IBM OpenPages vs Workiva Wdesk comparison

IBM and Workiva are both solutions in the GRC category. IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0, while Workiva is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.0. IBM holds a 3.0% mindshare in G, compared to Workiva’s 3.3% mindshare. Additionally, 71% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 71% of Workiva users who would recommend it.

IBM OpenPages

Read 9 IBM OpenPages reviews

1,514 Views
1,408 Comparison Views

71% willing to recommend

Workiva Wdesk

Read 7 Workiva Wdesk reviews

2,348 Views
1,409 Comparison Views

71% willing to recommend

IBM OpenPages

Workiva Wdesk

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

IBM OpenPages and Workiva Wdesk compete in enterprise governance, risk, and compliance management. Workiva Wdesk appears to have an advantage with its superior integration capabilities and data aggregation flexibility.

Features: IBM OpenPages has strong risk management features, robust regulatory frameworks, and effective compliance handling. Workiva Wdesk provides powerful collaborative tools, comprehensive reporting capabilities, and exceptional platform integration for seamless data management across departments.

Room for Improvement: IBM OpenPages could enhance user interface intuitiveness, reduce implementation time, and offer more flexible integration options. Workiva Wdesk could benefit from addressing compatibility issues with more diverse software environments, reduce costs of advanced features, and further enhance reporting customization options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM OpenPages typically requires a detailed implementation process, offering significant customization. Workiva Wdesk stands out with its cloud-based deployment, providing streamlined setup. Workiva's customer service is appreciated for its responsiveness and proactive support throughout and post-deployment phases.

Pricing and ROI: IBM OpenPages involves a higher initial investment, suitable for organizations that expect long-term savings from risk management. Workiva Wdesk offers flexible pricing with high ROI potential, appealing to businesses focusing on scalability and cost efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM OpenPages vs. Workiva Wdesk Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM OpenPages vs. Workiva Wdesk

December 2025

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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

IBM OpenPages

Ranking in GRC

6th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Governance (2nd)

Workiva Wdesk

Ranking in GRC

8th

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Performance Management (11th), Financial Close Software (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the GRC category, the mindshare of IBM OpenPages is 3.0%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workiva Wdesk is 3.3%, down from 7.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

GRC Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM OpenPages	3.0%
Workiva Wdesk	3.3%
Other	93.7%

GRC

Featured Reviews

Gabriele Meneguzzi

GRC Practice Leader at Stratos Analytics

Have improved operational control and simplified internal workflows through a clear user interface

The most useful features in IBM OpenPages are the workflow features and front-end. The workflow feature in IBM OpenPages is very flexible, easy to configure, and can help design every kind of process, while the front-end is very useful, clear, simple, and dynamic. The benefit of a centralized platform in risk management, such as IBM OpenPages, is that it allows sharing information and guarantees a central framework of risk and control. The dashboards in IBM OpenPages help with monitoring processes for different users and profiles, and we use the dashboard extensively to show the state of different processes to control them. IBM OpenPages integrates effectively with other tools and existing infrastructure for my customers as we integrate other tools, using APIs to match different information, though some other tools may better support integration. IBM offers Connect, an add-on for integration, but we do not use it, relying solely on API. The reporting tools in IBM OpenPages have very strong potential because they are linked with Cognos IBM, a business intelligence tool, allowing for very good and complex reports, though creating these reports requires skills in business intelligence to get the most out of IBM OpenPages.

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reviewer2510292

Corporate ESG Analyst at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Has cross-functional connectivity but improvement is needed in script encoding

The tool's deployment is quick. Once the program is set up, you're ready to collect data and connect it to your report. The deployment team's size depends on the size of the company and how many different data providers you're utilizing. Some companies have one person doing everything, while others have a huge team. We're on the latter end of it, with many people involved. One great thing about the platform is that everything is consolidated in one place, providing a single resource for everyone. This is a benefit. The maintenance of the solution depends on the experience of the person managing the company's program. The company might have a contractor handling the back end and software management if they're low-level and only analyzing the data. However, if you have someone experienced with software and script encoding, that person might be the analyst and managing the program. Generally, most people are just analysts and not managing the software. There's an opportunity for improvement in user management of their software, and I hope they address this gap before the year ends.

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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."

"The ability to keep a record of internal incidents in the company, and also the monitoring of Key Indicators."

"The content, reporting, and workflow features stand out as the most valuable aspects."

