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One Identity Active Roles vs OpenText Identity Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 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

One Identity Active Roles
Ranking in User Provisioning Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
Active Directory Management (1st), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (1st)
OpenText Identity Manager
Ranking in User Provisioning Software
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (15th), Identity Governance Administration (IGA) (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the User Provisioning Software category, the mindshare of One Identity Active Roles is 5.5%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Identity Manager is 3.4%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
User Provisioning Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
One Identity Active Roles5.5%
OpenText Identity Manager3.4%
Other91.1%
User Provisioning Software
 

Featured Reviews

Varun Mehra - PeerSpot reviewer
collaboration support engineer at a retailer with 11-50 employees
Automation has transformed onboarding and access control and now streamlines daily governance
While One Identity Active Roles is a strong identity and access management solution overall, there are a few areas where it could improve. One challenge we experienced was the initial setup and configuration complexity. Deploying workflows, policies, and delegation models require careful planning and a good understanding of the Active Directory environment. For organizations without experienced administrators, the learning curve can feel quite steep in the beginning. The user interface could also be more modern and intuitive. Some administrative tasks require navigating through multiple menus and the overall experience could be simplified for faster day-to-day management. Another area for improvement is reporting and customization. While the auditing features are good, creating highly customized reports sometimes requires additional efforts or scripting knowledge. More built-in reporting templates and easier dashboard customization would be helpful. We have also noticed that troubleshooting workflows or synchronization issues can occasionally take time because the logs can be very detailed and technical. Better diagnostic tools and simpler error explanations would improve the operational experience. That said, once the platform is properly configured and maintained, it performs reliably and delivers strong automation, delegation, and governance capabilities. One additional area where One Identity Active Roles could improve is cloud integration and hybrid environment management. While it works well with Active Directory and the Microsoft environment, organizations moving heavily towards cloud-first infrastructure may want even deeper and more seamless integration with modern SaaS platforms and identity providers. Performance optimization in large environments could be improved. In very large enterprise deployments with complex workflows and multiple managed domains, some administrative actions and synchronization tasks can occasionally feel slower than expected. Another point is documentation and onboarding resources. The product is feature-rich, but some advanced configurations require going through extensive documentation. More practical examples, guided setup wizards, and easier to follow best practice guides would help new administrators adopt the platform faster. Overall, the core functionality is solid, and most of the pain points are related more to usability, complexity, and modernization rather than the reliability. One additional improvement I would mention is around integration flexibility with third-party ITSM and DevOps tools. While the platform integrates well within Microsoft-centric environments, broader out-of-the-box integration and simpler API workflows for non-Microsoft ecosystems would make deployment and automation easier for organizations using diverse infrastructure. Another area is upgrade and migration simplicity. In enterprise environments, version upgrades and environment migration sometimes require careful planning and testing. Streamlining that process with more automated compatibility checks and migration assistance would reduce operational overhead.
reviewer2401464 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Updates systems quickly and does not have a limit on the number of users
NetIQ does not have a limit on the number of users. The tool is secure by nature. It can have more than one billion users. Event-based systems know what has to be changed. SQL-based systems can only change using time and date. Event-based systems provide immediate results, while SQL-based systems need time to sync. It is totally different from a security perspective. Event-based systems can update all the systems in seconds or minutes. Other systems do it within 24 hours. The basic event-based system is AI-driven. It has some kind of robotics and programming. Other tools need programming. I like systems that have prebuilt ideas of security. NetIQ has been in the market for a long period. It has all the systems and connectors. There is not much coding. We just need to configure the products. We need not do any programming. I haven't seen any other product that needs only configuration to do the job. Most products in the market are SQL-based. They need programming. Some service providers who sell other products to customers do not sell NetIQ because they can make more money by selling solutions that need more consultancy and programming. More hours lead to more money.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Active Roles helped increase operational efficiency in our organization."
"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 positively impacted my organization by speeding up the user provisioning, reducing manual AD tickets, strengthening the security through consistent access control, and improving compliance."
"Heavily Automates - it will automate the entire provisioning, re-provisioning, de-provisioning and undo-de-provisioning tasks Complete Audit Trail - it gives an audit trail for each and every activity Increase in accountability – various tasks can be enabled for approval."
"Since we have implemented One Identity Active Roles, we have seen significant improvements, with faster user management, better control over Active Directory, reduced errors, and improved security."
"The features I found most valuable in One Identity Active Roles are delegated administration, workflow-based automation, and role-based access control, which help streamline Active Directory management while maintaining better control over administrative permissions and access requests."
"Overall, One Identity Active Roles has had a positive impact on our organization by making identity and access management more efficient and secure."
"Overall, One Identity Active Roles has significantly reduced the complexity and workload in Active Directory administration in our organization."
"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 feature of this solution has been the ability for us to integrate a lot of external systems, and the automatic transfer of a lot of identity information. Additionally, the customization is very good."
"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."
"It has reduced time and resource costs due to automation of previously hand-managed tasks like provisioning, granting access, distribution and access to different enterprise connected applications."
"Identity and access management processes have developed to become automatic and fast."
"The identity vault, password syncing and self service Password Reset are valuable features, and NetIQ does a good job with password syncing among directories."
"To my knowledge it is the only event based IDM system."
"NetIQ Identity Manager is by far the most flexible product available, and the pricing is incredibly good, even if you're not situated in the BeNeLux."
 

