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Active Roles by One Identity vs EmpowerID 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)
EmpowerID
Ranking in User Provisioning Software
12th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (22nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the User Provisioning Software category, the mindshare of Active Roles by One Identity is 5.5%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of EmpowerID is 2.4%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
User Provisioning Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
One Identity Active Roles5.5%
EmpowerID2.4%
Other92.1%
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.
Varun Khandavalli - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Specialist Engineering Dev. & Integration at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
An excellent application with a strong use case
It is very intuitive and has improved significantly over the last seven years. Its deployment is very enterprise-focused, and I hope it will eventually become cloud-based for easier connection through AWS or similar services. Currently, it's an It is very intuitive and has improved significantly over the last seven years. Its deployment is very enterprise-focused, and I hope it will eventually become cloud-based for easier connection through AWS or similar services. Currently, it's an excellent application with a strong use case.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One Identity Active Roles has significantly reduced both the complexity and the workload for Active Directory administration in our environment."
"One positive impact we noticed from One Identity Active Roles was improved operational efficiency; earlier, many user management tasks were handled manually, which took more time and sometimes created inconsistencies, but using intelligent role-based workflows and automation made onboarding and access modification faster and more standardized, and we also saw better control over privileged access since permissions were delegated properly, reducing high-level administrative rights, which improved accountability and balanced security with operational speed."
"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."
"One Identity Active Roles has had a very positive impact on our organization, especially in terms of productivity, security, and compliance."
"One Identity Active Roles has positively impacted my organization by reducing a lot of manual AD administration work, improving access control, and helping standardize user management processes across the organization."
"We have eased the burden on the support desk and reduced the risk of them doing something they shouldn't."
"I see a return on investment with One Identity Active Roles, specifically noting a 40% to 60% drop in time spent on provisioning, access reviews, and audit-related tasks."
"It is very intuitive and close to the native tools. Since it is web-based, it does not require extensive training for our end users."
"It is very intuitive and has improved significantly over the last seven years. Its deployment is very enterprise-focused, and I hope it will eventually become cloud-based for easier connection through AWS or similar services. Currently, it's an excellent application with a strong use case."
"It allows for self-service which means quicker turnaround for end-user support."
 

Cons

"A few improvements I would like to see in One Identity Active Roles are mainly around usability, reporting, and modern integration."
"One Identity Active Roles can be improved with a more modern and user-friendly interface, better reporting and analytics, simplified workflow customization, faster performance in large environments, and stronger cloud and hybrid identity integration capabilities."
"In terms of improvement, it could be made even more user-friendly for administrators when they need to create new workflows and rule sets."
"Active Roles could add more options for web customization. Our requirements are exceedingly specific. We'd like to get the web interface down to just five buttons, but in some cases, we can only get to six. The web interface in the current version is less customizable than in the previous one."
"The user and group management in Azure AD could be better. Our focus these days is dynamic sharing with several on-prem Microsoft applications like SharePoint."
"The biggest one is the management interface, which feels dated compared to many newer identity management platforms."
"For ActiveRoles, it would be good if the product supports multi-scripting language. You can use only VBScript."
"The user interface could be more modern and intuitive, especially for new administrators."
"Perhaps it is the way my organization has it set up but I would like to add people to more than one group at a time."
"I would like to see EmpowerID move to the cloud to facilitate easier deployment and connectivity through AWS or similar services."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 for Active Roles is expensive but not as expensive as other solutions like Okta."
"It's fairly priced."
"It's expensive."
"The licensing model is a simple user-based model, not that much complicated."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Construction Company
24%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business97
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise45
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for One Identity Active Roles?
I wasn't directly involved in the pricing or licensing decisions, so I cannot comment on the exact cost. For our operations, I believe the investment was considered worthwhile because the product r...
What needs improvement with One Identity Active Roles?
I think One Identity Active Roles is a mature and reliable solution, but there are a few areas where it could be improved. The biggest one is the management interface, which feels dated compared to...
What is your primary use case for One Identity Active Roles?
Our main use case for One Identity Active Roles is to simplify and standardize Active Directory administration across multiple business units while reducing the amount of manual work handled by our...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for EmpowerID?
The cost is fairly moderate, although I can't recall the exact amount, it's around twenty five.
What needs improvement with EmpowerID?
I would like to see EmpowerID move to the cloud to facilitate easier deployment and connectivity through AWS or similar services.
What is your primary use case for EmpowerID?
EmpowerID is an application that helps move LC-MS and HPLC data from instruments to systems of record to be able to get that data and manage it. It is used for a lot of small molecule research and ...
 

Also Known As

Quest Active Roles
The Dot Net Factory EmpowerID
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City of Frankfurt, Moore Public Schools, George Washington University, Transavia Airlines, Howard County, MD. See all stories at OneIdentity.com/casestudies
Glencoe Specialty Services, GoDaddy, GTSI Corp., Alere Inc., Anadarko Petroleum, Bank of America, Bank of New York, Caterpillar, Coldwell Banker
Find out what your peers are saying about Active Roles by One Identity vs. EmpowerID and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
906,852 professionals have used our research since 2012.