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Microsoft Identity Manager vs One Identity Manager 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.5
Microsoft Identity Manager is used for compliance and security, with some noting a 15% ROI and time savings.
Sentiment score
5.6
One Identity Manager improves productivity and security by automating user provisioning, streamlining operations, and enhancing organizational efficiency globally.
Without it, we would need thousands of additional people.
enterprise it architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
If you do not see it as purely an Identity Management tool but as a possibility to automate processes in the company, it provides a huge amount of value.
Managing Director at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
One Identity Manager saved us approximately thirty to forty percent in terms of time, money, and resources compared to our pre-deployment setup.
IAM functional analyst at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Microsoft Identity Manager customer service is knowledgeable but varies in response time and accessibility, with improvements desired.
Sentiment score
6.6
One Identity Manager's customer service is perceived as generally good, with varying experiences regarding responsiveness and technical support.
I rate the technical support nine out of ten.
CISO at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
It is important to get to the right engineer quickly, but the process sometimes involves multiple levels before reaching the best support.
Consultant at IOM - UN Migration
The technical support is of good quality
Senior SOC Developer at XVE Security
If you have outages or critical production problems, you can count on the manufacturer to help resolve the situation.
Managing Director at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
They should focus on bringing in technically skilled individuals who understand the tools and technologies involved.
Back End Developer at DC Smarter
Compared to my experiences with other tools, their support is exemplary.
Senior Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Identity Manager is scalable for enterprises but may not be cost-effective or efficient for smaller or very large setups.
Sentiment score
7.1
One Identity Manager is praised for scalability, adaptability, and effective system expansion, though high user volumes may affect performance.
In terms of scalability, Microsoft Identity Manager allows management of up to 400,000 objects with a standard configuration.
Consultant at IOM - UN Migration
We could handle about 1,00,000 records for different users.
I would rate its scalability as strong since we have not experienced any significant challenges.
IAM functional analyst at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
This includes designing and implementing IAM solutions for legacy systems, cloud migrations, and multifactor authentications.
Business Analyst at tcs
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Identity Manager is highly stable, but some users face challenges with SharePoint integration and system performance changes.
Sentiment score
7.3
One Identity Manager is stable, especially in versions 8 and 9, with high user ratings for reliability and minimal downtime.
Not all conditions can be satisfied at all times, leading to some employee or user accounts experiencing deviations and syncing issues.
Consultant at IOM - UN Migration
I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability.
Senior identity and security specialist at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Specifically affecting the test and development environments, not the production environment.
One Identity Manager has improved in terms of performance and added functionality.
Managing Director at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Identity Manager needs improved integration, support, and documentation, while reducing costs and enhancing features compared to competitors like Okta.
Enhance One Identity Manager by simplifying UI, improving support, expanding integrations, and addressing migration, pricing, and training needs.
The current policy management features are limited, and custom, flexible policies would be ideal.
Senior SOC Developer at XVE Security
While the initial setup of Microsoft Identity Manager is not completely complex, migrating or upgrading to a new version can be complex and requires multiple backups to ensure it goes smoothly.
Consultant at IOM - UN Migration
This lack of 24-hour support is problematic from a testing and development standpoint.
It is crucial for them to expand their support team to match their product's success.
Lead Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
When it comes to privileged access management, we need to know who has access to what, which is the central problem we want to solve.
Principal Cybersecurity Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Identity Manager is typically included in premium licenses with varied opinions on cost-effectiveness and decent bundled value.
One Identity Manager offers competitive pricing and value, but may be expensive upfront for small businesses due to hardware costs.
Microsoft's licenses are bundled, allowing access to multiple services, which is beneficial.
CISO at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
The pricing of Microsoft Identity Manager is expensive.
Senior SOC Developer at XVE Security
Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Identity Manager, it has a couple of cloud connectors that can sync directly with the O365 admin center, which is good enough.
Consultant at IOM - UN Migration
On-premises might incur higher costs.
IAM DEVELOPER at a university with 10,001+ employees
We have a good enterprise license agreement, and we are very happy with what we get for the price we pay for it.
enterprise it architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
On-premises, it is cheap.
Senior identity and security specialist at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Identity Manager features seamless integration, robust security, and user-friendly interface, enhancing identity and access management across environments.
One Identity Manager offers customizable, user-friendly management with strong integration, automation, and security features for efficient access control.
