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IBM OpenPages vs RSA Archer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM OpenPages
Ranking in GRC
7th
Ranking in IT Governance
2nd
Average Rating
7.0
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
RSA Archer
Ranking in GRC
1st
Ranking in IT Governance
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
IT Vendor Risk Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the GRC category, the mindshare of IBM OpenPages is 5.9%, up from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RSA Archer is 16.7%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
GRC
 

Featured Reviews

Seetha Pullela - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced risk management with useful reports and easy to deploy
We have deployed the ORM module in our bank. We have our businesses listed in the application, and we identify risks. We manage multiple controls, assess historical controls, and monitor these controls using test source control monitoring and management. We have recently started using the Assurant…
Raviteja Nekkanti - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly, minimal learning curve and good for security assessment
My use case is for security assessment. It's my daily task. I use it for security assessment in Azure. We have tickets where users need to submit details about an application, computer, or server. For Archer, my direct task is to assess the security risk of an application, infrastructure, or…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The ability to keep a record of internal incidents in the company, and also the monitoring of Key Indicators."
"The most valuable features are the workflow engine, calculations, and security rules."
"The product’s interface is very intuitive."
"Everything about IBM OpenPages is valuable, particularly when compared to other solutions in the market like MetricStream, from which we switched due to its feasibility, user-friendliness, and performance."
"The content, reporting, and workflow features stand out as the most valuable aspects."
"Its user interface is pretty neat, and there is flexibility in generating the data. You can customize reports at any level. You can directly get reports in Tableau format. If you want to generate statistical data, you can create reports with graphs. There is an adequate amount of flexibility for changing the format, the type of graphs, etc."
"It has various valuable features. For example, showing us if a control aligns with specific standards or frameworks helps us understand it better and verify its compliance."
"Flexible record permissions and data import features."
"It is enterprise-wide accessible. So, it is very helpful for all the employees in our bank. They can log in and do their risk management activities. It has a few inbuilt modules that are helpful for doing risk management activities, such as issue management, risk identification, risk assessment, and policy exception management. It also has some inbuilt workflows inside these modules. They are also helpful."
"The product is very flexible."
"From my perspective as a customer and end user, RSA is about the look and feel."
"Solution is scalable."
"With RSA Archer, an admin can set permissions for a normal user to go directly to the tool they need to input some data. Admins can then go through that and approve some requests. Also, they can log in based on these kinds of permissions, including ticketing, service patches, or upgrades."
 

Cons

"IBM OpenPages needs improvement in its UI. Currently, it is difficult to see the relationships (associations/parents) between all items unless you click on the item itself."
"Some self-relationships are not available in OpenPages' relationship model."
"I believe there's room for improvement in establishing connections with external information."
"It would be useful to have more out-of-the-box functionality, especially triggers and calculations."
"The solution must allow customization in reporting."
"Initially, technical support is a little weak, and I would rate it six out of ten. The issue with initial support is that new engineers are often not as experienced."
"The financial area of RSA Archer has room for improvement."
"It's resource-hungry, that's the best way of putting it."
"The first improvement I would suggest for RSA Archer is a better search feature. The search criteria needs to be improved. Sometimes I do a search and the search doesn't return the exact item I'm looking for. RSA Archer could also be improved by being more user-friendly. Maybe I have been using a limited version of RSA Archer, but I'm not sure whether it has ESG, environmental and social governance. In the next couple of years, ESG is the next feature that will be integrated into GRC tools. I would recommend RSA Archer adds ESG."
"RSA Archer's best features are advanced workflow, reports, dashboards, and notifications."
"Some of the error reporting isn't very clear. When you're looking for information on error codes, you got to do a lot of digging."
"There should be a way to export and get data from the system in PDF or PowerPoint presentation format. This would be a great addition."
"It would be useful for customers if COBIT 2019 could be translated into different languages."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is not cheap."
"At the higher end of the price scale, but provides better, more accessible functionality and customization than cheaper products."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"I am not 100% familiar with that, especially with their new model. I just know that the way they've licensed per user to scale is good."
"The solution's price should be reduced. You only have to pay the license and there are no additional fees."
"The initial purchase is cheap. You pay a nominal price to start then renew the license annually. You also must buy a license for each module. I'm not too fond of that aspect of the licensing model. You buy the elephant and then spend more money to feed the elephant."
"Fairly highly-priced, especially for smaller companies."
"The pricing is okay. The licensing costs are very reasonable; it is very affordable to us."
"The price of the solution is very affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
33%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Healthcare Company
6%
Educational Organization
55%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
5%
Government
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM OpenPages?
The product’s interface is very intuitive.
What needs improvement with IBM OpenPages?
It would be useful to have more out-of-the-box functionality, especially triggers and calculations. Additionally, more detailed documentation and video-oriented resources would be beneficial.
What is your primary use case for IBM OpenPages?
We have deployed the ORM module in our bank. We have our businesses listed in the application, and we identify risks. We manage multiple controls, assess historical controls, and monitor these cont...
What do you like most about RSA Archer?
It has various valuable features. For example, showing us if a control aligns with specific standards or frameworks helps us understand it better and verify its compliance.
What needs improvement with RSA Archer?
The user interface needs work. There are many small text boxes, like credit card size's boxes, where we need to input a lot of text. You can't see what you're typing beyond the tiny window, so you ...
What is your primary use case for RSA Archer?
We primarily use the system control module and specific IT control models for ongoing risk assessment activities. We use it on a day-to-day basis.
 

Also Known As

OpenPages
Archer
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nationwide, Process Innovation AG, OSRAM Licht AG, Dep‹sito Central de Valores (DCV), Delta Lloyd Group, Unum
T-Systems, Bridge Point, Equifax, First Data, Global Imaging Company, Manulife Financial
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM OpenPages vs. RSA Archer and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.