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Active Roles by One Identity vs IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence 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)
IBM Security Identity Gover...
Ranking in User Provisioning Software
15th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (30th)
 

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 IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence is 3.3%, up from 2.1% 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%
IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence3.3%
Other91.2%
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.
reviewer1830612 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head, Cybersecurity at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We use the solution to ensure organizations conform to industry base certifications and best practices
We use the product to ensure organizations conform to industry base certifications and best practices and do not contradict their security policies within the base points they specify in the system, which are used to match everything against their governance use cases I think the product's most…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Active Roles improved the management of users, groups, and AD objects in the organization."
"One Identity Active Roles has impacted my organization by simplifying centralized Active Directory management and improving efficiency for user provisioning, access management, and routine administrative tasks."
"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."
"Instead of deleting accounts, we like the deprovision option so that we can reverse any accidental deletions. It also gives a higher level of quality control in terms of enforcing any number of variables, such as making sure that an account has a description entered before the account can be created. We can backtrack and know the history of it that way."
"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."
"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."
"Automated provisioning and access management reduced manual administrative effort by nearly 50 to 60%, which saved significant onboarding time and lowered the number of access-related errors and support tickets."
"One Identity Active Roles has positively impacted our organization in both efficiency and security."
"This solution has a very good dashboard and the documentation is also very good, and life cycle management and governance are also good features in this solution."
"Lifecycle management, governance and documentation."
"We use the product to ensure organizations conform to industry base certifications and best practices and do not contradict their security policies within the base points they specify in the system, which are used to match everything against their governance use cases."
"I would rate the price eight out of 10, with 10 as the best value for money."
 

Cons

"I think its governance and security are very good. If they use a third party as an AI, the security may be compromised. However, if they are using their inbuilt assistance, it gives a very good result."
"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."
"I've had a difficult time getting it to cooperate with Azure in the cloud and, while the support staff are very good and very knowledgeable, what they assist with just on a call doesn't go deep enough to help with a number of issues. The answer that comes back is that we'd have to start an engagement with Professional Services, which is fine but that takes time to schedule and it takes budget."
"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."
"It's a fairly stable product but not perfectly reliable."
"There are areas for improvement in One Identity Active Roles that include updating the web interface, creating an API accessible from the web, and improving overall performance, as it can be slow at times."
"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."
"The solution needs an attestation process that includes certification and recertification attestation."
"I think improvements could be made in the self service center, making it easier for the user to understand."
"Self service center is not always easy to understand."
"The solution is also a bit pricey for the Nigeria region."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model is a simple user-based model, not that much complicated."
"The pricing is on the higher end."
"The price is reasonable. It costs us about 1 million Danish kroner annually, and we also spend about half as much on consultants."
"It's fairly priced."
"The pricing for Active Roles is expensive but not as expensive as other solutions like Okta."
"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."
"It's expensive."
"I would rate the price eight out of 10, with 10 as the best value for money."
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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
15%
Government
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Insurance Company
8%
 

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...
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Also Known As

Quest Active Roles
IGI, IBM Security Identity Manager, ISIM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City of Frankfurt, Moore Public Schools, George Washington University, Transavia Airlines, Howard County, MD. See all stories at OneIdentity.com/casestudies
E.ON Global Commodities
Find out what your peers are saying about Active Roles by One Identity vs. IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
906,852 professionals have used our research since 2012.