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MetricStream vs RSA Archer vs Workiva Wdesk 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 July 2025, in the GRC category, the mindshare of MetricStream is 5.2%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RSA Archer is 16.3%, up from 16.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workiva Wdesk is 6.5%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
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.
Phillip Gough - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution is easy to deploy and enables collaboration, but it must improve its speed and enable users to create pivot tables
I rate the ease of setup an eight out of ten. The initial setup was straightforward. The solution is cloud-based. We deployed the product along with Wdata in six months. It was for a lot of use cases. To deploy the tool, we designed the use cases and developed them. Then, we went through unit tests, integration tests, and user acceptance tests. It was an Agile delivery cycle.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Easy to implement with a high level of automation."
"The solution has helped our organization manage our internal and external activities."
"It has the best workload management features."
"Solution is scalable."
"Good dashboards and reporting features; it's easy to gather reports quickly."
"Integration is another great aspect of RSA Archer. From the beginning, integration has been a central focus for RSA, and Archer has always integrated well with most tools on the market today."
"The Advance Workflow feature simplifies things."
"RSA Archer has reduced the time and effort required for meetings."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to easily upload and update financial results, creating a dynamic data sheet."
"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 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."
"It makes the compliance process more efficient and more effective."
"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."
 

Cons

"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."
"A remaining area for improvement is integration. There should be built-in integration mechanisms, for example, for organizations switching from platforms like ServiceNow to Archer, instead of custom integrations for each client."
"If you need to integrate the RSA products with another SEIM solution, then it doesn't work properly."
"The design and advanced workflow need to be improved."
"The bullet chart is the best graph for my purposes, and it should be available for inclusion in the dashboards."
"The ticket handling process could be improved."
"The solution as a whole could be simplified."
"Archer could be improved by having more customization. I'm not sure if the backend processes have API calls and those kinds of seamless integrations, but from the front, some of the solutions are very out-of-the-box. It's not customizable, so that could be a little problematic since you have to use their features. In terms of the backend structure, I'm not too sure because I'm not a developer—I was an end user and product owner of Archer—and I don't quite know the backend and developmental features. But since it's an out-of-the-box solution, sometimes customization was challenging and support was a little problematic because we had to reach out to them all the time."
"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."
"Regarding the solution, reporting has certain areas that can be considered for improvement."
"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 most critical issue is the need to shift between uppercase and lowercase."
"The speed must be improved."
"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."
"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

"They are flexible in terms of customers' needs."
"The price of the solution is very affordable."
"The solution is not at all a cheap product."
"It is not expensive. It is reasonable. We only pay for the licensing."
"The price of RSA Archer is good. The price isn't too high considering it is a leading tool in the market."
"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."
"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."
"The license is costly for the solution, but the remaining set up and maintenance is quite cheaper."
"Our clients in Asia think that the solution is too expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Insurance Company
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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 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...
What do you like most about Workiva Wdesk?
The most valuable feature is its ability to easily upload and update financial results, creating a dynamic data sheet.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workiva Wdesk?
Wdesk is affordable and as far as I'm aware, there were no additional costs beyond the standard license increase. We ...
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 change...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Archer
Wdesk
 

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
Noodles Company, eBay, Winnebago, American Assets Trust, AmericanEnterprise, Calpian, Capstone Infrastructure, Cascades, Circor International, Coeur Mining, Davey, Dr Pepper Snapple
Find out what your peers are saying about RSA, OneTrust, Diligent and others in GRC. Updated: July 2025.
862,499 professionals have used our research since 2012.