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IBM Security Verify Access vs OpenText Identity Governance comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 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

IBM Security Verify Access
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
18th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (14th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (16th), Access Management (13th)
OpenText Identity Governance
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
26th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Identity Management (IM) category, the mindshare of IBM Security Verify Access is 1.4%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Identity Governance is 1.4%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Management (IM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Security Verify Access1.4%
OpenText Identity Governance1.4%
Other97.2%
Identity Management (IM)
 

Featured Reviews

Ateeq Rehman - PeerSpot reviewer
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
Has improved secure user access while managing development through multiple technologies
I have already explained this in my previous call; I don't handle financial terms and commercials. Pricing is generally managed by functional teams and management looking after licensing matters. In Pakistan, vendors such as Oracle and IBM manage account relationships with clients and have tailored pricing models, so I do not have sufficient insights into that aspect.IBM Security Verify Access installation process is not straightforward; it requires underlying specialized knowledge upon which the IBM products are based. The complexity and scalability of the architecture necessitate in-depth technical knowledge and understanding of the system. Thus, installation is not as simple as clicking through; it requires extensive configuration of the underlying application servers, such as IBM WebSphere, where these products are deployed and configured.
GA
IDM Consultant at GCA Consultoria de Informática Ltda
Helps to run reports and verify user access but improvement is needed in integration
You can run reports and verify the access each user has. There is a process that runs automatically for access review. It sends an email to the manager and provides a task for the manager to review the users and access. The manager can approve or reject, and then it goes to the application owner for further review. This feature is especially important in large customer environments, as manual review can be challenging. The product allows you to check if a user has two accesses that should not be granted simultaneously. There's an approval process for this scenario. Primarily, it provides information for governance data.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its stability and UI are most valuable."
"The most valuable feature of IBM Security Access Manager, at least for my company, is multi-factor authentication. That's the only feature my company is using. The solution works well and has no glitches. IBM Security Access Manager is a very good solution, so my company is still using it."
"The solution has powerful authentification and authorization. It offers a good way to increase security."
"I have found this solution to be really practical and when a user wants to log in, it is effortless and runs smooth."
"The tool provides a password vault, single sign-on, and multifactor authentication. It offers various authentication methods like fingerprint integration, one-time passwords, or tokens sent via email or SMS. This ensures secure access to your accounts by providing multiple authentication options."
"IBM Security Verify Access is providing a secure way of handling the user login journey, and secure user authentication is fully managed by ISAM or ISVA."
"It can do a lot of different functions, and different types of teams can use this product for a variety of use cases, such as RSA, OTP, and single sign-on functionalities."
"IBM Security Verify Access, formerly known as ISAM, IBM Security Access Manager, now renamed to ISVA, integrates with central directory services for our organization and provides user management functionality."
"When doing a review you can either make manual or automatic fulfillment to immediately apply the manager's decision to the system, like removing or adding new permissions to the user account."
"You can run reports and verify the access each user has. There is a process that runs automatically for access review. It sends an email to the manager and provides a task for the manager to review the users and access. The manager can approve or reject, and then it goes to the application owner for further review. This feature is especially important in large customer environments, as manual review can be challenging."
"I really like the separation of the duties. It is the most ambitious model in the server because you have to create all the different rules, especially business rules. You have to check with the client and set different policies and rules, and then, you to have refine them. You will notice what is bad in the company and where the real problem is."
"NetIQ Identity Governance helps to prepare audits and to be audit ready every time."
"Anytime an IGA solution is implemented effectively, there is a huge return on investment."
"All three functionalities, access certification, the configuration of duties, and role mining - especially role mining - are very advanced compared with the competition."
"This solution has been around for a long time. It has had lots of successful deployments and releases."
"NetIQ Identity Governance has improved the security of my company."
 

Cons

"The user interface needs to be simplified, it's complex and not user-friendly."
"For small or medium-sized businesses they cannot afford this solution."
"What we'd like improved in IBM Security Access Manager is its onboarding process as it's complex, particularly when onboarding new applications."
"The solution could be classified as a hilt system. There are a lot of resources being used and it is suitable for very large enterprises or the public sector."
"There are a lot of areas that can be improved, but the main area is the lack of customization. You cannot easily customize anything in the product. It is not easy to tweak the functionality. It is challenging to change the out-of-the-box functionality."
"What we'd like improved in IBM Security Access Manager is its onboarding process as it's complex, particularly when onboarding new applications. We need to be very, very careful during the onboarding. We have no issues with IBM Security Access Manager because the solution works fine, apart from the onboarding process and IBM's involvement in onboarding issues. If we need support related to the onboarding, we've noticed a pattern where support isn't available, or they don't have much experience, or we're not getting a response from them. We're facing the same issue with IBM Guardium. As we're just focusing on the multi-factor authentication feature of IBM Security Access Manager and we didn't explore any other features, we don't have additional features to suggest for the next release of the solution, but we're in discussion about exploring ID management and access management features, but those are just possibilities because right now, we're focused on exploring our domain."
"They can improve the single sign-on configuration for OIDC and OAuth. That is not very mature in this product, and they can improve it in this particular area."
"They can improve the single sign-on configuration for OIDC and OAuth. That is not very mature in this product, and they can improve it in this particular area. OIDC is a third-party integration that we do with the cloud platforms, and OAuth is an authorization mechanism for allowing a user having an account with Google or any other provider to access an application. Organizations these days are looking for just-in-time provisioning use cases, but IBM Security Access Manager is not very mature for such use cases. There are only a few applications that can be integrated, and this is where this product is lagging. However, in terms of configuration and single sign-on mechanisms, it is a great product."
"With NetIQ, you have to install two or more products. It would be better if we could install one product and have one server and one dashboard."
"They haven't really evolved the product to the cloud, so they don't have a cloud solution."
"The initial setup has room for improvement."
"The solution should provide more connectors in future releases. The solution also should offer more monitoring."
"Some out-of-the-box connectors are still missing. We need more connectors to cloud applications like AWS."
"The product could use more advanced features related to Identity Intelligence."
"Technical support is horrible."
"Both products are separate with connectors between each other, which is a disadvantage as they were both developed by the same vendor."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license and costs depend on the amount range of users you have. For just approximately 2,000 users, the price is practical and fair. However, when you have 20,000 users, it starts to become really expensive, and the discount per user is not attractive enough to go ahead and purchase."
"The product is not expensive. It depends on the number of users."
"It costs about 300K AED for a year. Its pricing is a bit on the higher end, but in comparison to other products in the market, its price is still better. There are lots of other products that are very costly."
"In terms of pricing, the tool seems a bit cheaper compared to other SaaS solutions."
"It's expensive relative to the cloud solutions that are out there."
"I give the cost a nine out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
8%
Insurance Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Educational Organization
8%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Security Access Manager?
I have already explained this in my previous call; I don't handle financial terms and commercials. Pricing is generally managed by functional teams and management looking after licensing matters. I...
What is your primary use case for IBM Security Access Manager?
We are still using the IBM BPM platform to automate the processes for our organization.I generally use Microsoft Project for project planning and schedule management, especially in relation to Orac...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM Security Access Manager?
My current domain is leading project development, overseeing both technical and functional areas in process automation and orchestration, along with the hands-on implementation of process automatio...
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Also Known As

IBM Security Verify Access (SVA), IBM Security Access Manager, ISAM
NetIQ Access Governance Suite, Novell Access Governance Suite
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

POST Luxembourg
Western & Southern Financial Group
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security Verify Access vs. OpenText Identity Governance and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.