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Active Roles by One Identity vs Dameware Remote Support comparison

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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 Active Directory Management
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (3rd), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (1st)
Dameware Remote Support
Ranking in Active Directory Management
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (31st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Active Roles by One Identity is 11.7%, up from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dameware Remote Support is 3.0%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Active Directory Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Active Roles by One Identity11.7%
Dameware Remote Support3.0%
Other85.3%
Active Directory Management
 

Featured Reviews

Puru Solanki ( ITIL. CISM , CCSP ) - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Head at Citadel Global
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.
it_user323577 - PeerSpot reviewer
Tier1 - IT Support Technician at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
We're able to see issues from the users' perspectives, but there are issues when connecting over VPN.
The ability to see issue from users perspective and installation of software. Worked well for awhile but issues with it connecting over VPN was a major drawback. We've been using it since 2009. We also utilize GoToAssist which has more features and runs smoother. It also allows us to send…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"ARS probably saves us at least two weeks out of every month."
"Active Roles provided us to do all these operations automatically and reduced our workload very significantly."
"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."
"The auto-provisioning or role-based permission handling makes my daily work easier and more efficient because it automates our environment since we don't have to manually onboard or deboard employees."
"Active Roles is a thousand times better than native Microsoft tools."
"It's valuable to us in that it resembles the native tools that most people have grown accustomed to... Active Roles resembles traditional tools, such as from Microsoft. That is really good because it eases the way people interact with the tool."
"One Identity Active Roles has reduced a significant amount of manual AD admin work, improved security through tighter access control, and made onboarding and offboarding much faster and more consistent across teams."
"The ability to control admin rights through AD groups allows the techs to have all of the rights that they would normally without adjustments on the backend of the product."
"Using DameWare has made the troubleshooting process faster."
"It was very easy to install."
 

Cons

"Some advanced configuration and workflow can feel complex, so simplifying setup and management would improve the overall experience."
"The initial setup and configuration can be complex, especially when designing workflows, policies, and delegation models."
"The user interface needs to be more modern and scalable. There are certain screen resolutions where the product is unusable."
"I know they have increased support for Entra ID and mentioned providing support for AWS. A way to connect to various directories and integrate with cloud directories would be beneficial."
"One area is the user interface and administrative experience. While the platform is feature-rich, some workflows and configuration screens can feel complex for new administrators, especially in large enterprise environments with extensive policy configurations."
"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."
"Many users feel the user interface is not very modern or intuitive, and it can take time to get used to navigating the console and workflows."
"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."
"SolarWinds has a great KB but many of the articles are lacking updated information and the keyword search is lacking if you don't have previous experience with the product and encounter issues."
"Worked well for awhile but issues with it connecting over VPN was a major drawback."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing for Active Roles is expensive but not as expensive as other solutions like Okta."
"It's fairly priced."
"The pricing is on the higher end."
"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."
"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."
"It's expensive."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
28%
Healthcare Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business101
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise45
No data available
 

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
DameWare, SolarWinds DameWare, SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City of Frankfurt, Moore Public Schools, George Washington University, Transavia Airlines, Howard County, MD. See all stories at OneIdentity.com/casestudies
Illinois School District
Find out what your peers are saying about Active Roles by One Identity vs. Dameware Remote Support and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,351 professionals have used our research since 2012.