Adaxes is Softerra's tool for managing and automating Active Directory, Entra ID, Exchange and Microsoft 365 from one web console, with a self-service portal and role-based views for help desk, managers and HR. It is actively sold. Its purchase page sells perpetual licences by the number of enabled user accounts, from $1,600 for up to 100 accounts to $10,800 for up to 2,000, with yearly maintenance at 30% of the licence price.
Teams look elsewhere when they want a yearly subscription instead of a large upfront licence, broader auditing, or one vendor for group management and access reviews. The six tools below cover the same jobs: delegated admin, user lifecycle automation, reporting and approval workflows. Only two publish their prices.
Prices below are as of November 6, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Price | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| ManageEngine ADManager Plus | Help desk delegation and AD reports with a public price | Free to 100 objects; Standard from $595/yr | AD, Microsoft 365, Exchange |
| One Identity Active Roles | Large hybrid AD and Entra ID estates with strict least privilege | Contact sales | AD, Entra ID, Microsoft 365 |
| Cayosoft Administrator | Hybrid AD, Entra ID, Exchange and Intune from one interface | Contact sales | AD, Entra ID, M365, Exchange, Intune |
| Netwrix Directory Manager | Group sprawl, dynamic groups and self-service | Contact sales | AD, Entra ID, Google Workspace, LDAP |
| SolarWinds Access Rights Manager | Permission analysis and access audits | Quote; 30-day trial | AD and file servers |
| PowerShell ActiveDirectory module | Free scripted bulk changes | Free | Windows |
ManageEngine ADManager Plus
ADManager Plus is the alternative you can price without a sales call. ManageEngine licenses it by domain and number of help desk technicians, and its pricing page lists every slab up to 20 technicians. Standard covers 200+ AD reports, user and computer management, help desk delegation and Microsoft 365 and Exchange management.
Professional is the edition that compares with Adaxes. It adds workflows, automation with orchestration, HCM integration, OU-based administration, GPO and file server management and AD migration. A free edition handles 100 domain objects in the default domain, and a 30-day Professional trial falls back to it when it ends, per the licensing guide.
Best for: IT teams that want AD reporting and delegated help desk work on a yearly budget line.
Pricing:
- Free edition: 100 domain objects, default domain only
- Standard, 1 domain + 2 technicians: $595 per year; + 10 technicians: $2,295
- Professional, 1 domain + 2 technicians: $1,795 per year; + 10 technicians: $5,995
- Extra domain: $345 (Standard) or $595 (Professional) per year
- GRC add-on: $495 per year, Professional only
Watch out for:
- Workflows and automation are Professional-only, so the $595 Standard price does not cover what most Adaxes users rely on.
- ManageEngine lists $795 to $945 for a single-domain Professional licence. Confirm the quote before ordering.
Official site: ManageEngine ADManager Plus.
One Identity Active Roles
Active Roles adds a management and governance layer on top of Microsoft's own tools. The product page says it manages AD domains, Entra ID and Microsoft 365 tenants from one console, which suits an estate with several forests and tenants.
Its feature list leans on governance: reducing standing privileges, role-based access control for least privilege, attribute-based group rules, lifecycle workflows and change history for audits. Those overlap almost one to one with what Adaxes sells.
Best for: Large organisations with several AD forests and Entra tenants that need strict delegation and audit trails.
Pricing:
- No public price: contact sales
Watch out for:
- The product page lists no price, trial or deployment details, so evaluation starts with a sales conversation.
- Because nothing is published, you cannot tell if it costs more or less than an Adaxes perpetual licence until you have a quote in hand.
Official site: One Identity Active Roles.
Cayosoft Administrator
Cayosoft Administrator is built for hybrid tenants. Its product page covers AD, Entra ID, Microsoft 365, Exchange and Intune from one interface, with joiner, mover and leaver automation that also assigns and reclaims Microsoft 365 licences.
Integrations with Workday, Okta, SAP and ServiceNow let HR records drive account changes. Delegation, approvals and change auditing are part of the same product, which matches the Adaxes feature set closely.
Best for: Microsoft 365-heavy organisations that want licence clean-up tied to onboarding and offboarding.
Pricing:
- No public price: book a demo for a quote
Watch out for:
- Neither pricing nor a free trial is described on the product page, only a Trials & Tools link.
- Cayosoft does not publish deployment requirements, so ask early if it needs its own server.
Official site: Cayosoft Administrator.
