Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

MetricStream vs RSA Archer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

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

MetricStream
Ranking in GRC
10th
Ranking in IT Governance
4th
Ranking in IT Vendor Risk Management
18th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Continuous Controls Monitoring (9th)
RSA Archer
Ranking in GRC
1st
Ranking in IT Governance
1st
Ranking in IT Vendor Risk Management
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the GRC category, the mindshare of MetricStream is 3.1%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RSA Archer is 5.6%, down from 16.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
GRC Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
RSA Archer5.6%
MetricStream3.1%
Other91.3%
GRC
 

Featured Reviews

JQ
Owner at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Centralized risk libraries have streamlined audits and now highlight clunky workflows and upgrades
MetricStream can be improved in several areas. Sometimes the overall flow of the application can seem a bit clunky, based on feedback from clients. From my understanding and what I have heard from developers within MetricStream during my deeper use of the application, the application seems to have been developed within silos, and the interaction of certain applications internally could definitely be improved in terms of the overall coding that exists between applications within the solution. The only improvement I suggest for MetricStream is to gather a collaborative think tank from several of the largest clients and compile feedback to prioritize suggested enhancements from multiple organizations.
CJ
Information Security Specialist at Dubai Health Authority
Centralized management strengthens compliance with good look and feel
From my perspective as a customer and end user, Archer has an impressive look and feel, but the most adaptive feature is its ease of configuration which helps to enhance our process according to our maturity. It's more about our organization getting centralized with an integrated approach that focuses on risk governance and compliance. When can provide a detailed dashboards to management with the details of risks from top-down or bottom-up prioritizing actions based on its criticality or necessity. This allows us to show end users and management where the issues lie and effectively demonstrate accountability and visibility in compliance.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Since implementing MetricStream, audit teams have shaved about two weeks off of annual planning across various teams, allowing audit departments of about 140 auditors across maybe 10 teams to squeeze in 10 extra audits, one audit per each team, if not additional testing."
"The interface is mobile-friendly and it is getting a good response from our customers."
"Key features are usability and ease of configuration, and it allows us to have all the information in a single place and provide real-time indicators and information for our executives."
"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 solution has helped our organization manage our internal and external activities."
"RSA Archer is a good tool and I have found performing the application, ISMS, and TPRM assessments beneficial."
"Good dashboards and reporting features; it's easy to gather reports quickly."
"From my perspective as a customer and end user, RSA is about the look and feel."
"Enables development of any application, automation of any workflow including the GRC work processes."
"Overall, I would give it a nine out of ten."
"Flexible record permissions and data import features."
"Solution is scalable."
 

Cons

"MetricStream's scalability is adaptable, though the biggest issue I have encountered with clients has been around upgrades that require re-implementing customizations to the out-of-box solutions after significant upgrades."
"We would like to have more dashboards and reports, such as geographical and trend reports in the next version."
"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."
"RSA Archer might be a bit expensive for small companies because it's a vast tool."
"The solution can be a little slow due to the Silverlight feature."
"The interface just looks old."
"We evaluated Archer but at the time its poor support for Basel (e.g. cap allocation) was a deal stopper for us."
"The financial area of RSA Archer has room for improvement."
"The user interface needs work. There are many small text boxes, like credit card size's boxes, where we need to input a lot of text. You can't see what you're typing beyond the tiny window, so you have to scroll or type elsewhere and copy-paste it. It's very inconvenient."
"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."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They are flexible in terms of customers' needs."
"The solution's price should be reduced. You only have to pay the license and there are no additional fees."
"Fairly highly-priced, especially for smaller companies."
"The pricing is okay. The licensing costs are very reasonable; it is very affordable to us."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"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."
"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 license is costly for the solution, but the remaining set up and maintenance is quite cheaper."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which GRC solutions are best for your needs.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Insurance Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
5%
 

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 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 OpenPages has a slightly upper hand as IBM has come up with powerful Artificial ...
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...
What advice do you have for others considering RSA Archer?
I have been in touch with about three companies who use RSA Archer actively in the compliance area. These companies use RSA Archer for nearly all purposes, including governance, internal risk, and ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
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
T-Systems, Bridge Point, Equifax, First Data, Global Imaging Company, Manulife Financial
Find out what your peers are saying about MetricStream vs. RSA Archer and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.