SAML Single Sign-On
Category: SAML Sign On | Type: Overview
💡Ready to Set up SAML SSO? Skip straight to - SAML SSO Setup Guide
Overview
When to use SAML SSO
How SAML SSO works
What this means for your team
What you need to get started
Overview
SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) is a deeper integration option that allows your team to sign in to Hive using your organisation's identity provider (IdP) — such as Microsoft Entra or Google Workspace.
It's designed for organisations that want to manage Hive access through their central identity system, with full control over user authentication handled by your IT team.
When to use SAML SSO
SAML SSO is the right choice when:
- Your IT team has asked for centralised identity management across your business systems
- You use an enterprise identity provider (Microsoft Entra, Google Workspace, etc.) and want Hive to sit alongside your other applications
- Your organisation has specific compliance or governance requirements that need single-IdP control over access
For most organisations, our standard SSO with Domain Whitelisting is simpler to set up and provides the same single sign-in experience for employees — without requiring IT involvement. If you're not sure which option is right for your organisation, get in touch with your Account Manager.
How SAML SSO works
When SAML SSO is enabled, employees clicking "Sign in with SSO" on the Hive sign-in page are redirected to your organisation's identity provider. They authenticate there using their existing corporate credentials, and your IdP sends them back to Hive — already signed in.
This means:
- Your IdP handles authentication. Hive trusts the response it gets from your identity provider.
- MFA is inherited from your IdP. If your IT team has configured multi-factor authentication on your IdP, Hive automatically respects it.
What this means for your team
- Employees with corporate credentials sign in with one click via your IdP — the same way they access other business applications.
- Employees without an email address can still take part using the "No email" route on the sign-in page - they continue to use the existing 3-field verification.
- Admins and managers access the Hive dashboard via the same SAML flow.
What you need to get started
To enable SAML SSO, you'll need:
- Your IT team's involvement — they will need to configure the connection between your IdP and Hive
- An admin account in your identity provider
Once your IT team is ready, they can follow our SAML SSO Setup Guide for IT Teams to configure everything from your account settings.
If you have any questions about whether SAML SSO is the right choice for your organisation, get in touch with your Account Manager.
🎓 Useful Information
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