Netwrix Directory Manager
GroupID, which some older Adaxes comparisons list, is now Netwrix Directory Manager. The product page calls it "ex-GroupID" and puts group management first: lifecycle controls against group sprawl, dynamic memberships based on attributes, and nested groups.
It also provisions users from HR or other sources and removes leavers across AD, Entra ID, Google Workspace and LDAP. Managers can approve changes without native directory rights, and users can reset passwords and join or leave groups themselves.
Best for: Teams whose main problem is thousands of unmanaged groups and distribution lists.
Pricing:
- No public price: request pricing
Watch out for:
- Its focus is groups and self-service. Fine-grained admin delegation with scripted business rules, a core Adaxes strength, gets less space on the product page.
- Pricing is quote-only, and the 14-day free trial advertised on Netwrix pages is for a different product, Netwrix 1Secure.
Official site: Netwrix Directory Manager.
SolarWinds Access Rights Manager
SolarWinds ARM starts from permissions rather than accounts. Its product page shows an interactive map of which users and groups reach which resources, and a risk dashboard for inactive accounts, passwords that never expire and folders open to everyone.
Provisioning is covered too, with role-based templates, scheduled temporary access that revokes itself, and automatic deprovisioning. A Logbook records changes with the admin who made them, and report templates map to GDPR, PCI DSS and HIPAA.
Best for: Security and compliance teams that need to answer who has access to what before an audit.
Pricing:
- No public price; get a quote
- 30-day fully functional trial
Watch out for:
- The product page centres on permissions, provisioning and audit and does not describe a self-service portal for end users, which Adaxes includes.
- SolarWinds does not publish a starting price, so budget time for a sales call.
Official site: SolarWinds Access Rights Manager.
PowerShell ActiveDirectory module
Much of what Adaxes automates can be scripted for free. The ActiveDirectory module ships with RSAT, and on Windows 10 from the October 2018 Update onward you add it under Settings, Manage optional features, per Microsoft's module docs. Bulk user creation from a CSV, stale account clean-up and group reports are a few lines each.
It runs in Windows PowerShell 5.1, and Microsoft lists it as natively compatible with PowerShell 7 on Windows 10 1809 or later and Windows Server 1809 or later with RSAT installed. The current long-term support release, 7.6, is supported until November 14, 2028, per the support lifecycle page. Our Windows PowerShell alternatives page compares the shells themselves.
Best for: Small IT teams with scripting skills and no budget for a delegation product.
Pricing:
- Free with RSAT; PowerShell 7 is free and open source under the MIT licence
Watch out for:
- There is no web portal, approval workflow or audit trail. Help desk staff need direct AD rights to run the scripts, which is what Adaxes exists to avoid.
- It needs RSAT on the machine that runs it, so each admin workstation has to be set up first.
Official site: PowerShell ActiveDirectory module.
How to choose
| If you need | Pick |
|---|---|
| A public price and help desk delegation | ManageEngine ADManager Plus |
| Enterprise-grade least privilege across forests and tenants | One Identity Active Roles |
| Microsoft 365 licence clean-up tied to HR events | Cayosoft Administrator |
| Control over group sprawl and self-service group joins | Netwrix Directory Manager |
| A map of who can reach which files and folders | SolarWinds Access Rights Manager |
| Free bulk changes from scripts | PowerShell ActiveDirectory module |
When to stay with Adaxes
Adaxes is easy to keep if you already own the licence. It is perpetual, so after the first year you pay only the 30% maintenance, $480 a year at 100 users, and major upgrades come free while maintenance is active. If you let maintenance lapse, a major version upgrade costs $640 at 100 users, per the purchase page. Replacing it makes sense mainly when you need audit and access reviews it does not cover, or when a subscription fits your budget better.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Adaxes cost?
A perpetual licence costs $1,600 for up to 100 enabled user accounts, $5,957.89 for up to 1,000 and $10,800 for up to 2,000. Maintenance and support adds 30% a year. Above 2,000 accounts you need a quote. A 30-day evaluation needs no licence key.
What is the cheapest Adaxes alternative?
The PowerShell ActiveDirectory module is free. Among paid tools, ADManager Plus Standard starts at $595 a year, and its free edition manages up to 100 domain objects.
Is Adaxes better than ADManager Plus?
They overlap closely. Adaxes counts user accounts and sells a perpetual licence. ADManager Plus counts domains and technicians and sells yearly. For a small help desk managing many users, ADManager Plus is often cheaper. For a large help desk with few users, Adaxes can be.
