No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Active Roles by One Identity vs OpenText Identity Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 20, 2026

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

Active Roles by One Identity
Ranking in User Provisioning Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
Active Directory Management (1st), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (1st)
OpenText Identity Manager
Ranking in User Provisioning Software
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (24th), Identity Governance Administration (IGA) (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the User Provisioning Software category, the mindshare of Active Roles by One Identity is 5.4%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Identity Manager is 3.2%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
User Provisioning Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Active Roles by One Identity5.4%
OpenText Identity Manager3.2%
Other91.4%
User Provisioning Software
 

Featured Reviews

Varun Mehra - PeerSpot reviewer
collaboration support engineer at a retailer with 11-50 employees
Automation has transformed onboarding and access control and now streamlines daily governance
While One Identity Active Roles is a strong identity and access management solution overall, there are a few areas where it could improve. One challenge we experienced was the initial setup and configuration complexity. Deploying workflows, policies, and delegation models require careful planning and a good understanding of the Active Directory environment. For organizations without experienced administrators, the learning curve can feel quite steep in the beginning. The user interface could also be more modern and intuitive. Some administrative tasks require navigating through multiple menus and the overall experience could be simplified for faster day-to-day management. Another area for improvement is reporting and customization. While the auditing features are good, creating highly customized reports sometimes requires additional efforts or scripting knowledge. More built-in reporting templates and easier dashboard customization would be helpful. We have also noticed that troubleshooting workflows or synchronization issues can occasionally take time because the logs can be very detailed and technical. Better diagnostic tools and simpler error explanations would improve the operational experience. That said, once the platform is properly configured and maintained, it performs reliably and delivers strong automation, delegation, and governance capabilities. One additional area where One Identity Active Roles could improve is cloud integration and hybrid environment management. While it works well with Active Directory and the Microsoft environment, organizations moving heavily towards cloud-first infrastructure may want even deeper and more seamless integration with modern SaaS platforms and identity providers. Performance optimization in large environments could be improved. In very large enterprise deployments with complex workflows and multiple managed domains, some administrative actions and synchronization tasks can occasionally feel slower than expected. Another point is documentation and onboarding resources. The product is feature-rich, but some advanced configurations require going through extensive documentation. More practical examples, guided setup wizards, and easier to follow best practice guides would help new administrators adopt the platform faster. Overall, the core functionality is solid, and most of the pain points are related more to usability, complexity, and modernization rather than the reliability. One additional improvement I would mention is around integration flexibility with third-party ITSM and DevOps tools. While the platform integrates well within Microsoft-centric environments, broader out-of-the-box integration and simpler API workflows for non-Microsoft ecosystems would make deployment and automation easier for organizations using diverse infrastructure. Another area is upgrade and migration simplicity. In enterprise environments, version upgrades and environment migration sometimes require careful planning and testing. Streamlining that process with more automated compatibility checks and migration assistance would reduce operational overhead.
GA
IDM Consultant at GCA Consultoria de Informática Ltda
Highly flexible with many connectors, offers excellent scalability
The initial deployment of the environment typically takes about a day to a day and a half to install and configure all the servers. Integrating applications can vary, with easy and well-documented integrations taking around 40 hours, while more complex ones may take up to 80 hours or more. However, integration with applications can vary in complexity, depending on their documentation and APIs. We prioritize integrations based on customer needs, starting with HR systems and adapting to their specific requirements for user configuration. Typically, a deployment team consists of up to four people, depending on project size, with expertise in operating systems and integration. For ongoing management and maintenance, at most two people are required to monitor servers, and integrations, and address any issues that arise.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Since we have implemented One Identity Active Roles, we have seen significant improvements, with faster user management, better control over Active Directory, reduced errors, and improved security."
"The AD and AAD management features of this solution are really good... They offer added value by showing more fields such as password age and the statuses of some things that we normally wouldn't see."
"Over a decade, this solution has done its job; it's a very stable system, easy to implement, easy to upgrade, and has very low operation maintenance costs."
"Overall, beyond just making tasks easier, it adds a strong layer of control, security, and visibility of AD operations."
"One Identity Active Roles has positively impacted our organization by improving AD administration efficiency, reducing manual errors, strengthening access governance, and helping to standardize user provisioning and compliance processes across the team."
"One Identity Active Roles has positively impacted our organization by helping us automatically complete user-based provisioning, dynamic groups, and RBAC provisioning, helping us improve compliance in a measurable way, saving time in provisioning users, and providing users with birthright access quickly upon arrival, allowing fast access."
"The return on investment from One Identity Active Roles has been incredibly clear and measurable for us, with the efficiency in user provisioning and offboarding, which used to take almost 24 to 48 hours due to a multi-step process, now down to just 5 minutes, and a nearly 80% drop in ticket escalation queues after safely delegating tasks to the help desk through clean access templates."
"The solution is stable."
"NetIQ does not have a limit on the number of users."
"Identity and access management processes have developed to become automatic and fast."
"It's a solid product, it's a mature product."
"The most valuable features are Password Reset Alerts, Password Sync, and SQL connectors."
"The main value lies in the simplicity of implementation, as well as its customized look and feel."
"To my knowledge it is the only event based IDM system."
"I like the eDirectory feature."
"NetIQ Identity Manager is by far the most flexible product available, and the pricing is incredibly good, even if you're not situated in the BeNeLux."
 

