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Active Roles by One Identity vs OpenText Identity Manager 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 User Provisioning Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
91
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 September 2026, in the User Provisioning Software category, the mindshare of Active Roles by One Identity is 4.9%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Identity Manager is 3.2%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
User Provisioning Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Active Roles by One Identity4.9%
OpenText Identity Manager3.2%
Other91.9%
User Provisioning Software
 

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.
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

"The solution is stable."
"It has eliminated a lot of tedious IT tasks, especially when people leave, with ten or 15 scripted actions that Active Roles always does the same way and at the same time."
"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 had a transformative impact on my organization, moving from controlled chaos to governed operations."
"One of the biggest positive impacts of One Identity Active Roles was bringing more control and consistency to Active Directory."
"There are a lot of other benefits that we take advantage of that are above and beyond the native Active Directory functions that Microsoft provides."
"After moving to One Identity Active Roles, I achieve better automation, improved security through controlled delegation, and enhanced compliance with detailed auditing and reporting, significantly improving efficiency and reducing operational risk compared to the previous approach."
"The best part of this Active Roles is the workflow engine. It features an industry-leading workflow automation feature. It's a visual PowerShell that allows task interruption."
"I like the eDirectory feature."
"The Identity Engine is event-based and provides real-time synchronization and password synchronization to more than 40 different applications and services."
"The access request management has improved significantly in terms of its user interface. What sets it apart from competitors like SailPoint is that it's an event-based solution rather than schedule-based. That's a key differentiator."
"To my knowledge it is the only event based IDM system."
"The identity vault, password syncing and self service Password Reset are valuable features, and NetIQ does a good job with password syncing among directories."
"The stability of the NetIQ Identity Manager is good."
"I would recommend this product, its quite flexible and quick to start with."
"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."
 

Cons

"Active Roles could add more options for web customization. Our requirements are exceedingly specific. We'd like to get the web interface down to just five buttons, but in some cases, we can only get to six. The web interface in the current version is less customizable than in the previous one."
"It also has workflows and those are really powerful, but there are no built-in workflows."
"Web console – it should have more customization options in terms of look and feel of the landing page."
"The user interface could be more modern and intuitive, especially for new administrators."
"One area for improvement would be the initial setup, which feels a little bit complex and could be simplified."
"There is room for improvement in One Identity Active Roles. While the product is very capable, managing complex workflows and hybrid environments can sometimes require deeper expertise than expected, so better cloud integration and troubleshooting visibility would also be valuable improvements."
"One Identity Active Roles is very helpful, but a few improvements could make it even better, such as simplifying the user interface to make it more user-friendly, especially for new users, and making setup and configuration easier."
"The main improvement I would suggest for One Identity Active Roles is making the UI and policy configuration more intuitive."
"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."
"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."
"Be more honest about how poorly it runs on Windows servers. It is optimized for Linux."
"The UI for requesting and approving rights have been a little outdated, however, in the most recent version that has been addressed."
"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."
"Technical support is very good, but in my country the ecosystem of consultants is scarce."
"The integrations must be made easier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The licensing model is a simple user-based model, not that much complicated."
"The pricing is on the higher end."
"The price is reasonable. It costs us about 1 million Danish kroner annually, and we also spend about half as much on consultants."
"It's expensive."
"It's fairly priced."
"You just need to be aware that the more systems you connect, the more license fees you have to pay."
"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."
"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 price of the solution is a bit high and could be reduced."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
28%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Outsourcing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business98
Midsize Enterprise18
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.
911,952 professionals have used our research since 2012.