Ente Auth vs Microsoft Authenticator Comparison

On the device, the codes are encrypted with a key kept in the system's secure storage. With an Ente account, the app encrypts every code before upload with keys that, by Ente's documentation, only your password or recovery key can unlock, so Ente's servers hold only encrypted copies. That is Ente's statement: an outside audit has checked Ente's server, not the Auth apps.

On Android, until you turn on Cloud Backup, the secrets stay on the phone. Microsoft's 2019 description of the backup says the app encrypts it with a key it requests from Microsoft's own key service and fetches that key again to restore, so with backup on Microsoft holds the key to the copy. On iPhone the current help pages do not say whether the app's iCloud switch starts on, or whose key protects the copy. There is no option to protect the backup with a password or key of your own.

The first screen offers Sign up and Log in, with Use without backups as a smaller option below them. With an account, an encrypted copy syncs to Ente. Without one, codes stay on that device only; automatic daily backup files, protected by a password you set, are off until you switch them on. Ente says device transfers and system backups do not count as a backup for offline codes.

Android: the backup is stored with a Microsoft personal account you choose; Microsoft says that from January 2027 the Android backup will move to Google One backup instead. iPhone and iPad: the backup goes to your iCloud account once several iCloud settings and the app's own iCloud switch are on, and Microsoft's current help pages do not say whose key protects it. A backup made on one platform cannot be restored on the other, and work or school accounts are not backed up at all.

An Ente account, which needs an email address and a password, is used only for the encrypted copy and sync. Without it the app works offline; the desktop apps and the Android app downloaded from GitHub may still contact Ente to check for updates.

Codes for other services are added by scanning a QR code, without signing in to Microsoft. A Microsoft personal account is needed for push sign-in to that account and, on Android, to store the backup; on iPhone the backup uses your Apple account's iCloud.

Ente Technologies, Inc. has been a US corporation since 2022; its terms are governed by Delaware law, with a notice address in Dover, Delaware. Ente's privacy policy says its servers and hosting partners are in Europe and that personal information may be accessed from or transferred to the US.

The app is published by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington. Microsoft's privacy statement names Microsoft Corporation as the controller of personal data, and Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited for people in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Microsoft says it discloses personal data when required by law or to respond to valid legal process.

Ente was started in 2020 by its founders and says it is funded by customer subscriptions, not venture capital. Since July 2026 it publishes its revenue and customer counts.

Microsoft Corporation is a publicly traded company (ticker MSFT). The app is part of Microsoft's sign-in products for personal Microsoft accounts and for work or school accounts in Microsoft Entra ID.

Auth earns no money of its own. Ente pays for it from subscriptions to its photo storage service and asks people who want to support Auth to subscribe there; at launch in 2022 it said existing users would keep Auth for free if it ever became paid.

The app has no revenue of its own; Microsoft pays for it as part of its sign-in products for personal and work accounts.