Microsoft Entra Connect

Microsoft Entra Connect (formerly Azure AD Connect) is Microsoft's on-premises application for synchronizing on-premises Active Directory users, groups, and credentials to Microsoft Entra ID. It supports password hash synchronization, pass-through authentication, and federation with AD FS, and runs as a sync engine that the customer installs and patches on their own Windows Server. Microsoft now directs new hybrid-identity deployments toward Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync, its cloud-managed successor, though Entra Connect remains supported and is still what most existing hybrid-identity environments run. It ships free with any Microsoft Entra ID tenant — there is no separate license fee, only the on-premises server the customer must host.