Lepide Active Directory Auditing Alternatives

The Lepide Active Directory Auditing Solution is now sold as Lepide Auditor, one module of the Lepide Data Security Platform alongside Trust, Detect, Identify and Protect. It is actively developed. Release 26.1 arrived on February 26, 2026 with Lepide AI for plain-language audit search, a Microsoft Copilot dashboard and Group Policy comparison across domains, per Lepide's 26.1 release post. Prices are on request only.

Admins compare alternatives when they want a public price, a SaaS console with no server to run, real-time blocking of changes, or attack detection on domain controllers. The eight picks below start with change auditors that read the same AD events, then move to cloud auditing, identity threat detection, rollback, data security and a free SIEM.

Prices below are as of November 8, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.

Quick comparison

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

ADAudit Plus is the easiest Lepide rival to budget for. The ADAudit Plus pricing page lists yearly US dollar prices by domain controller: Standard runs $595 for 2 DCs to $4,395 for 20, Professional $945 to $6,595. Professional adds account lockout analysis, which matches one of Lepide's headline AD reports.

Coverage beyond AD is sold as add-ons: one Entra ID tenant for $995 a year, two Windows file servers for $495, 100 workstations for $245. A free edition never expires and audits 25 workstations. Our ADAudit Plus alternatives page covers it from the other direction.

Best for: Single-domain shops that want to see the full price before talking to anyone.

Pricing:

• Standard: $595 (2 DCs) to $4,395 (20 DCs) per year
• Professional: $945 (2 DCs) to $6,595 (20 DCs) per year
• Add-ons: Entra ID tenant $995/yr, 2 file servers $495/yr, 100 workstations $245/yr
• Free edition: 25 workstations; 30-day evaluation

Watch out for:

• Rolling back a bad change needs the separate AD Backup and Recovery add-on, from $195 a year for 250 users.
• Add-ons stack quickly once you audit file servers, NAS and Entra ID as well as AD.

Official site: ManageEngine ADAudit Plus.

Netwrix Auditor

Netwrix Auditor is Lepide's longest-running head-to-head rival. Both cover AD, Entra ID, Exchange, Microsoft 365, SharePoint and Windows file servers. Netwrix goes further into SQL Server, Oracle, VMware, network devices and NAS from NetApp, Dell, Nutanix, Qumulo and Synology. The current line is version 10.9 Update 1.

Small organisations can buy online. The Netwrix self-service store lists Auditor Essentials from $20 per enabled AD user plus cloud-only Entra ID user, for up to 150 employees or 250 accounts, on a one-year minimum. Our Netwrix Auditor alternatives guide goes deeper.

Best for: Teams that audit databases and virtual infrastructure as well as AD.

Pricing:

• Auditor Essentials: from $20 per enabled user, one-year minimum, up to 150 employees
• Larger estates: quote

Watch out for:

• Self-service orders come with community support only, without ticketed help from Netwrix.
• Above 150 employees or 250 accounts, pricing goes back to a sales quote, as with Lepide.

Official site: Netwrix Auditor.

Quest Change Auditor

Quest's tool is built for real-time alerting. It records who changed what, when and from where across AD, Entra ID, Exchange, SQL Server and file systems, and it can roll back some changes natively, which Lepide handles mainly through restoring deleted objects.

The 7.6 line is current, with build 7.6.3.36001 from September 9, 2026 the latest. Versio's Change Auditor release tracker lists April 14, 2026 as the end of standard maintenance for release 7.4 and April 14, 2027 as its end of life.

Best for: Large Windows estates that need to stop changes to key groups, not just log them.

Pricing:

• No public price: quote on request
• Perpetual or subscription, with maintenance

Watch out for:

• It is built around on-premises infrastructure, and a June 2026 Start With Identity review calls it heavier than SaaS-first teams need.
• Versio's tracker puts the end of life for release 7.4 at April 14, 2027.

Official site: Quest Change Auditor.

Netwrix 1Secure

1Secure is the answer for teams that do not want another Windows server. It is Netwrix's SaaS auditing product, run from one cloud console, and it was also built for managed service providers who audit many client tenants at once.

The Netwrix price list starts 1Secure at $22 per identity for up to 250 identities, on a one-year minimum term. A 14-day trial gives full access.

