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OpenText Identity Governance vs OpenText Identity Manager 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

OpenText Identity Governance
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
25th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OpenText Identity Manager
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (9th), Identity Governance Administration (IGA) (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Identity Management (IM) category, the mindshare of OpenText Identity Governance is 1.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Identity Manager is 2.0%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Management (IM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenText Identity Manager2.0%
OpenText Identity Governance1.5%
Other96.5%
Identity Management (IM)
 

Featured Reviews

JoelHercik - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Executive at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
A mature, capable solution that should be available as a cloud solution
They haven't really evolved the product to the cloud, so they don't have a cloud solution. It's just deployable in the cloud, so in some cases that holds them back in a competitive situation. I don't know if they're intent on taking their solution to the cloud, but if they do, that would be one improvement. It would allow them to be competitive down market in medium to small enterprises. I don't know if they care to address that market or not because it doesn't seem like they've made that move, but that would be one way for them to do that. As for additional features, I would suggest stronger integration. I think enabling more universal industry standard integrations would probably help them with different applications.
reviewer2401464 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Updates systems quickly and does not have a limit on the number of users
NetIQ does not have a limit on the number of users. The tool is secure by nature. It can have more than one billion users. Event-based systems know what has to be changed. SQL-based systems can only change using time and date. Event-based systems provide immediate results, while SQL-based systems need time to sync. It is totally different from a security perspective. Event-based systems can update all the systems in seconds or minutes. Other systems do it within 24 hours. The basic event-based system is AI-driven. It has some kind of robotics and programming. Other tools need programming. I like systems that have prebuilt ideas of security. NetIQ has been in the market for a long period. It has all the systems and connectors. There is not much coding. We just need to configure the products. We need not do any programming. I haven't seen any other product that needs only configuration to do the job. Most products in the market are SQL-based. They need programming. Some service providers who sell other products to customers do not sell NetIQ because they can make more money by selling solutions that need more consultancy and programming. More hours lead to more money.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"All three functionalities, access certification, the configuration of duties, and role mining - especially role mining - are very advanced compared with the competition."
"NetIQ Identity Governance has improved the security of my company."
"All three functionalities, access certification, the configuration of duties, and role mining - especially role mining - are very advanced compared with the competition."
"I really like the separation of the duties."
"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 like the queries and find the catalog to be comparatively powerful."
"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."
"To my knowledge it is the only event based IDM system."
"The most valuable feature of this solution has been the ability for us to integrate a lot of external systems, and the automatic transfer of a lot of identity information."
"It has reduced time and resource costs due to automation of previously hand-managed tasks like provisioning, granting access, distribution and access to different enterprise connected applications."
"I like the eDirectory feature."
"The most valuable features are Password Reset Alerts, Password Sync, and SQL connectors."
"The Identity Engine is event-based and provides real-time synchronization and password synchronization to more than 40 different applications and services."
"I would recommend this product, its quite flexible and quick to start with."
"It's a very flexible tool, so you can synchronize multiple sources of data and you have multiple connections to various kinds of systems."
 

Cons

"Technical support is horrible."
"NetIQ Identity Governance is not flexible. Sometimes, filtering information to provide users with options, such as selecting the application to which they want to request access, can be challenging. It needs to improve application integration as well."
"The solution should provide more connectors in future releases. The solution also should offer more monitoring."
"Technical support is horrible."
"We need more connectors to cloud applications like AWS."
"They haven't really evolved the product to the cloud, so they don't have a cloud solution."
"The product could use more advanced features related to Identity Intelligence."
"Some out-of-the-box connectors are still missing. We need more connectors to cloud applications like AWS."
"The integrations must be made easier."
"The problem is the ecosystem. There's not a lot of people that know the product, so it's hard to find someone to work with the product."
"The interface is old and outdated, and the design software seems archaic."
"NetIQ Identity Manager could improve by updating the user portal, it is out of date."
"Areas for improvement are further enhancing the access granting process to reduce time and improve accuracy."
"We have another system that is using the SAML system, and we also integrate with Active Directory only. If NetIQ Identity Manager can integrate directly, we would not need to use the Active Directory directory."
"Technical support is very good, but in my country the ecosystem of consultants is scarce."
"The interface is old and outdated, and the design software seems archaic."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's expensive relative to the cloud solutions that are out there."
"I give the cost a nine out of ten."
"In terms of pricing, the tool seems a bit cheaper compared to other SaaS solutions."
"The solution is quite affordable."
"It would easily help them in getting more market and more customers if more consultants knew about their software. If they could keep it free for schools for teaching purposes, it would be good. I had to pay myself to get it and use it for training. Their competitors are giving it for free. I had to pay for it myself. They are losing market to their competitors."
"You just need to be aware that the more systems you connect, the more license fees you have to pay."
"I would rate the pricing a two out of ten, with one being low price and ten being high price. It is significantly more cost-effective than the major players in the market."
"The price of the solution is a bit high and could be reduced."
"Micro Focus is flexible when it comes to price. The cost varies from customer to customer. There are no additional costs, though. Everything is included."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
13%
Real Estate/Law Firm
10%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetIQ Identity Manager?
The pricing depends on whether we buy the solution as a service or a license. The license is expensive. If we buy it as a service for a large number of users, it is the cheapest tool we can get. Th...
What needs improvement with NetIQ Identity Manager?
The tool is used mostly in big systems to understand what is happening. There are not many technicians who know how to use the product. The vendor must provide an easier console for configuring thi...
What is your primary use case for NetIQ Identity Manager?
NetIQ Directory is the main function of the product. As far as I know, it is the only event test directory that exists. It has all the potential for event-based testing. It has rules, connectors, a...
 

Also Known As

NetIQ Access Governance Suite, Novell Access Governance Suite
Novell Identity Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Western & Southern Financial Group
Sheetz
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenText Identity Governance vs. OpenText Identity Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.