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Microsoft Active Directory vs Tenable Identity Exposure comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Microsoft Active Directory
Ranking in Active Directory Management
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (7th)
Tenable Identity Exposure
Ranking in Active Directory Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Active Directory is 6.5%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Identity Exposure is 6.0%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Active Directory Management
 

Featured Reviews

Roberta Politano - PeerSpot reviewer
Has good authentication features
The solution's group policy is a normal way to deploy configuration and helps deploy to a wider environment. The solution is deployed both on-premises and on the cloud. I would recommend the solution to other users based on their infrastructure. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Alexandru Cioruta - PeerSpot reviewer
An easy-to-implement solution that provides good reporting features and protects users’ AD infrastructure
We use Tenable Identity Exposure for our customers who have legacy AD still in use to see any exposure and protect their AD infrastructure as much as possible The solution is easy to implement, and its reporting is great. From the start, you get to see the exposure of your AD. So, it doesn't need…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Active Directory makes managing user policies easier, like when a user wants to share files. We also use it to create and manage our email accounts."
"Active Directory plays a focal point in security management, encompassing aspects like credential management, lifecycle, dynamic provisioning, and the network infrastructure of customers."
"The user-friendliness of Microsoft Active Directory is a valuable feature."
"I find the product makes it easier to enhance various tools with Microsoft Active Directory."
"The solution's technical support is good."
"We can also have separate domain controllers in different Active Directory sites based on their location."
"It is easy to handle, and it gives a hundred percent results with the group policies."
"The solution is user-friendly, and I like using Microsoft products. I think there is no other choice for Active Directory. Microsoft Windows Server Active Directory is the best."
"The solution is easy to implement, and its reporting is great."
 

Cons

"I would like to see the integration with Mac and IOS products improved."
"There are no reporting features."
"The interface hasn't changed much over the years. It's suitable for my tastes, but that doesn't mean everybody likes it."
"Perhaps the synchronization could be simpler and more controllable. There are some features that need improvements in terms of ease of use and frequency of updates."
"It could be more scalable. We still need another software solution to monitor the network in addition to Active Directory and OpManager, our domain controller. We use SolarWinds."
"In the solution, assigning permissions is complex, making it difficult to grant them at a granular level or to multiple users without templates or alternative tools."
"The product's premium support services could be less expensive."
"The interface for logs should be user-friendly and allow for enhanced filtering to drill down to incidents."
"Tenable Identity Exposure is more expensive than Defender for Identity."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license is perpetual and the cost is minimal. If you purchase Microsoft Windows then Microsoft Active Directory comes with the package."
"The price of Microsoft Active Directory could improve. We pay annually for the solution."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten."
"I'm unsure about the cost of the solution, as I was never involved in that aspect. However, I don't think it would be expensive. It might be average, around four or five out of ten."
"Active Directory is built-in into Microsoft Windows 10. I'm not an administrator and would not be involved in purchasing decisions for new versions of the software. I have only used the client portion of it, I do not know if there is a cost to using the solution."
"We purchase the license for the solution on a yearly basis."
"I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten."
"The version of Microsoft Active Directory I was using was expensive because it was used for large companies."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Active Directory?
The solution is easy to install and has good reliability.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Active Directory?
There are a few areas that could be improved with Microsoft Active Directory, along similar lines as Intune. Not too much on the support side, but on the Group Policy side, it doesn't always functi...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Active Directory?
The use cases for Microsoft Active Directory are managing all users on-premises. We have over 200 employees and multiple computers, approximately over 200 computers. We have shared computers and sh...
What do you like most about Tenable Identity Exposure?
The solution is easy to implement, and its reporting is great.
What needs improvement with Tenable Identity Exposure?
Tenable Identity Exposure is more expensive than Defender for Identity.
What is your primary use case for Tenable Identity Exposure?
We use Tenable Identity Exposure for our customers who have legacy AD still in use to see any exposure and protect their AD infrastructure as much as possible.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Teanble.ad
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about One Identity, Netwrix, ManageEngine and others in Active Directory Management. Updated: August 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.