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IBM OpenPages vs MetricStream vs RSA Archer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the GRC category, the mindshare of IBM OpenPages is 5.9%, up from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MetricStream is 5.4%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RSA Archer is 17.4%, up from 17.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
GRC
 

Featured Reviews

Badri Anand Santhanam - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhancing operational risk management and reporting capabilities with insightful dashboards and automated features
IBM OpenPages offers strong reporting capabilities with Cognos integration, providing standard tabular reports, various charts, and powerful dashboards for different lines of defense. It caters to the first line managing risks and controls, the second line of SMEs providing oversight, and the independent audit function with an internal audit management module. The solution is more intuitive and task-based, allowing better involvement of the risk function across different lines of defense. The automated features translate into reporting capabilities, and data can be easily extracted and downloaded in different formats.
AP
Reasonably priced, stable, with out of the box deployment, and has good local support
They have now reworked it. The interface is mobile-friendly and it is getting a good response from our customers. It's a very good feature that the product offers. It is also available as a cloud option, which is getting a lot of interest from customers who are looking into the GRCC. It is very useful, especially in the solution platform. It has good features and good functionality, and our customers feel there is a lot of merit in that. I think that the portal is constantly improving. They do their own enhancements very often. They keep doing those enhancements from their site itself.
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 features are the workflow engine, calculations, and security rules."
"IBM OpenPages provides time savings in recording risk management components."
"The content, reporting, and workflow features stand out as the most valuable aspects."
"The ability to keep a record of internal incidents in the company, and also the monitoring of Key Indicators."
"Everything about IBM OpenPages is valuable, particularly when compared to other solutions in the market like MetricStream, from which we switched due to its feasibility, user-friendliness, and performance."
"IBM OpenPages saves time in my work as a developer."
"Key features are usability and ease of configuration. It allows us to have all the information in a single place and provide real-time indicators and information for our executives."
"The interface is mobile-friendly and it is getting a good response from our customers."
"Even non-technical people can be masters of the product."
"The product is very flexible."
"This solution helped us with the centralization of our governance data, so we could house all of our controls in one place. We could use that central repository of all our controls to build our risk management strategy and our policy and governance. So we could use controls as a central library and build policy, and then build risk management around it."
"Easy to implement with a high level of automation."
"One of the useful features is the ability to connect to various systems in order to accommodate data."
"The last project was for an investment group that was using Excel. Shifting their records from one position to another took approximately 15 minutes. In Archer, we created a workflow for them to leverage it, and they could send the single record with one click to one person within seconds. The whole process went from 15 minutes to two minutes to get the approval for the records. The main purpose of Archer is to just make it easy."
"The most valuable features of RSA Archer are the asset management, risk management, and vendor management."
"Enables development of any application, automation of any workflow including the GRC work processes."
 

Cons

"IBM needs to work on pricing for organizations with around 100 users, as the licensing model is not competitive enough for SMEs."
"It would be useful to have more out-of-the-box functionality, especially triggers and calculations."
"IBM OpenPages needs improvement in its UI. Currently, it is difficult to see the relationships (associations/parents) between all items unless you click on the item itself."
"IBM OpenPages could improve by adding more conditions to workflows, as some existing conditions might not work and can produce errors."
"Some self-relationships are not available in OpenPages' relationship model."
"I believe there's room for improvement in establishing connections with external information."
"I would like to see out-of-the-box integration with more security, it would be helpful."
"We would like to have more dashboards and reports, such as geographical and trend reports in the next version. Also, an improvement in the mobile version would be helpful."
"An area for improvement would be the user interface. They could also offer more on-demand applications free of cost."
"Some areas are not truly automated but are only scheduled."
"While the AI features are emerging and the cost is comparatively low, it's not yet up to the market standard."
"The bullet chart is the best graph for my purposes, and it should be available for inclusion in the dashboards."
"There is no inbuilt alert in Archer to let us know that a data feed has failed or did not run for different reasons. So, we don't even get to know that a feed has not run until somebody reports it to us. This has been a problem all the time. Data feeds have always been a big headache for us because there is no feature to let us know if a feed has not run or has failed. If Archer had a feature to send us an email notification when a feed has failed, it would've been very helpful. This is the reason why our users are slowly moving away to another platform. Some of the modules that I have been managing are being moved to ServiceNow. Next year, a lot of our modules will be moved from RSA Archer to ServiceNow, and the data feed issue has been one of the main reasons."
"The ticket handling process could be improved."
"Its customization features could be better."
"The management agrees that Archer lacks in terms of presentation and dashboarding. It is complex, not user-friendly, and bulky."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"They are flexible in terms of customers' needs."
"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."
"At the higher end of the price scale, but provides better, more accessible functionality and customization than cheaper products."
"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."
"The solution is not at all a cheap product."
"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."
"The license is costly for the solution, but the remaining set up and maintenance is quite cheaper."
"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
Financial Services Firm
29%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Government
5%
Educational Organization
28%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
8%
Non Profit
5%
Educational Organization
46%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM OpenPages?
The product’s interface is very intuitive.
What needs improvement with IBM OpenPages?
IBM OpenPages could improve by adding more conditions to workflows, as some existing conditions might not work and ca...
What is your primary use case for IBM OpenPages?
I primarily use IBM OpenPages ( /products/ibm-openpages-reviews ) for compliance and audit programs.
What are the main differences between RSA Archer, MetricStream and IBM OpenPages?
RSA Archer, IBM OpenPages and MetricStream are the top GRC software solutions in the market today. Out of the 3, IBM ...
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 h...
What needs improvement with RSA Archer?
If the user needs to fill data, they need to go to one page and then to the next page if they can reduce the number o...
What is your primary use case for RSA Archer?
I perform all of our information security management governance and risk -related activities through Archer. My organ...
 

Also Known As

OpenPages
No data available
Archer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nationwide, Process Innovation AG, OSRAM Licht AG, Dep‹sito Central de Valores (DCV), Delta Lloyd Group, Unum
Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, ACCO Brands Corporation, AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, AIB International, Associated Banc-Corp, BAE Systems, Barclaycard, Dell Inc, DIRECTV, Energizer, Fresenius Kabi, Hasbro, Goodyear, HudsonCity Savings Bank, Infigen Energy, Kaydon, Leroy Merlin, Mountry Financial Corp., Nicholas Piramal, Pepco, Pfizer, Societe Generale, Whitney Bank
T-Systems, Bridge Point, Equifax, First Data, Global Imaging Company, Manulife Financial
Find out what your peers are saying about RSA, OneTrust, MEGA International and others in GRC. Updated: March 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.