distribution and integration. Credentials land in Microsoft Authenticator, which is already deployed across most enterprises, and the service is administered from the same console as the rest of Entra. Account recovery with Verified ID is a rare example of verifiable credentials solving a concrete, everyday enterprise problem rather than a hypothetical one, replacing helpdesk identity-proofing calls with a credential presentation.

Face Check adds biometric matching against the photo in a verified credential, which meaningfully raises assurance for remote onboarding and recovery. Standards coverage on the plumbing is solid, with SIOPv2, OpenID4VP, DIF Presentation Exchange and Well Known DID Configuration all implemented.

## Where it falls short

Standards currency is the real weakness. Microsoft implements Verifiable Credentials Data Model v1.1, not v2.0, OpenID4VCI at draft 11, and did:web as the only identifier method. There is no SD-JWT, no SD-JWT VC and no ISO/IEC 18013-5 mDoc support anywhere in its documentation, which puts it out of step with the EU Digital Identity Wallet direction. The standards page itself was last revised in December 2024.

The did:ion removal in December 2023 left anyone who piloted on it needing to reissue every credential, which is a fair warning about betting early on a Microsoft preview trust system.

Face Check billing charges for failed face matches as well as successful ones, and Microsoft publishes no per-verification list price at all.

Adoption is opaque, with no published volume or named references, and GCC High is not supported.

## Pricing

50,000 transactions per month free; above that requires Entra ID P1 at 7 dollars or P2 at 10 dollars per user per month. Face Check is included in Entra Suite at 12 dollars per user per month, or pay-as-you-go at an unpublished rate. Model it with our [TCO calculator](https://startwithidentity.com/tools/tco-calculator/).

## Best for, and who should look elsewhere

Choose Verified ID if you already run Entra ID and want workforce credentials or credential-based account recovery at essentially no incremental cost. Look at [Mattr](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/decentralized-identity/mattr/) or [Trinsic](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/decentralized-identity/trinsic/) if you need SD-JWT VC or mDoc for eIDAS 2 and EU wallet alignment. See [Mattr vs Trinsic](https://startwithidentity.com/compare/mattr-vs-trinsic/).

## Bottom line

The lowest-friction way for an Entra shop to deploy verifiable credentials, with a genuinely useful account-recovery use case, held back by standards support that has not kept pace with where the EU wallet ecosystem is heading.