Access management, in an owner's words, is knowing who has an account on what, having that account created when the person starts and closed when they leave, and being able to prove it. A company of 10 to 500 people with no IT team does not need Okta, JumpCloud or Rippling: it needs its Google Workspace and its platforms governed from People.
Updated on October 11, 2026 · 7 min read · Mekovault
Notice what is not on the list: single sign-on, its own multi-factor authentication, a parallel directory, password policies. Google Workspace already includes all of that.
| Tool | Who it is for | What it demands | What is overkill for a small business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Okta | Companies with IT and hundreds of applications | Annual minimum, consulting, a dedicated administrator | A parallel directory, SSO that Google already gives you |
| JumpCloud | IT teams at mid-sized companies and managed service providers | An agent on every computer, technical setup | Device management, RADIUS, LDAP |
| Rippling | Companies that want payroll, HR and IT with a single vendor | Moving your payroll and the mandatory base platform | Changing your HR system to fix your accounts |
| Microsoft Entra ID Governance | Companies on Microsoft 365 with P1/P2 licenses | Additional per-user licenses, IT configuration | Does not apply if your email is Google |
| Mekovault | Companies of 10 to 500 people on Google Workspace with no account administrator | Connecting Google Workspace with a guide; optionally your payroll system (Buk and Talana today) | Nothing: one price per company, no per-person fee |
If you have more than 500 people, several domains, in-house applications that need their own sign-in, or an IT team with time on its hands, look at Okta or JumpCloud. If your email is Microsoft 365, Entra. If you have 10 to 500 people, Google Workspace and someone in HR who today emails IT to ask for accounts, what you are missing is governance of the cycle, not an IAM.
Mekovault connects to your Google Workspace (and optionally to your payroll system), turns every hire, change and departure into a dated request that runs on its own, asks the manager what only they know, shows licenses by platform, reviews the authorized apps every week and keeps the evidence for 365 days. For one price per company, with no per-person fee and no implementation project. What a platform does not let you automate stays as a guided task; we will not tell you yes when the answer is no. More in what account and license control is.
IAM (identity and access management) is the category of Okta, Microsoft Entra or JumpCloud: a central directory, single sign-on and rules about who gets into what. It is for companies with IT and hundreds of applications. If your directory is Google Workspace and your tools open 'with Google', you already have 80% of an IAM; what is missing is the onboarding and offboarding cycle with evidence.
Okta publishes suites from $6 to $17 per user per month with an annual minimum; JumpCloud, bundles from $9 to $13 per user; Rippling charges per employee plus a base platform and requires moving your payroll. For 80 people that is thousands of dollars a year and an IT project. Mekovault charges one price per company, with no per-person fee.
They exist, and no tool truly automates them without their enterprise plan. The honest thing is to turn them into guided tasks with an owner, a date and evidence. That is what Mekovault does with the platforms marked as 'guided'.