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Active Roles by One Identity vs SolarWinds Access Rights 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 Active Directory Management
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (3rd), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (1st)
SolarWinds Access Rights Ma...
Ranking in Active Directory Management
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Active Roles by One Identity is 11.8%, up from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Access Rights Manager is 4.5%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Active Directory Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Active Roles by One Identity11.8%
SolarWinds Access Rights Manager4.5%
Other83.7%
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.
Rafal-Stas - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at Greeneris Sp. z o.o.
Has good pricing options and is easy to manage and deploy
It's pretty easy to manage, and quite easy to deploy. It's easy to understand to work, and customers also tell us that there are a lot of options even too many sometimes for them. Sometimes the product is even too big for them at the beginning. The product also has a good payload with pricing. That's why the customers choose this solution. The price and the quality and options have a good ratio.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One positive impact we noticed from One Identity Active Roles was improved operational efficiency; earlier, many user management tasks were handled manually, which took more time and sometimes created inconsistencies, but using intelligent role-based workflows and automation made onboarding and access modification faster and more standardized, and we also saw better control over privileged access since permissions were delegated properly, reducing high-level administrative rights, which improved accountability and balanced security with operational speed."
"One Identity Active Roles has significantly reduced both the complexity and workload of administrative tasks related to Active Directory; many repetitive tasks are automated, so admins spend much less time on routine activities."
"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."
"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."
"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 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."
"Overall, beyond just making tasks easier, it adds a strong layer of control, security, and visibility of AD operations."
"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."
"The solution can be used to audit the whole on-premises environment, including Active Directory, file servers, and other Microsoft services."
"It's pretty easy to manage, and quite easy to deploy."
 

Cons

"The user interface could be more modern and intuitive, especially for new administrators."
"Areas for improvement in One Identity Active Roles include UI modernization, workflow customization, flexibility in reporting, and troubleshooting visibility."
"Additional documentation about the Angular web interface is needed."
"One Identity Active Roles is very useful, though there are a few areas where it could be improved, such as the user interface, policy creation, and reporting; it requires good knowledge of Active Directory."
"Another improvement I would like to see is better troubleshooting capability when dealing with complex delegation models or workflow-related issues."
"The user interface could be more modern and intuitive, especially for new administrators."
"One Identity Active Roles can be improved with a more modern and intuitive user interface, better reporting and analytics, simplified workflow customization, enhanced troubleshooting tools, and stronger cloud and hybrid identity integration capabilities for large enterprise environments."
"Most of the time it just works."
"The GUI could be improved because this GUI was invented ten years ago, and now we have a modern user interface. This GUI is a bit older than expected in this market."
"Configuring the solution with online services, like Microsoft Exchange Online, is difficult."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model is a simple user-based model, not that much complicated."
"The pricing is on the higher end."
"It's expensive."
"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 fairly priced."
"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 pricing of the solution is fine. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"The pricing of the solution is fine. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
26%
Healthcare Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Construction Company
10%
Performing Arts
8%
Transportation Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business98
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise46
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with One Identity Active Roles?
To improve Active Roles by One Identity, I would like to see more automation around role assignment and access reviews, along with better reporting and an easier-to-use dashboard. While the integra...
What is your primary use case for One Identity Active Roles?
My main use case for Active Roles by One Identity involves managing user access and roles across different applications while ensuring users have the right permissions based on their responsibiliti...
Ask a question
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Also Known As

Quest Active Roles
SolarWinds ARM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City of Frankfurt, Moore Public Schools, George Washington University, Transavia Airlines, Howard County, MD. See all stories at OneIdentity.com/casestudies
Accenture, Emerson, Lockheed Martin, Nielsen, NTT
Find out what your peers are saying about Active Roles by One Identity vs. SolarWinds Access Rights Manager and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
919,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.