Question

What’s the difference between managed identity and service principal in Azure? Can someone explain it simply?

Answer 1

Knowing the difference between managed identities and service principals helps you to choose the right method for securely accessing Azure resources, making your app easier to manage and more secure.

Just see the table below to understand better:

Aspect	Managed Identity	Service Principal
Definition	Automatically created identity managed by Azure for apps.	Manually created identity in Azure AD for apps or users.
Management	Fully managed by Azure; no need to handle credentials.	Requires manual management of credentials and secrets.
Creation	Created directly on Azure resources without extra setup.	Created manually in Azure AD by developers or admins.
Use Case	Best for Azure services needing secure access to resources.	Ideal for apps running outside Azure or with custom access needs.
Secret Rotation	Automatic:  Azure takes care of key and certificate management.	Manual: users must rotate secrets and keys regularly.

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