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MetricStream vs RSA Archer vs RiskOptics ROAR Platform 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 September 2025, in the GRC category, the mindshare of MetricStream is 4.8%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RiskOptics ROAR Platform is 0.8%, down from 0.9% 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%
MetricStream4.8%
RiskOptics ROAR Platform0.8%
Other80.5%
GRC
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Ankita Sabale - PeerSpot reviewer
Acts as a software inventory of applications in an environment
I face some difficulty while upgrading any field in the application. Suppose I change an application's IT owner field, which is at the end of the application. After I save the change, it takes me to the top of the page, which is an issue for me. After you change and save the pre-filled specific information at the end of an application page, the application will again take you to the top of the page.
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 interface is mobile-friendly and it is getting a good response from our customers."
"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."
"We can get all the information about all the applications in a single platform."
"RSA Archer has reduced the time and effort required for meetings."
"The integrated data model of a one-to-many/many-to-one relationship is quite useful."
"The solution has helped our organization manage our internal and external activities."
"The most valuable features of RSA Archer are the asset management, risk management, and vendor management."
"First of all, its access control feature where it provides application level access, solution level access, and even recall access, as well."
"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."
"Flexible record permissions and data import features."
"Solution is scalable."
 

Cons

"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."
"I would like to see out-of-the-box integration with more security, it would be helpful."
"After you change and save the pre-filled specific information at the end of an application page, the application will again take you to the top of the page."
"When we have to do formulas or some other type of calculation in Archer, it sometimes doesn't work correctly. The fields don't display right, and we have to contact RSA Archer support to fix things. I think the calculation components are a bit complicated."
"It would be nice if RSA Archer featured more customization. When customers are updating, they should be notified whether certain updates are optional. The install screen should not proceed to the next page unless we make some selections about which updates we want to install."
"Initially, technical support is a little weak, and I would rate it six out of ten. The issue with initial support is that new engineers are often not as experienced."
"The bullet chart is the best graph for my purposes, and it should be available for inclusion in the dashboards."
"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."
"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."
"Some areas are not truly automated but are only scheduled."
"I find the tech support to be inadequately knowledgeable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They are flexible in terms of customers' needs."
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."
"The solution is not at all a cheap product."
"The pricing is okay. The licensing costs are very reasonable; it is very affordable to us."
"The price of the solution is very affordable."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"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."
"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."
"The license is costly for the solution, but the remaining set up and maintenance is quite cheaper."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
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
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

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 RiskOptics ROAR Platform?
We can get all the information about all the applications in a single platform.
What needs improvement with RiskOptics ROAR Platform?
I face some difficulty while upgrading any field in the application. Suppose I change an application's IT owner field...
What is your primary use case for RiskOptics ROAR Platform?
RiskOptics ROAR Platform is a software inventory of applications in our environment or applications we have integrate...
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?
While it provides benefits in terms of security, the pricing is a bit higher than customers typically expect. It woul...
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 ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ZenGRC
Archer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Walmart, Airbnb, Peak 10, State of Colorado, salesforce.com, GitHub, Alaska Airlines, Montgomery College
T-Systems, Bridge Point, Equifax, First Data, Global Imaging Company, Manulife Financial
Find out what your peers are saying about RSA, OneTrust, Diligent and others in GRC. Updated: September 2025.
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