What is an IdP?

  1 min read

An identity provider (IdP) stores and manages users’ digital identities. Think of an IdP as being like a guest list, but for digital and cloud-hosted applications instead of an event. An IdP may check user identities via username-password combinations and other factors, or it may simply provide a list of user identities that another service provider (like an SSO) checks.

IdPs are not limited to verifying human users. Technically, an IdP can authenticate any entity connected to a network or a system, including computers and other devices. Any entity stored by an IdP is known as a “principal” (instead of a “user”). However, IdPs are most often used in cloud computing to manage user identities.