Cons

"It also has workflows and those are really powerful, but there are no built-in workflows."
"In terms of improvement, it could be made even more user-friendly for administrators when they need to create new workflows and rule sets."
"One specific issue I have encountered recently is that the interface and workflow configuration can become complex and less intuitive, especially when managing multiple approval steps or modifying existing workflows, which sometimes requires deeper scripting or backend adjustments, so more user-friendly and visual workflow design would be a great improvement."
"I know they have increased support for Entra ID and mentioned providing support for AWS. A way to connect to various directories and integrate with cloud directories would be beneficial."
"There are a couple of areas where One Identity Active Roles can be improved. One area is the overall user interface and experience, as the UI is sometimes very complex, so simplifying workflows for non-stakeholders would be helpful."
"One Identity Active Roles could be improved with a more modern and intuitive UI, faster performance for large environments, simpler reporting customization, and smoother integration with cloud-native identity platforms and APIs."
"For the AAD management feature, it needs to improve the objects that we can manage and the security."
"One Identity Active Roles can be improved with a more modern and intuitive user interface, better reporting and analytics, simplified workflow customization, enhanced troubleshooting tools, and stronger cloud and hybrid identity integration capabilities for large enterprise environments."
"It needs some modern features. They should improve and modernize their management interface. It has been created over years and by different persons. You can see different applications, different management consoles for different things. There should be an integrated interface."
"The vendor must provide an easier console for configuring things for smaller customers."
"The user facing interfaces are not too friendly and they are also fairly hard to configure."
"If it could be operated in such a way that anybody could use it, with just the user interface, and there's no need for programming, then that would be a great improvement."
"User Application UI Product Licensing"
"The interface is old and outdated, and the design software seems archaic."
"The UI for requesting and approving rights have been a little outdated, however, in the most recent version that has been addressed."
"Be more honest about how poorly it runs on Windows servers. It is optimized for Linux."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's expensive."
"The pricing for Active Roles is expensive but not as expensive as other solutions like Okta."
"The price is reasonable. It costs us about 1 million Danish kroner annually, and we also spend about half as much on consultants."
"The pricing is on the higher end."
"The pricing is high. I have not been involved with the renewal or cost aspect, but I know it is not cheap by any means. However, it is very useful for our environment."
"The licensing model is a simple user-based model, not that much complicated."
"It's fairly priced."
"The price of the solution is a bit high and could be reduced."
"You just need to be aware that the more systems you connect, the more license fees you have to pay."
"I would rate the pricing a two out of ten, with one being low price and ten being high price. It is significantly more cost-effective than the major players in the market."
"Micro Focus is flexible when it comes to price. The cost varies from customer to customer. There are no additional costs, though. Everything is included."
"The solution is quite affordable."
"It would easily help them in getting more market and more customers if more consultants knew about their software. If they could keep it free for schools for teaching purposes, it would be good. I had to pay myself to get it and use it for training. Their competitors are giving it for free. I had to pay for it myself. They are losing market to their competitors."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which User Provisioning Software solutions are best for your needs.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
25%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business96
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise45
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for One Identity Active Roles?
Our experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Active Roles by One Identity has been very positive. Although Active Roles by One Identity is not the lowest-priced solution, we believ...
What needs improvement with One Identity Active Roles?
Overall, we are very satisfied with Active Roles by One Identity, but there are a few areas that could be improved. The user interface could be more modern and intuitive, especially for new adminis...
What is your primary use case for One Identity Active Roles?
Active Roles by One Identity is our main solution for simplifying and automating user account management in our Active Directory environment. We use it for tasks like user provisioning, deprovision...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetIQ Identity Manager?
The pricing depends on whether we buy the solution as a service or a license. The license is expensive. If we buy it as a service for a large number of users, it is the cheapest tool we can get. Th...
What needs improvement with NetIQ Identity Manager?
The tool is used mostly in big systems to understand what is happening. There are not many technicians who know how to use the product. The vendor must provide an easier console for configuring thi...
What is your primary use case for NetIQ Identity Manager?
NetIQ Directory is the main function of the product. As far as I know, it is the only event test directory that exists. It has all the potential for event-based testing. It has rules, connectors, a...
 

Also Known As

Quest Active Roles
Novell Identity Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City of Frankfurt, Moore Public Schools, George Washington University, Transavia Airlines, Howard County, MD. See all stories at OneIdentity.com/casestudies
Sheetz
Find out what your peers are saying about Active Roles by One Identity vs. OpenText Identity Manager and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.