"IBM OpenPages saves time in my work as a developer."

"IBM OpenPages provides time savings in recording risk management components."

"The most useful features in IBM OpenPages are the workflow features and front-end, as noted by Ian Francis, an IBM expert lab, with the workflow feature being very flexible, easy to configure, and able to help design every kind of process, while the front-end is very useful, clear, simple, and dynamic."

"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."

"Workiva Wdesk is pretty good in terms of getting the data from the system, automating the reporting schedules...It has a very good integration with ERP tools."

"The cross-functionality between connectivity, whether through API connections between different software platforms or the connection of data collection to the actual written ESG report, is highly valuable. The connectivity of all these aspects significantly aids in data assurance, which I consider a bonus."

"The collaboration within the platform is valuable."

"Workiva Wdesk has a flow diagram that is standardized, making it easy for people to file documents on ECDAs, which are in HTML format."

"It makes the compliance process more efficient and more effective."

"The most valuable feature is its ability to easily upload and update financial results, creating a dynamic data sheet."

"It helps you to maintain a backup of your data, including the connectivity with the tables, which provides a user-friendly way to handle and access your files."

Cons

"Some self-relationships are not available in OpenPages' relationship model."

"The reporting tools in IBM OpenPages have very strong potential because they are linked with Cognos IBM, a business intelligence tool, allowing for very good and complex reports, though creating these reports requires skills in business intelligence to get the most out of IBM OpenPages."

"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."

"I believe there's room for improvement in establishing connections with external information."

"IBM needs to work on pricing for organizations with around 100 users, as the licensing model is not competitive enough for SMEs."

"The most critical issue is the need to shift between uppercase and lowercase."

"Regarding the solution, reporting has certain areas that can be considered for improvement."

"The tool's script encoding needs to be updated to make it more user-friendly and less of a manual process when changes are made to a company's program. Those changes happen frequently due to mandatory or voluntary reporting requirements, leading to lost linkage connections that must be manually reset each time a change is made. This aspect is not functional now, and I see it as an opportunity for improvement."

"With this product, it's more about the integrated data model where you can have a one-to-many/many-to-one relationship between your policies and processes, risks, and controls. They need to showcase how you can put those pieces together."

"At this point, I don't see a compelling reason to invest in Workiva. It may be necessary for compliance and controlling the version of SCC, but not everyone needs its high-end capabilities."

"The speed must be improved."

"One area where Workiva Wdesk could improve is by ensuring that its cloud-based system is fully compatible with the most current versions of PowerPoint and Excel."

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Our clients in Asia think that the solution is too expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

25%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM OpenPages?

The product’s interface is very intuitive.

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What needs improvement with IBM OpenPages?

There is nothing in particular that needs improvement in IBM OpenPages, although reporting could be improved to make it easier to create reports.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM OpenPages?

My customers' main use cases for IBM OpenPages include ICT risk, operational risk management, and regulatory and compliance management.

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What needs improvement with Workiva Wdesk?

The tool's script encoding needs to be updated to make it more user-friendly and less of a manual process when changes are made to a company's program. Those changes happen frequently due to mandat...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Workiva Wdesk?

I've been working with the tool's script encoding departments and top management to address gaps in their script encoding. They are working towards closing these gaps to ensure we can continue usin...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GRC

November 2025

Download IBM OpenPages product report

Buyer's Guide

Workiva Wdesk

December 2025

Download Workiva Wdesk product report

Also Known As

OpenPages

Wdesk

Overview

Enables customers to manage risk and compliance initiatives across the enterprise, helping businesses to reduce loss, improve decision-making about resource allocation, and optimize business performance.

IBM

Wdesk is used across the enterprise to support hundreds of data collaboration, reporting, and compliance processes. Use Wdesk to:

Optimize your structured and composite reports
Improve trust in your data, reports, and presentations
Transform processes to enable insight

Workiva

Sample Customers

Nationwide, Process Innovation AG, OSRAM Licht AG, Dep‹sito Central de Valores (DCV), Delta Lloyd Group, Unum

Noodles Company, eBay, Winnebago, American Assets Trust, AmericanEnterprise, Calpian, Capstone Infrastructure, Cascades, Circor International, Coeur Mining, Davey, Dr Pepper Snapple

Buyer's Guide

IBM OpenPages vs. Workiva Wdesk

December 2025

Free Report: IBM OpenPages vs. Workiva Wdesk

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