The features of Microsoft Identity Manager that have been most impactful in improving security and compliance include the granular policies, report, and the ability to gain end-to-end visibility for each user.
CISO at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
These features have been impactful in improving our security and compliance.
Senior SOC Developer at XVE Security
The best features of Microsoft Identity Manager are its 100% compatibility with Active Directory.
Consultant at IOM - UN Migration
It ensures high security through multiple approval processes, preventing unauthorized access and enhancing compliance by providing time-based access for privileged accounts with proper audit trails.
Principal Consultant at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It continuously monitors user behavior in real-time, triggering automated responses, and manages secure access for both on-premises and cloud applications using protocols such as SAML.
IAM DEVELOPER at a university with 10,001+ employees
Once you have some experience, it demonstrates best practices and guides you on the correct way to use the tool.
IAM Developer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Identity Manager
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
One Identity Manager
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
133
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Identity Management (IM) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Identity Manager is 2.3%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of One Identity Manager is 4.8%, down from 6.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Management (IM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
One Identity Manager4.8%
Microsoft Identity Manager2.3%
Other92.9%
Identity Management (IM)
 

Featured Reviews

RameshKumar9 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at IOM - UN Migration
Supports reliable identity management and custom policy design
Microsoft Identity Manager can be improved by integrating it with Entra ID as a SaaS application or by having a cloud-based connector, as it is currently limited to on-prem scenarios, and a combination of both would be a great solution compared to competitors such as SailPoint or One Identity Manager. While the initial setup of Microsoft Identity Manager is not completely complex, migrating or upgrading to a new version can be complex and requires multiple backups to ensure it goes smoothly.
reviewer2538840 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior identity and security specialist at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Highly flexible and stable, but lacks in many aspects and requires a strong partner
In terms of providing a single platform for enterprise-level administration and governance of users, data, and privileged accounts, One Identity is not yet there. One Identity recently bought OneLogin. They already had Safeguard and One Identity Manager. They have started integrating these three tools. I am also on the customer advisory board (CAB) of One Identity, so I have more insight into these things. I know that they started to integrate OneLogin and One Identity just recently. OneLogin is their access management tool. They use it for authentication and for SSO. It is a competitor for Entra and Okta, whereas Safeguard is competing with CyberArk, Delinea, and BeyondTrust. One Identity has indeed done good integration between their three products. However, the platform is not unified. You still need three URLs, which is not optimal. They are going there, but it will take them time. The second thing they are not yet good at is their SaaS offering. They are behind in the market. They started with something in Safeguard, but it is a pretty basic offering. It is still a new baby. They have Safeguard On Demand, but it is just a hosted PAM solution. I did PoC for Safeguard twice. This is how I know this, but I have not used it. As PAM, Safeguard is a good product, but it is not a full-featured PAM like CyberArk or BeyondTrust. They are lacking in that aspect. The integration between One Identity's products is similar to BMC's integration. I used to work with BMC products such as BMC Remedy ten years ago. I used to be an ITSM or Control-M guy. When BMC integrated its products, the integration was not well done. It was like two different entities trying to integrate with each other rather than one company giving you a fully-fledged platform. The same thing is happening with One Identity Manager at the moment. They are selling it as a unified platform, but in my opinion, it is not yet good. It is also not bad. There are things that I can take from it, but there is no complete picture. The problem nowadays is that vendors are getting into each other's areas. For example, CyberArk used to be just a PAM provider, so people would integrate with it, but now, CyberArk wants to do the identity bit. It has now become a competitor for other vendors, so they will stop integrating with it. SailPoint, at some point, stopped integrating with CyberArk. SailPoint and CyberArk's integration was good. This is what is happening in the market or between vendors. All of them are getting into each other's area. If you happen to buy another product from a competitor, you need to integrate it on your own. There is no integration plug-in concept between them. This is a bit hard for companies that already have a PAM and they want to buy a new IGA, for example, or vice versa. They are trying to shift towards an Angular-based platform for their web portal or for IT Shop. That has been very long overdue because they did not modernize their web portal for almost three versions. They are doing it, but there is no feature parity till version 9.3, which is the upcoming version. This is a problem. For example, data governance is not included in 9.2 if you want to upgrade, but if you do not upgrade, you lose