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ARIS Risk and Compliance Manager vs RSA Archer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

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

ARIS Risk and Compliance Ma...
Ranking in GRC
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
RSA Archer
Ranking in GRC
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
IT Governance (1st), IT Vendor Risk Management (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the GRC category, the mindshare of ARIS Risk and Compliance Manager is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RSA Archer is 13.9%, down from 16.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
GRC Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
RSA Archer13.9%
ARIS Risk and Compliance Manager0.8%
Other85.3%
GRC
 

Featured Reviews

BPMexp67 - PeerSpot reviewer
Covers the entire risk management cycle, from identification and evaluation to control, mitigation, and monitoring
The most effective features are the basic ones to evaluate and control risk. We have many specific small models inside of ARIS Risk and Compliance Manager, like issue management. These are smaller add-ons depending on the needs. You are including specific models as well. The basic ones do exactly what is required for risk management: identification, evaluation, control, mitigation, and modification. And, we have dashboards with the possibility to configure compliance policies and risk limits based on which we can create alarms. If there are maximum limits, we create alarms attached to the responsible people. Normally, there is someone that identifies the risk, and then you have the risk owner. These people [normal users] can send notifications to the risk owner, who will evaluate the risk and decide whether it's important to control it or not. I remember a project where the customer wanted to control all risks and assigned many people to identify them. They started identifying risks everywhere. After a few years, the customer realized that it didn't make sense to control all of them. So, they created limits—levels of risk the company was willing to accept because it was more expensive to implement controls than to manage the risk. So, regarding ARIS Risk and Compliance Manager, you can implement all the risks and policies you can imagine because it's very customizable. You can customize a lot of things.
IMRAN ALMARZOOQI - PeerSpot reviewer
Automates compliance management effectively but needs improved interface and dashboards
The tool basically automates whatever processes you already have, so I cannot specify improvements in that regard. However, my main issue with Archer is the graphics. The graphics have always been lacking. I always need to depend on another tool to read information from Archer to have better dashboards. It is like using Linux, and it has a Linux mindset and interface. I want to use Archer for top management and CEOs, but it looks too technical, and the dashboards are not really friendly. They are bulky, like opening an old Nintendo system from nineteen-ninety. The management agrees that Archer lacks in terms of presentation and dashboarding. It is complex, not user-friendly, and bulky. The interface just looks old.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the risk testing, where you can attach your processes to the risk, and automatically generate all of the tests."
"We can set it so that for a specific risk, or for all risks if we want, people will receive automatic notifications to do the evaluation and implement or test the control at a set interval, like every six months or every year."
"The Advance Workflow feature simplifies things."
"Enables development of any application, automation of any workflow including the GRC work processes."
"From my perspective as a customer and end user, RSA is about the look and feel."
"With RSA Archer, an admin can set permissions for a normal user to go directly to the tool they need to input some data. Admins can then go through that and approve some requests. Also, they can log in based on these kinds of permissions, including ticketing, service patches, or upgrades."
"Its user interface is pretty neat, and there is flexibility in generating the data. You can customize reports at any level. You can directly get reports in Tableau format. If you want to generate statistical data, you can create reports with graphs. There is an adequate amount of flexibility for changing the format, the type of graphs, etc."
"It has the best workload management features."
"Risk management is one of the most impressive features of Archer, especially with the recent restructuring of the user interface."
"Archer has simplified our security audits. It's made it easier to raise and trigger questionnaires to customers."
 

Cons

"In future releases, I would like to see more features around AI (artificial intelligence)."
"I would like to see the modeling less strict so that connectors can be more flexible."
"The technology's a little outdated."
"Some of the error reporting isn't very clear. When you're looking for information on error codes, you got to do a lot of digging."
"An area for improvement would be the user interface. They could also offer more on-demand applications free of cost."
"I would like to have the ability to build and maintain an inventory of personal data processing activities and assets utilizing a purpose-built taxonomy and data structure."
"In a future release, there should be an option to upload the main data."
"In terms of what can be improved, our client always says their user experience, IU/UX in RSA Archer. They found it is not as user friendly as other tools."
"Its customization features could be better."
"The interface just looks old."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The initial purchase is cheap. You pay a nominal price to start then renew the license annually. You also must buy a license for each module. I'm not too fond of that aspect of the licensing model. You buy the elephant and then spend more money to feed the elephant."
"RSA Archer's price is justifiable and not as expensive, compared to ServiceNow. I have heard that the licensing for ServiceNow is much more expensive. I'm unaware whether there are any additional costs after licensing fees."
"As I am a developer and responsible for providing production support, I do not have personal knowledge of the pricing. However, my colleagues claim that it is very expensive in comparison with other tools."
"Fairly highly-priced, especially for smaller companies."
"The solution's price should be reduced. You only have to pay the license and there are no additional fees."
"I am not 100% familiar with that, especially with their new model. I just know that the way they've licensed per user to scale is good."
"I am not sure about other companies, but it's quite expensive."
"The pricing is okay. The licensing costs are very reasonable; it is very affordable to us."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
22%
Insurance Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for ARIS Risk and Compliance Manager?
I recommend it to my customers. Sometimes, we follow the normal cycle: risk identification, then evaluation, then mitigation, and lastly, monitoring. In other processes, we use the software to anal...
What advice do you have for others considering ARIS Risk and Compliance Manager?
At this moment, I would recommend this tool. This is the tool I know more than the others. I know a little bit about BWise and other tools like Spark. But ARIS is the one I know best because I've b...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ARIS Risk and Compliance Manager?
We have some nominated licenses, which are per user, and concurrent licenses. The concurrent licenses are more expensive than the other ones but are better, at least for a big company. We can have ...
What do you like most about RSA Archer?
It has various valuable features. For example, showing us if a control aligns with specific standards or frameworks helps us understand it better and verify its compliance.
What needs improvement with RSA Archer?
While it provides benefits in terms of security, the pricing is a bit higher than customers typically expect. It would be helpful if RSA Archer had the capability for two-way integration because, i...
What is your primary use case for RSA Archer?
Regarding the compliance, risk, and governance tools, I am comfortable discussing the tools in the GRC category. The specific module from ServiceNow is the ServiceNow Compliance, Risk, and Governan...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

No data available
Archer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Alicorp, Tesco, Dubai Municipality, Emirates NBD, Suva - ARIS serves customers across all industries and of every size worldwide. Companies trust ARIS as being in the market of business process management for more than 30 years, serving users worldwide, from 1 user companies to the Fortune 500.
T-Systems, Bridge Point, Equifax, First Data, Global Imaging Company, Manulife Financial
Find out what your peers are saying about ARIS Risk and Compliance Manager vs. RSA Archer and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.