How many Global Admin accounts should I have in Microsoft 365?

Microsoft recommends maintaining 2-4 Global Administrator accounts in your Microsoft 365 tenant. This guidance balances operational resilience with security:

• *Why at least 2:
• Prevents lockout if one account is compromised or unavailable
• Enables password recovery and emergency access
• Allows for proper change management approval workflows

• *Why no more than 4:
• Global Admin is the most privileged role with complete tenant access
• Each additional account expands your attack surface
• More accounts are harder to monitor and secure
• Most administrative tasks don't require Global Admin privileges

Best practices: 1. Use dedicated admin accounts separate from daily-use accounts 2. Require phishing-resistant MFA (FIDO2 or Windows Hello) 3. Use Privileged Identity Management (PIM) for just-in-time access 4. Also maintain 2 emergency break-glass accounts stored securely 5. Assign task-specific admin roles instead of Global Admin where possible

TrueConfig control PA-01 monitors your Global Admin count and alerts when it exceeds recommended thresholds.