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

Microsoft Active Directory vs One Identity Active Roles comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 9, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
4.4
Microsoft Active Directory enhances efficiency and access control, providing value through centralized management despite lacking direct ROI calculation.
Sentiment score
5.4
One Identity Active Roles enhances efficiency with automation, improving user satisfaction, data consistency, and reducing security risks and incidents.
The solution is really time-saving since I don't need to create users in each server or system manually, and user access control is streamlined.
Senior Consutant at HCLSoftware
One Identity Active Roles provides excellent reporting and auditing functionality, allowing administrators to track permissions, actions, and responsibilities effectively.
solution architect/ engineer at APEX.IT Sp. z o.o.
It has saved 90% of the time compared to before.
IAM Specialist
One Identity has a theme that they want the right people to have the right set of access, and this is what they are able to provide with their tool.
Assistant Manager- Pre-sales ( IT-Enterprise Vertical ) at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.5
Microsoft Active Directory support is inconsistent, with varying response quality, reliance on online resources, and better service via premium options.
Sentiment score
6.9
One Identity Active Roles customer service is praised but occasionally delayed, with mixed experiences on complex issue resolution.
Support documents are available on the internet in every language.
Owner at a computer software company with 1-10 employees
If you purchase retail, the support will be more difficult because they will assess the priority or rating from the customer.
IT Operations & Security at veris
Sometimes support takes long to engage and resolve, extending over weeks or even months.
Senior Consutant at HCLSoftware
Everything is good, and I can give One Identity technical support a rating of ten.
Assistant Manager- Pre-sales ( IT-Enterprise Vertical ) at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
One Identity's support is great.
Team Lead, Technical & Enterprise Directory Services Vita Program at AIS Network
I rate customer service and support as a seven because, although they are helpful when needed, there can be delays in responding to tickets and finding necessary fixes.
IAM Product owner at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.2
Microsoft Active Directory is scalable and integrates well, but faces challenges at larger scales, suggesting hybrid solutions.
Sentiment score
7.3
One Identity Active Roles is scalable and adaptable, excelling in diverse environments but faces scaling challenges with Azure and large scripts.
Microsoft Active Directory scales effectively; I don't foresee any issues with that at all.
Network Security Administrator at a retailer with 51-200 employees
It is very beneficial for large and complex environments.
Team Lead, Technical & Enterprise Directory Services Vita Program at AIS Network
If you are a major enterprise customer, it is a matter of scaling out on resources with more memory, disk, and CPU power.
IAM Specialist
The solution is highly scalable, with a scalability rating of nine.
IAM Product owner at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Active Directory is praised for its stability and reliability, with minor issues not significantly affecting performance.
Sentiment score
7.1
One Identity Active Roles is generally stable, with occasional performance issues, but most users rate its stability highly.
If you meet the installation requirements from Microsoft, it will be very stable.
IT Operations & Security at veris
With multiple domain controllers, stability is ensured.
Senior Consutant at HCLSoftware
I've been working with Microsoft Active Directory for over 3 years, and we've had no problems.
Network Security Administrator at a retailer with 51-200 employees
There were no major problems with One Identity Active Roles.
solution architect/ engineer at APEX.IT Sp. z o.o.
Regarding stability, One Identity Active Roles is mostly stable.
Director, Identity & M365 Engineering at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
We haven't had any glitches.
IAM Specialist
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Active Directory needs improvements in usability, integration, security updates, synchronization, setup, reporting, support, scalability, and email group sync.
Enhancements needed in customization, scripting, workflows, Azure integration, pricing, change tracking, UI, and documentation for improved usability.
Exporting and verifying group memberships require command line scripts, which isn't simple.
Senior Consutant at HCLSoftware
There are some features that need improvements in terms of ease of use and frequency of updates.
Information Technology Specialist at stelios@biolandenergy.com
Sometimes, it can be overly complicated, and when you apply Group Policy in an Active Directory environment, sometimes those settings apply and sometimes they don't.
Network Security Administrator at a retailer with 51-200 employees
A way to connect to various directories and integrate with cloud directories would be beneficial.
Team Lead, Technical & Enterprise Directory Services Vita Program at AIS Network
Enhancements to the console are also necessary because it is more confusing than the web interface.
System Administrator at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
The user interface needs to be more modern and scalable.
IAM Specialist
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Active Directory pricing varies by region and model; Azure offers cost-effective solutions for large enterprises despite perceived expense.
Enterprise users find One Identity Active Roles pricing high but justifiable, offering flexible licensing without strict user limits.
For the cloud solution in our region, the pricing of Microsoft Active Directory is very high.
Network & Security Section Head/Digital Transformation at City Edge
I consider Microsoft Active Directory expensive because if you buy this thing bundled with the Windows Directory Server, you get five user licenses for about a thousand euros, or a little bit less than this.
Owner at Syntlogo GmbH
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing with Microsoft Active Directory is straightforward; you just buy the server and then have to buy the user CALs.
Network Security Administrator at a retailer with 51-200 employees
It is quite expensive, costing more than 50 euros per identity.
solution architect/ engineer at APEX.IT Sp. z o.o.
I think our total was in the seven-figure range for a couple of years of service.
Director, Identity & M365 Engineering at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The pricing is high.
Team Lead, Technical & Enterprise Directory Services Vita Program at AIS Network
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Active Directory simplifies management with integration, group policies, and scalable operations across on-premises and cloud environments.
One Identity Active Roles enhances security and efficiency with automated provisioning, centralized auditing, and streamlined management across domains.
To assess the impact of Microsoft Active Directory's centralized domain management on security protocols and access permissions, Microsoft Active Directory itself has constraints with security because when we have a solution such as SSO or Single Sign-On, which makes it easier for users to log in, some parts have security openings.
IT Operations & Security at veris
One valuable feature is the centralized creation of IDs.
Senior Consutant at HCLSoftware
I can control all the devices in my domain by just changing the group policies in one place.
Information Technology Specialist at stelios@biolandenergy.com
It's improved our security posture. It has limited access to our crown jewels, where all our identities lie within Active Directory.
IAM Specialist
It helps in removing custom Active Directory delegation, which enhances security by eliminating unnecessary privileges, addressing identity-based breaches by reducing the number of Active Directory delegations.
Head of Global Digital Identity Services at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
Dynamic groups are also one of the best features, eliminating the need to add or manage members manually.
Technical Specialist at LSEG
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Active Directory
Ranking in Active Directory Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (9th)
One Identity Active Roles
Ranking in Active Directory Management
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (5th), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Active Directory is 6.2%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of One Identity Active Roles is 10.8%, up from 6.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Active Directory Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
One Identity Active Roles10.8%
Microsoft Active Directory6.2%
Other83.0%
Active Directory Management
 

