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Active Roles by One Identity vs OpenText Identity Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 20, 2026

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

Active Roles by One Identity
Ranking in User Provisioning Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Active Directory Management (1st), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (1st)
OpenText Identity Manager
Ranking in User Provisioning Software
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (24th), Identity Governance Administration (IGA) (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the User Provisioning Software category, the mindshare of Active Roles by One Identity is 5.4%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Identity Manager is 3.2%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
User Provisioning Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Active Roles by One Identity5.4%
OpenText Identity Manager3.2%
Other91.4%
User Provisioning Software
 

Featured Reviews

Puru Solanki ( ITIL. CISM , CCSP ) - PeerSpot reviewer
Regional Manager & CISO at Citadel
Automation has streamlined onboarding and governance and delivers faster, more secure access
Overall, we are very satisfied with Active Roles by One Identity, but there are a few areas that could be improved. The user interface could be more modern and intuitive, especially for new administrators. Some advanced configuration and policy settings have a steep learning curve and could be simplified. We would also like to see more built-in integrations with cloud platforms and SaaS applications, along with additional out-of-the-box reporting templates. These improvements would make the product even easier and more flexible for organizations managing hybrid environments. One thing that would make our daily work even smoother is having more ready-to-use templates for common administrative tasks and reports. This would reduce the need for customization and help teams get up and running more quickly. Additionally, faster and simpler synchronization for hybrid and cloud environments would be beneficial, especially for organizations managing both on-premises and cloud identities. More detailed documentation and guided setup for advanced features would help new administrators learn the platform faster and more easily. One additional improvement I would like to see for Active Roles by One Identity is a better built-in dashboard with more real-time insights into identity and access activities. It would be helpful if upgrades and migrations were simpler and required less planning. Finally, expanding native integrations with more cloud services and third-party applications would make the platform even more versatile and reliable. These enhancements would improve the overall user experience while keeping the product's strong security and automation capabilities.
GA
IDM Consultant at GCA Consultoria de Informática Ltda
Highly flexible with many connectors, offers excellent scalability
The initial deployment of the environment typically takes about a day to a day and a half to install and configure all the servers. Integrating applications can vary, with easy and well-documented integrations taking around 40 hours, while more complex ones may take up to 80 hours or more. However, integration with applications can vary in complexity, depending on their documentation and APIs. We prioritize integrations based on customer needs, starting with HR systems and adapting to their specific requirements for user configuration. Typically, a deployment team consists of up to four people, depending on project size, with expertise in operating systems and integration. For ongoing management and maintenance, at most two people are required to monitor servers, and integrations, and address any issues that arise.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I saw a strong ROI with One Identity Active Roles through around a forty to fifty percent reduction in service desk workload, faster user provisioning from hours to minutes, fewer manual errors, and improved compliance and audit efficiency, which saves significant administrative time and operational efforts."
"One Identity Active Roles has significantly reduced the complexity and workload of administrative tasks related to Active Directory, as routine tasks like user creation, password resets, and access changes are automated or delegated, saving time and reducing manual efforts while making management more structured and consistent, making overall administration easier and more efficient."
"The solution improved our organization's security posture by framing the end users and ensuring that capabilities that could cause mistakes are hidden from the web interface."
"One Identity Active Roles supports my provisioning and de-provisioning needs very well, has helped increase operational efficiency by saving a lot of time, and has helped reduce the number of privileged accounts."
"One Identity Active Roles has positively impacted our organization by making Active Directory management much more efficient, reducing manual work, improving control over permissions, and providing better visibility into changes, which has helped both security and compliance efforts."
"We achieve a strong ROI with One Identity Active Roles through approximately a forty to fifty percent reduction in service desk workload, faster user provisioning from hours to minutes, fewer manual administration errors, and improved compliance and audit efficiency."
"Instead of deleting accounts, we like the deprovision option so that we can reverse any accidental deletions. It also gives a higher level of quality control in terms of enforcing any number of variables, such as making sure that an account has a description entered before the account can be created. We can backtrack and know the history of it that way."
"One Identity Active Roles is recommended as one of the best solutions currently in the market since it addresses many issues such as risks faced, inconsistent account setup, excessive admin privileges, lack of audit trails, and manual provisioning errors, all of which can be resolved with this solution."
"It's a solid product, it's a mature product."
"I would recommend this product, its quite flexible and quick to start with."
"I like the eDirectory feature."
"The most valuable feature of NetIQ Identity Manager for identity synchronization is the ability to provide users with all necessary access on day one through automated provisioning, facilitated by approval workflows."
"The most valuable features of NetIQ Identity Manager are the synchronization of different directories, such as Active Directory. We have many Active Directory systems, not only one."
"To my knowledge it is the only event based IDM system."
"The most valuable features are Password Reset Alerts, Password Sync, and SQL connectors."
"The main value lies in the simplicity of implementation, as well as its customized look and feel."
 