Cons

"A few improvements I would like to see in One Identity Active Roles are mainly around usability, reporting, and modern integration."
"The third area for improvement, which is the weakest portion of ARS, is the workflow engine, which was introduced a few years ago. It's slow and not very intuitive to use, so I would like to see improvement there."
"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."
"One area where One Identity Active Roles can be improved is in the user interface. It can feel outdated and not very intuitive for new users."
"One Identity Active Roles is a mature and reliable product, but there are definitely areas where it could be improved."
"One challenge we experienced was the initial setup and configuration complexity."
"For the AAD management feature, it needs to improve the objects that we can manage and the security."
"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."
"NetIQ Identity Manager could improve by updating the user portal, it is out of date."
"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."
"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."
"NetIQ Identity Manager can improve the bulk account uploads, it's very slow. We work in the education sector, and every year we have approximately 20,000 accounts to create in a very short period, the NetIQ Identity Manager has a problem with this, we need to use a batch job."
"There are some limitations in the custom workflows, mainly in the GUI presentation, but the latest release improved."
"Technical support is average. When it's come to complex issues, it takes longer than expected to solve."
"The UI for requesting and approving rights have been a little outdated, however, in the most recent version that has been addressed."
"Areas for improvement are further enhancing the access granting process to reduce time and improve accuracy."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's expensive."
"The pricing is on the higher end."
"The pricing for Active Roles is expensive but not as expensive as other solutions like Okta."
"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."
"The price is reasonable. It costs us about 1 million Danish kroner annually, and we also spend about half as much on consultants."
"The licensing model is a simple user-based model, not that much complicated."
"The price of the solution is a bit high and could be reduced."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The solution is quite affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business96
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise44
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 One Identity Active Roles reflects the platform's status as an enterprise-grade premium product. One Identity structured the Active Rol...
What needs improvement with One Identity Active Roles?
One area for improvement in One Identity Active Roles would be reporting and dashboard customization. While the available reports are useful, having more flexible and easier-to-build reports would ...
What is your primary use case for One Identity Active Roles?
I have been using One Identity Active Roles for almost the last two years. My main use case of One Identity Active Roles is for user provisioning, group management, delegated administration, and ha...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetIQ Identity Manager?
The pricing depends on whether we buy the solution as a service or a license. The license is expensive. If we buy it as a service for a large number of users, it is the cheapest tool we can get. Th...
What needs improvement with NetIQ Identity Manager?
The tool is used mostly in big systems to understand what is happening. There are not many technicians who know how to use the product. The vendor must provide an easier console for configuring thi...
What is your primary use case for NetIQ Identity Manager?
NetIQ Directory is the main function of the product. As far as I know, it is the only event test directory that exists. It has all the potential for event-based testing. It has rules, connectors, a...
 

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 One Identity Active Roles vs. OpenText Identity Manager and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
904,748 professionals have used our research since 2012.