# Federated Identity

> Delegate authentication to an external identity provider

- **Category**: Cloud
- **Subcategory**: azure
- **Canonical URL**: https://designpattern.fyi/patterns/azure_federated_identity/

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## Description
The Federated Identity pattern delegates authentication to an external identity provider. Instead of managing user credentials locally, the application relies on a trusted identity provider to authenticate users. This reduces the burden of managing user accounts and passwords while leveraging established identity providers.


## Use Cases
Use when you want to offload authentication to established identity providers or when supporting multiple authentication mechanisms.





## Trade-offs


### Advantages

- Reduced credential management burden

- Leverages established identity providers

- Supports multiple authentication methods

- Improved security through specialization




### Considerations & Drawbacks

- Dependency on external providers

- Potential provider lock-in

- Network dependency for authentication







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**Reference**: [Original Source](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/patterns/federated-identity)