Cons

"Most of the time it just works."
"There are areas for improvement in One Identity Active Roles that include updating the web interface, creating an API accessible from the web, and improving overall performance, as it can be slow at times."
"I think its governance and security are very good. If they use a third party as an AI, the security may be compromised. However, if they are using their inbuilt assistance, it gives a very good result."
"One Identity Active Roles is a strong product, but like any enterprise tool, there are areas where it could be improved."
"First is the user interface and experience. While it is functional, it can feel complex for a new user and less intuitive, especially for onboarding a new user."
"The solution needs an attestation process that includes certification and recertification attestation."
"Customer support is rated six. Sometimes having a fix for a bug takes too much time. While in production, issues tend to take a while to resolve."
"One Identity Active Roles can be improved with a more modern and user-friendly interface, better reporting and analytics, simplified workflow customization, faster performance in large environments, and stronger cloud and hybrid identity integration capabilities."
"Be more honest about how poorly it runs on Windows servers. It is optimized for Linux."
"We have another system that is using the SAML system, and we also integrate with Active Directory only. If NetIQ Identity Manager can integrate directly, we would not need to use the Active Directory directory."
"The vendor must provide an easier console for configuring things for smaller customers."
"Scalability becomes an issue if the vision changes from the initial implementation. Not being flexible and having to rewrite quite a bit of code for even a simple added feature makes it difficult."
"If it could be operated in such a way that anybody could use it, with just the user interface, and there's no need for programming, then that would be a great improvement."
"The UI for requesting and approving rights have been a little outdated, however, in the most recent version that has been addressed."
"The problem is the ecosystem. There's not a lot of people that know the product, so it's hard to find someone to work with the product."
"Areas for improvement are further enhancing the access granting process to reduce time and improve accuracy."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is on the higher end."
"The licensing model is a simple user-based model, not that much complicated."
"The price is reasonable. It costs us about 1 million Danish kroner annually, and we also spend about half as much on consultants."
"The pricing for Active Roles is expensive but not as expensive as other solutions like Okta."
"It's expensive."
"The pricing is high. I have not been involved with the renewal or cost aspect, but I know it is not cheap by any means. However, it is very useful for our environment."
"It's fairly priced."
"Micro Focus is flexible when it comes to price. The cost varies from customer to customer. There are no additional costs, though. Everything is included."
"The solution is quite affordable."
"You just need to be aware that the more systems you connect, the more license fees you have to pay."
"It would easily help them in getting more market and more customers if more consultants knew about their software. If they could keep it free for schools for teaching purposes, it would be good. I had to pay myself to get it and use it for training. Their competitors are giving it for free. I had to pay for it myself. They are losing market to their competitors."
"The price of the solution is a bit high and could be reduced."
"I would rate the pricing a two out of ten, with one being low price and ten being high price. It is significantly more cost-effective than the major players in the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business96
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise45
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for One Identity Active Roles?
Our experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Active Roles by One Identity has been very positive. Although Active Roles by One Identity is not the lowest-priced solution, we believ...
What needs improvement with One Identity Active Roles?
Overall, we are very satisfied with Active Roles by One Identity, but there are a few areas that could be improved. The user interface could be more modern and intuitive, especially for new adminis...
What is your primary use case for One Identity Active Roles?
Active Roles by One Identity is our main solution for simplifying and automating user account management in our Active Directory environment. We use it for tasks like user provisioning, deprovision...
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Also Known As

Quest Active Roles
Novell Identity Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City of Frankfurt, Moore Public Schools, George Washington University, Transavia Airlines, Howard County, MD. See all stories at OneIdentity.com/casestudies
Sheetz
Find out what your peers are saying about Active Roles by One Identity vs. OpenText Identity Manager and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.