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EmpowerID vs One Identity Active Roles comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 6, 2024

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

EmpowerID
Ranking in User Provisioning Software
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (22nd)
One Identity Active Roles
Ranking in User Provisioning Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
87
Ranking in other categories
Active Directory Management (1st), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the User Provisioning Software category, the mindshare of EmpowerID is 2.4%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of One Identity Active Roles is 5.6%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
User Provisioning Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
One Identity Active Roles5.6%
EmpowerID2.4%
Other92.0%
User Provisioning Software
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It allows for self-service which means quicker turnaround for end-user support."
"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."
"One Identity Active Roles has positively impacted our organization by simplifying Active Directory administration and reducing the amount of manual work required for user and access management."
"With this solution, they are skipping all the domain administrators and keeping the normal users, which is fantastic for them because some of the personnel are basic IT technicians without the knowledge of AD advanced features."
"Active Roles provided us to do all these operations automatically and reduced our workload very significantly."
"One Identity Active Roles has helped us improve security with smooth processes."
"After moving to One Identity Active Roles, I achieve better automation, improved security through controlled delegation, and enhanced compliance with detailed auditing and reporting, significantly improving efficiency and reducing operational risk compared to the previous approach."
"One Identity Active Roles takes us less time, probably half the time, to complete delegations that are very granular and complex, compared to having to use native tools and scripts."
"One Identity Active Roles has had a very positive impact on our organization, especially in terms of productivity, security, and compliance."
"The biggest thing for us is Active Roles saves a lot of man-hours in keeping groups up-to-date manually or trying to write some sort of script that you have to run, so we don't have to reinvent the wheel. Instead of when every time somebody joins a department, then somebody has to remember to put in a request to add "meet user Joe" to this group, the solution does it automatically for us. Therefore, it saves our business and IT staff time because they do not have to process requests since Active Role can do it for them."
 

Cons

"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."
"In terms of improvement, it could be made even more user-friendly for administrators when they need to create new workflows and rule sets."
"There is room for improvement in One Identity Active Roles. While the product is very capable, managing complex workflows and hybrid environments can sometimes require deeper expertise than expected, so better cloud integration and troubleshooting visibility would also be valuable improvements."
"There is always room to improve the user interface for increased clarity. I believe enhancements to the console are also necessary because it is more confusing than the web interface."
"The possibility to request group membership, similar to the past, was disabled and moved to Identity Manager."
"When doing a workflow, we would like a bit better feedback on the screen, as we're trying to get it to work."
"One area where One Identity Active Roles can be improved is in the user interface. It can feel outdated and not very intuitive for new users."
"One challenge we experienced was the initial setup and configuration complexity."
"Areas for improvement in One Identity Active Roles include UI modernization, workflow customization, flexibility in reporting, and troubleshooting visibility."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
24%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
22%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business93
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise42
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for One Identity Active Roles?
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing for One Identity Active Roles are enterprise-oriented and typically based on the number of managed users or accounts. While setup requires moderate implementa...
What needs improvement with One Identity Active Roles?
One Identity Active Roles can be improved with a more modern user interface, better reporting and analytics capabilities, simplified workflow customization, improved troubleshooting tools, and stro...
What is your primary use case for One Identity Active Roles?
One Identity Active Roles serves as our centralized Active Directory administration platform for identity lifecycle management, including automated user provisioning, delegated administration, role...
 

Also Known As

The Dot Net Factory EmpowerID
Quest Active Roles
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Glencoe Specialty Services, GoDaddy, GTSI Corp., Alere Inc., Anadarko Petroleum, Bank of America, Bank of New York, Caterpillar, Coldwell Banker
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 EmpowerID vs. One Identity Active Roles and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.