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ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs SolarWinds Access Rights Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 9, 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

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus
Ranking in Active Directory Management
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Access Rights Ma...
Ranking in Active Directory Management
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is 7.9%, down from 10.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Access Rights Manager is 4.8%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Active Directory Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ManageEngine ADAudit Plus7.9%
SolarWinds Access Rights Manager4.8%
Other87.3%
Active Directory Management
 

Featured Reviews

Karthik G - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Pre-sales Specialist at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Has enabled detailed auditing of sensitive changes across directory and file systems
The key functionalities of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus are primarily Active Directory reporting, where we create the whole user life cycle management, such as when users are created, who created them, when users are deleted, what group memberships changed, and not just for users, but for all Active Directory objects, users, computers, groups, and group policies. All changes are recorded immediately in real-time and reported for forensic analysis of incidents including who created them, what exactly changed, and what were the old and new values for the attributes. In case of a ransomware attack on a particular server, we can check what process created the files and what files have changed, even with features such as attack surface analyzer that help administrators see what's happening in their local Active Directory regarding password attacks. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus provides real-time tracking capabilities through agent installation, which works in real-time to collect information and immediately alerts if anything matches the defined conditions in the application.
Rafal-Stas - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at Greeneris Sp. z o.o.
Has good pricing options and is easy to manage and deploy
It's pretty easy to manage, and quite easy to deploy. It's easy to understand to work, and customers also tell us that there are a lot of options even too many sometimes for them. Sometimes the product is even too big for them at the beginning. The product also has a good payload with pricing. That's why the customers choose this solution. The price and the quality and options have a good ratio.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Some of the most valuable features of ADAudit Plus are the granular parts of the reports fetched from Active Directory."
"Customers prefer ManageEngine ADAudit Plus to other solutions because they produce good results for comparatively lower prices."
"The monitoring and reporting are extensive and we get all the information we need while they continue to enhance the capabilities of the product."
"We are happy with this product; we use it for multiple purposes and we get a lot of useful information from it."
"The most valuable feature is the control of the file server."
"Some of the most valuable features of ADAudit Plus are the granular parts of the reports fetched from Active Directory."
"ADAudit Plus's best features are that it's very easy to use with a user-friendly interface, and it gives reports on group policy and object changes that we couldn't find in any other product."
"The Account Lockout Analyzer and the Inactive Users reports are particularly valuable."
"The solution can be used to audit the whole on-premises environment, including Active Directory, file servers, and other Microsoft services."
"It's pretty easy to manage, and quite easy to deploy."
 

Cons

"Sometimes the developers in technical support take time."
"ADAudit could have a more sophisticated interface design. They are using a plain UI, which is decent. However, customers have said that it looks a little flat compared to other vendors. It's not fancy."
"The solution's managing file server activity could be improved."
"There are so many reports that it sometimes makes it difficult to navigate to what you need."
"Its configuration can be better. There were 44 pages of documented notes of what I had to do to get the product to work during the installation process."
"There is room for improvement, especially in the standard professional edition. Some features require more external integration."
"I consider the pricing for ADAudit Plus a bit high compared to other software solutions, so I would rate it around two or three on the pricing scale."
"The solution should include more details on file creation and modification. It also needs to have a quick message for troubleshooting problems which needs to be detailed and generic."
"Configuring the solution with online services, like Microsoft Exchange Online, is difficult."
"The GUI could be improved because this GUI was invented ten years ago, and now we have a modern user interface. This GUI is a bit older than expected in this market."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My guess is that it was around $4,000 or $5,000 a year, and we bought a license, and then we have maintenance fees. I'm not 100% sure how that worked out."
"It's a medium-priced solution."
"The tool is affordable, and our company is very happy with it. If ten is the most expensive and one is the least expensive, I rate the tool a three or four."
"ADAudit Plus's pricing is affordable and flexible, with very low prices in the market."
"Adding features and other functionality it costs you more. Also, the first installation costs an additional amount."
"The solution's pricing is acceptable."
"The pricing of the solution is fine. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"The pricing of the solution is fine. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Performing Arts
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise7
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?
An area of improvement for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus could be in graphical reporting, as currently, it's limited with old school bar charts, and having more interactive reports with a better graphi...
What is your primary use case for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?
The main use case for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is primarily focused on auditing, so any changes related to Active Directory or Azure Intra ID or even file servers, such as file monitoring, are imm...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Access Rights Manager?
First configuration may be difficult if you didn't deep dive into documentation. I recommend contacting some partners to help you deploy it in your environment.
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Access Rights Manager?
As an certified expert I'm deploying this solution on my test environment and provide live demo's for our clients. Mainly Solarwinds ARM is used to simplify work for administration by introducing m...
What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Access Rights Manager?
Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten. Nothing is perfect :D
 

Also Known As

No data available
SolarWinds ARM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Warsaw City Hall, Acument Global Technologies, Inc., Cosma International, Bank of South Pacific, Life Management Center, Central Bank, UncleBob's Self Storage, Leeds Building Society, California Transplant Donor Network, First Response, Blessing Hospital, Northern Land Council, RMK Marine
Accenture, Emerson, Lockheed Martin, Nielsen, NTT
Find out what your peers are saying about ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Access Rights Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.