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IBM Tivoli Identity Manager [EOL] vs OpenText Identity Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 21, 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

IBM Tivoli Identity Manager...
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OpenText Identity Manager
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (9th), Identity Management (IM) (15th), Identity Governance Administration (IGA) (7th)
 

Featured Reviews

it_user711912 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder at a tech services company
Ease of configuration is the most valuable feature.
The engine is getting a bit long in the tooth, the UI should be redone to be a bit more modern and flexible. The software has been running pretty much on the same UI for a long time. The self-service UI was not a good enough improvement due to the "self-only" part. Lately there's been improvement, but other vendors seem to have much slicker UIs. Users want wizard-like UIs nowadays (in my experience). They don't want to navigate endless menus and selections. The engine is still the same clump of Java it was long ago as Enrole. But now it's a notably larger collection of extensions, and IBM has it reasonably documented. When done correctly, customizations are stable, but when done incorrectly they may cause hangs in the database that are difficult to resolve. Outside of that, the Adapter Development Tool (ADT), an old and (officially) unsupported tool made and maintained by an IBMer seems to no longer be maintained. A lot of people used this tool to create customized adapters for ITIM, expanding it further than IBM ever could. Now it seems all gone.
reviewer2401464 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Updates systems quickly and does not have a limit on the number of users
NetIQ does not have a limit on the number of users. The tool is secure by nature. It can have more than one billion users. Event-based systems know what has to be changed. SQL-based systems can only change using time and date. Event-based systems provide immediate results, while SQL-based systems need time to sync. It is totally different from a security perspective. Event-based systems can update all the systems in seconds or minutes. Other systems do it within 24 hours. The basic event-based system is AI-driven. It has some kind of robotics and programming. Other tools need programming. I like systems that have prebuilt ideas of security. NetIQ has been in the market for a long period. It has all the systems and connectors. There is not much coding. We just need to configure the products. We need not do any programming. I haven't seen any other product that needs only configuration to do the job. Most products in the market are SQL-based. They need programming. Some service providers who sell other products to customers do not sell NetIQ because they can make more money by selling solutions that need more consultancy and programming. More hours lead to more money.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ROI of IAM projects and platforms is to enable our employees to work on their application in a short time."
"The provisioning is now automated via TIM."
"It is a very good product and easy to maintain accounts and easy to integrate with target system."
"This product is mainly used to implement secure access of web applications,"
"Go for it as it is one the best solutions in its class for identity management."
"Customer Service: 10/10 - the best."
"Ease of configuration is the most valuable feature, most things work with clicks and the rest with JavaScript."
"The ability to suspend/restore user accounts across multiple products over which Tivoli controls security."
"NetIQ does not have a limit on the number of users."
"The most valuable features of NetIQ Identity Manager are the synchronization of different directories, such as Active Directory. We have many Active Directory systems, not only one."
"The most valuable features are Password Reset Alerts, Password Sync, and SQL connectors."
"To my knowledge it is the only event based IDM system."
"The most valuable feature of this solution has been the ability for us to integrate a lot of external systems, and the automatic transfer of a lot of identity information."
"The greater strength was to keep the identities synchronized without failures in both attributes and passwords."
"It has reduced time and resource costs due to automation of previously hand-managed tasks like provisioning, granting access, distribution and access to different enterprise connected applications."
"The identity vault, password syncing and self service Password Reset are valuable features, and NetIQ does a good job with password syncing among directories."
 

Cons

"Little complicated - needs technical skills to setup - later version are being moved to appliances."
"UI could be more user friendly and it could allow more customization."
"The product is complex to install, configure and maintain."
"There is no way to clone or copy policies."
"Handling bulk requests is very difficult to configure as it creates a lot of issues."
"UI needs to be more customizable."
"It's highly dependent on the database connection, if there would be even a slight network glitch in the connection between Tivoli and, mostly DB2, databases and the system was not able to recover and re-establish the connection, it would require a complete environment restart."
"While integrating with application server and implementing SSO I faced some issues."
"The interface is old and outdated, and the design software seems archaic."
"NetIQ Identity Manager could improve by updating the user portal, it is out of date."
"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."
"NetIQ Identity Manager could improve by updating the user portal, it is out of date."
"User Application UI Product Licensing"
"The user facing interfaces are not too friendly and they are also fairly hard to configure."
"The integrations must be made easier."
"There's no huge thing missing, because it's already comprehensive. Now and then, however, there might be a minor issue."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"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."
"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."
"You just need to be aware that the more systems you connect, the more license fees you have to pay."
"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."
"The price of the solution is a bit high and could be reduced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about NetIQ Identity Manager?
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 ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetIQ Identity Manager?
The pricing depends on whether we buy the solution as a service or a license. The license is expensive. If we buy it as a service for a large number of users, it is the cheapest tool we can get. Th...
What needs improvement with NetIQ Identity Manager?
The tool is used mostly in big systems to understand what is happening. There are not many technicians who know how to use the product. The vendor must provide an easier console for configuring thi...
 

Also Known As

Tivoli Identity Manager, IBM Security Identity Manager
Novell Identity Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Whirlpool Corporation, EXA Corporation, Arla Foods, Iceland Government
Sheetz
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