support. They have these issues with the roadmap in general. They give you options, but they are not always the complete options. To me, it seems that this company is going to suffer in the long run. Another issue is that for admin requests, we have to configure the tool at least in seven different clients, which is unacceptable. We are in 2024, not in 1981 or 1985. Having seven clients for the same tool, or more, is just unheard of. To me, that is a very old design idea. I am on the newest version 9.2, and I am still doing that. To me, that is a big problem as an admin. The relationship with the customers is extremely bad. That is not a technical problem. That is a company problem. They tried to fix that, but it seems they failed. They do not have the personnel. They have a hiring problem. They now rely on partners. They are a type of company where the partner is more of a vendor to you as a client rather than the company itself. If you want to pick any solution by One Identity, you need a very strong partner with you. If you do not, you will struggle with this product's adoption, roadmap, vision, and implementation. We struggle a lot as a client. I have been there. I have seen that. It is not easy with them. One Identity is based in Europe. Our account manager at One Identity resigned in May and till now, just to show how bad they are, we do not know who our new account manager is. We are in August. Their Starling Connect roadmap or flagship is a failure. We had to withdraw from using it with SuccessFactors, for example. It had a lot of stability issues. Now, my understanding is better, but it caused a bad implementation, so we are not using it. They are not investing a lot in enhancing or extending Starling Connect. They are using Starling Connect as a propagation gateway to SaaS apps so that you have One Identity Manager on-prem talking to Starling Connect which is handling all SaaS apps. However, the roadmap for Starling Connect is not clear. Now that they have bought OneLogin, OneLogin can do that as well as an IAM tool. You can now bring any IAM or CIAM tool such as Entra, Okta, or OneLogin. They can be your propagation gateway. OneLogin and Starling Connect are competing products, and they need to unify them. They cannot have both products doing the same thing. When I discussed this with the head of engineering from their side, they were still defending having Starling Connect. I do not understand why because if you have a proper IAM such as Entra or Okta, that is your propagation gateway. That is it. You can do everything you want with it. You can merge the functionality, and that is it. You do not need Starling Connect. To me, this is confusing. You use a propagation gateway like Starling Connect because it has ready plug-ins to connect to SaaS apps and you do not need to create a custom connector every time. If you look at the number of apps that One Identity supports with Starling Connect, there are not more than 50, which is not a lot. There is a big difference when you compare it to Okta Marketplace or Entra Marketplace. You will immediately understand the difference. OneLogin's marketplace is better than Starling Connect, but OneLogin was not a part of One Identity before, so they had their own marketplace. Overall, the Starling Connect roadmap does not make sense to me. They need to remove the dependency on VB.NET for backend development and they need to unify the front end. If they are selling it as a unified product, they need to give me a unified UX. This is something I have mentioned to Mark Logan himself. This is how ServiceNow won over Remedy. Having a unified UX and being able to turn on or off a feature is better than trying to connect three or four different products with different contracts. To me, the main thing is that they need to modernize their application. Once we do that, making it SaaS is doable.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business42
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise87
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Identity Manager?
Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Identity Manager, it has a couple of cloud connectors that can sync directly with the O365 admin center, which is good enough, but Entra I...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Identity Manager?
Microsoft Identity Manager can be improved by integrating it with Entra ID as a SaaS application or by having a cloud-based connector, as it is currently limited to on-prem scenarios, and a combina...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Identity Manager?
The typical use case for Microsoft Identity Manager is to automate Active Directory, where it is responsible for onboarding new employees to on-premises AD or to the cloud based on certain criteria.
What do you like most about One Identity Manager?
The One Identity birthright process has helped generate user accounts more accurately and quickly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for One Identity Manager?
Specific details regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing cannot be shared. However, One Identity is quite affordable, particularly with partner status.
What needs improvement with One Identity Manager?
One of the improvements concerning One Identity Manager that I mentioned before is that we need to add the Arabic language for the web portal and APIs. The Arabic language is the main thing that af...
 

Also Known As

MIM, Forefront Identity Manager, FIM, MS Identity Manager
Quest One Identity Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Whole Foods Market
Texas A&M, Sky Media, BHF Bank, Swiss Post, Union Investment, Wayne State University. More at OneIdentity.com/casestudies
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Identity Manager vs. One Identity Manager and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
880,511 professionals have used our research since 2012.