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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)
26th
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 June 2026, in the Identity Management (IM) category, the mindshare of OpenText Identity Governance is 1.4%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Identity Manager is 1.9%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Management (IM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenText Identity Manager1.9%
OpenText Identity Governance1.4%
Other96.7%
Identity Management (IM)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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

"Anytime an IGA solution is implemented effectively, there is a huge return on investment."
"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."
"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."
"I really like the separation of the duties."
"NetIQ Identity Governance helps to prepare audits and to be audit ready every time."
"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."
"I like the queries and find the catalog to be comparatively powerful."
"The most valuable feature of NetIQ Identity Manager for identity synchronization is the ability to provide users with all necessary access on day one through automated provisioning, facilitated by approval workflows."
"The most valuable features are Password Reset Alerts, Password Sync, and SQL connectors."
"NetIQ Identity Manager is by far the most flexible product available, and the pricing is incredibly good, even if you're not situated in the BeNeLux."
"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."
"The main value lies in the simplicity of implementation, as well as its customized look and feel."
"The most valuable features of NetIQ Identity Manager are the synchronization of different directories, such as Active Directory. We have many Active Directory systems, not only one."
"The greater strength was to keep the identities synchronized without failures in both attributes and passwords."
"I would recommend this product, its quite flexible and quick to start with."
 

Cons

"Some out-of-the-box connectors are still missing. We need more connectors to cloud applications like AWS."
"The installation process can be improved. The Workflow Designer interface can be improved as well."
"The initial setup has room for improvement."
"The solution should provide more connectors in future releases. The solution also should offer more monitoring."
"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."
"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 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."
"If it works, Designer is a charm, but it can be a pain to keep updated because of all the Java stuff that regularly goes wrong."
"The user facing interfaces are not too friendly and they are also fairly hard to configure."
"NetIQ Identity Manager can improve the bulk account uploads, it's very slow. We work in the education sector, and every year we have approximately 20,000 accounts to create in a very short period, the NetIQ Identity Manager has a problem with this, we need to use a batch job."
"There's no huge thing missing, because it's already comprehensive. Now and then, however, there might be a minor issue."
"NetIQ Identity Manager could improve by updating the user portal, it is out of date."
"Technical support is average. When it's come to complex issues, it takes longer than expected to solve."
"There are some limitations in the custom workflows, mainly in the GUI presentation, but the latest release improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's expensive relative to the cloud solutions that are out there."
"In terms of pricing, the tool seems a bit cheaper compared to other SaaS solutions."
"I give the cost a nine out of ten."
"The solution is quite affordable."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Educational Organization
8%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing 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
Earn 20 points
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: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.