Azure AD B2C has long been the go-to solution for managing external identities in Azure. It is powerful and scalable, but not without trade-offs. Developers often had to choose between the simplicity of built-in user flows or the steep complexity of custom policies to unlock advanced scenarios.

Now, Microsoft is making a clear shift. Azure AD B2C is being phased out and will be retired within the next five years. Its replacement, Microsoft Entra External ID, introduces a new model for managing external identities. The goal is to reduce complexity, improve the developer experience, and better support modern identity use cases. In this session, we will explore why this change is happening, what is already known about the new platform, and what it means for both new projects and existing B2C implementations that need to plan for the future.

Drawing from real-world B2C implementations, we will compare both solutions, highlight what Entra External ID does differently, and show how it simplifies previously complex scenarios. Along the way, I will walk through practical examples so you can see what it looks like in action, both conceptually and in code, including how to integrate it into automated CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure workflows.