Featured Reviews

Eko Kurniawan - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Operations & Security at veris
Has simplified credential management and improved secure access control across departments
The features I find most useful in Microsoft Active Directory are especially for the Single Sign-On. This is very useful for users, particularly if they have plenty of applications, such as tablet applications. When they log in to their computer, the application will automatically log in with their credentials. They don't need to remember another user and password to log in to the application because it's already maintained with Microsoft Active Directory using Single Sign-On. To assess the impact of Microsoft Active Directory's centralized domain management on security protocols and access permissions, Microsoft Active Directory itself has constraints with security because when we have a solution such as SSO or Single Sign-On, which makes it easier for users to log in, some parts have security openings. When their computer is compromised with a threat, malware, or other cyber threats, it becomes easier to enter the application without login permission.
Grzegorz Kosela - PeerSpot reviewer
solution architect/ engineer at APEX.IT Sp. z o.o.
Task automation simplifies user and delegation management while offering a customizable interface
Currently, task automation, like provisioning, deprovisioning, and reprovisioning, is very effective. When a user moves from one organization to another, it automatically changes their group membership and performs similar functions. Secondly, the granular delegation feature is very nice and much simpler and easier than it is natively in Microsoft. Two years ago, One Identity Active Roles was under Dell. It was quite poor. However, now, there have been notable improvements, such as faster system processing, better logging, enhanced information, and a more user-friendly interface. Once it was sold by Dell, things got better. The interface became a bit more user-friendly. The Angular user interface is much more flexible for adjusting to customer needs, and a completely new and customizable one can be created, aligning with all settings and scripts required by a customer. The ease of managing on-prem and cloud-based directories through a single pane of glass is good. I'd rate it nine out of ten. The solution's ability to provision and deprovision resources and directories like Azure AD is very simple, especially when you can integrate with the HR system and grab some data from HR. It's actually fully automatic. I don't need to even touch it. It's helped increase operational efficiency by 50%. It's helped decrease security problems around privileged accounts. We were able to decrease the number of privileged accounts and have been able to delegate more effectively. We decreased the number of high-level permissions that administrators had. For example, if someone is a DNS administrator, he has access only as far as the specific actions he needs to handle. We don't need to give away such high privileges for such a daily job. It's helped clarify roles and access. It's helped reduce identity-based breaches. If someone leaves a company, we can easily undo provisioning and close accounts. We can generate reports to see which people have which permissions and at what times. We've just integrated with our HR system. It helps us follow activated and deactivated users. I'd rate the granular controls on offer ten out of ten. We've saved on manpower in terms of the work of the administrators. There's good reporting and functionality, and it's very transparent. You can connect more than one directory and manage everything from one pane. You can do many things from one interface.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Active Directory Management solutions are best for your needs.
880,745 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Active Directory?
The solution is easy to install and has good reliability.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Active Directory?
The best way to protect this is to use Microsoft Defender. For Microsoft support for Microsoft Active Directory, I would rate it as eight. If I give it 10, it would be too perfect. Eight is fair. M...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Active Directory?
My main use cases for Microsoft Active Directory are to manage user access and credentials.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for One Identity Active Roles?
Regarding the pricing of One Identity Active Roles, it is definitely on the expensive side compared to solutions for what it does. It is a necessary need for us. I don't know One Identity Active Ro...
What needs improvement with One Identity Active Roles?
One of the things I would like to see more robust is the change history. One Identity Active Roles can only monitor changes that happen in the console, and the logs don't go back longer than thirty...
What is your primary use case for One Identity Active Roles?
One Identity Active Roles is used for delegated access. It helps with RBAC controls and allows us to manipulate across our facilities which OUs in Active Directory they can manage, along with dynam...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Quest Active Roles
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
City of Frankfurt, Moore Public Schools, George Washington University, Transavia Airlines, Howard County, MD. See all stories at OneIdentity.com/casestudies
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Active Directory vs. One Identity Active Roles and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
880,745 professionals have used our research since 2012.