Best for: Small IT teams and MSPs that prefer a browser console to an on-premises install.

Pricing:

• From $22 per identity, one-year minimum, up to 250 identities in self-service
• 14-day free trial

Watch out for:

• The self-service price covers up to 250 identities. Larger tenants buy through sales.
• Data leaves your network for Netwrix's cloud, which some regulated sectors will not accept.

Official site: Netwrix 1Secure.

Microsoft Defender for Identity

Before you buy any auditor, check what you already pay Microsoft for. Defender for Identity ships with Microsoft 365 E5, EMS E5 and the E5, A5, G5 and F5 Security bundles. It watches domain controllers and identity servers for attacks and suspicious identity activity rather than writing change reports.

Sensors run on domain controllers, AD FS, AD CS and Entra Connect servers on Windows Server 2016 through 2025, including Server Core, per the Defender for Identity prerequisites. Microsoft recommends the v3.x sensor on Windows Server 2019 and later.

Best for: E5 customers who want AD attack alerts without a new contract.

Pricing:

• Included in Microsoft 365 E5, EMS E5 and E5 Security suites
• Standalone licence: price on request through Microsoft or a CSP partner

Watch out for:

• It is a threat detector, not a compliance reporter, so auditors asking for "who changed this group" reports may still need a Lepide-style tool.
• Windows Server 2019 sensors need KB4487044 or later, or the sensor stops itself.

Official site: Microsoft Defender for Identity.

Semperis Directory Services Protector

Semperis DSP reads the AD replication stream as well as event logs, so it catches changes that tools relying on logs alone can miss. It can roll back malicious changes in AD and Entra ID automatically and restore a single attribute, an object or a point in time.

Hundreds of exposure and compromise checks cover account security, Group Policy, Kerberos and Entra ID, as the Semperis AD security page lists. Lepide can restore deleted objects; Semperis goes further and undoes attribute changes without a person in the loop.

Best for: Security teams who need an AD change undone in seconds, not just reported.

Pricing:

• No public price: request a demo

Watch out for:

• Every price and trial goes through a demo request, so it is as opaque as Lepide on cost.

Official site: Semperis Directory Services Protector.

Varonis

Varonis is the data-first option. AD and Windows file shares are two of many sources in its Data Security Platform, which now includes Atlas AI Security, database activity monitoring and email security, and it is sold on the AWS, Azure, Salesforce and Snowflake marketplaces.

Two changes matter for buyers. Varonis ends its self-hosted product by December 31, 2026, as CEO Yaki Faitelson wrote in the Varonis SaaS announcement. And Proofpoint agreed on October 15, 2026 to buy Varonis for about $6.3 billion, with closing expected in the first half of 2027.

Best for: Enterprises that see AD auditing as one part of a wider data protection project.

Pricing:

• No public price: request a demo
• Cloud marketplace purchase available

Watch out for:

• From January 2027 there is no on-premises edition, which rules it out for air-gapped sites.
• Contract terms may change after the Proofpoint deal closes in 2027.

Official site: Varonis.

Wazuh

No licence fee at all. Wazuh is an open source security platform: an agent on each domain controller ships Windows Security events to a Wazuh server, which runs rules, file integrity monitoring and compliance checks.

Its own guide builds detections for DCSync, Kerberoasting and Golden Ticket attacks from event IDs 4662, 4769 and 4624, with Sysmon on the DC for detail. Wazuh Cloud is the hosted version, with a free trial and pricing on request.

Best for: Teams with Linux and SIEM skills who want AD event monitoring on zero budget.

Pricing:

• Free and open source, self-hosted
• Wazuh Cloud: free trial; price on request

Watch out for:

• Setup is by hand. The Wazuh AD detection guide has you edit agent config and rule files and restart services, and there are no ready-made auditor reports like Lepide's.

Official site: Wazuh.

How to choose

When to stay with Lepide Auditor

Lepide is worth keeping if you plan to grow from AD auditing into permissions and data classification, because Trust, Identify and Protect are modules of the same platform and share one console. Copilot monitoring, which few of the auditors here offer, arrived in 2025, and the 26.1 release added a Copilot usage dashboard and alerts. Its free tools, such as Account Lockout Examiner and Open Shares Report, also cover small jobs at no cost, as listed on the Lepide home page.

Frequently asked questions