ManageEngine ADAudit Plus Alternatives for AD Auditing

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is Zoho's change auditor for Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Windows file servers, NAS devices, Windows servers and workstations, with user behaviour analytics on top. It is current and sold per domain controller. The ADAudit Plus pricing page lists annual prices in US dollars, a 30-day evaluation and a free edition, and every extra data source is a separately priced add-on.

Admins compare alternatives for a few reasons: the add-on bill for file servers, cloud tenants and workstations; a wish to undo bad changes without buying a separate backup add-on; a Microsoft 365 E5 licence that already includes identity monitoring; or a move toward wider data security. The eight picks below start with direct competitors, then cover identity threat detection, access rights, data security and a free open source option.

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

Quick comparison

Netwrix Auditor

Netwrix Auditor covers the same core as ADAudit Plus, Active Directory, Entra ID, file servers and Windows Server, and reaches further: Microsoft 365, Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, Oracle, VMware, network devices and NAS from NetApp, Dell, Nutanix, Qumulo and Synology. Version 10.9 arrived in July 2026, and Update 1 followed on September 11, 2026.

Small organisations can buy without a sales call. The Netwrix self-service page 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 minimum one-year term. Our Netwrix Auditor alternatives page compares it in more depth.

Best for: Teams that want ADAudit-style reports plus databases, VMware and Microsoft 365 in one product.

Pricing:

• Auditor Essentials (self-service): from $20 per enabled AD plus cloud-only Entra ID user, minimum one year
• Larger organisations: quote
• Netwrix 1Secure SaaS: from $22 per identity, one-year minimum; 14-day trial

Watch out for:

• Self-service purchases include community support only, with no ticketed support from Netwrix.
• Self-service stops at 150 employees or 250 accounts. Bigger estates buy through sales or a partner.

Official site: Netwrix Auditor.

Lepide Auditor

Lepide Auditor is part of the Lepide Data Security Platform, alongside modules called Trust, Detect, Identify and Protect. The Lepide Auditor page names Active Directory, Entra ID, Exchange, Windows file servers, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Dell PowerScale and Nasuni among its sources, on-premises or in the cloud.

You can try it in an online demo, and Lepide offers a free data risk assessment. Its free standalone tools, such as Account Lockout Examiner and Open Shares Report, cover a couple of ADAudit Plus tasks at no cost.

Best for: Mid-size companies that want AD auditing now and data classification later from the same vendor.

Pricing:

• Custom quote
• Free data risk assessment and free standalone tools

Watch out for:

• Price on request; Lepide offers demos and a free risk assessment rather than a public trial.

Official site: Lepide Auditor.

Quest Change Auditor

Quest Change Auditor records who changed what, when and from where across Active Directory, Entra ID, Exchange, SQL Server and file systems, with real-time alerts. It can roll back some changes natively; ADAudit Plus needs its paid AD Backup and Recovery add-on for that (from US$195 a year for 250 users to US$2,245 for 5,000).

The product is maintained. Versio's third-party Change Auditor release tracker lists 7.6 as the current release line, with build 7.6.3 as the latest. The same tracker shows release 7.4 leaving standard maintenance on April 14, 2026 and reaching end of life on April 14, 2027, so 7.4 users should plan an upgrade.

Best for: Large Windows estates that need instant alerts and a way to undo changes.

Pricing:

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

Watch out for:

• It is built for on-premises infrastructure, and a June 2026 review on Start With Identity calls it heavier than SaaS-first teams need.

Official site: Quest Change Auditor.

Microsoft Defender for Identity

Check your licences before buying anything. Defender for Identity is included in Enterprise Mobility + Security E5, Microsoft 365 E5 and the E5, A5, G5 and F5 Security bundles, and it can also be bought on its own. It watches domain controllers and identity servers for attacks and suspicious identity activity.

Sensors install on domain controllers, AD FS, AD CS and Entra Connect servers, on Windows Server 2016 to 2025, including Server Core. The Defender for Identity prerequisites page recommends the v3.x sensor on Windows Server 2019 and later.

Best for: Microsoft 365 E5 customers who need attack detection on AD without another vendor.

Pricing:

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

Watch out for:

• Windows Server 2019 needs KB4487044 or a later update, or the sensor stops itself.
• F5 Security bundles also need Microsoft 365 F1 or F3 (or Office 365 F3) plus EMS E3.

Official site: Microsoft Defender for Identity.

Semperis Directory Services Protector

Semperis Directory Services Protector (DSP) is the pick when reporting a change is not enough. It reads the AD replication stream as well as logs, so it can see changes that bypass agent- or log-based tools, and it can automatically roll back malicious changes in AD and Entra ID before anyone acts.

It also scans for hundreds of indicators of exposure and compromise across account security, Group Policy, Kerberos and Entra ID, and can restore single attributes, objects or a point in time, according to the Semperis AD security page.

Best for: Security teams who want automatic undo of dangerous AD changes, not only an audit trail.

Pricing:

• No public price; request a demo

Watch out for:

• Pricing and trials go through a demo request, so it is hard to compare costs with ADAudit Plus's published list.

Official site: Semperis Directory Services Protector.

SolarWinds Access Rights Manager

SolarWinds ARM answers "who has access to what" more than "who changed what". It analyses permissions across Active Directory, file servers, SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive and Teams, provisions and removes access from templates, grants temporary access and gives users a self-service request portal. GDPR, PCI DSS and HIPAA reports are built in.

The ARM product page offers a fully functional 30-day trial and a quote form. SolarWinds has been private since Turn/River completed its takeover on April 16, 2025. Our SolarWinds ARM alternatives guide covers the permissions side in detail.

Best for: IT teams whose auditors ask for permission reviews and access recertification.

Pricing:

• No public price; quote on request
• 30-day fully functional trial

Watch out for:

• There is no list price, so you cannot compare it with ADAudit Plus without a quote.

Official site: SolarWinds Access Rights Manager.

Varonis

Varonis approaches AD from the data side. Its Data Security Platform lists Active Directory and Windows file shares among its sources, and the range now includes Atlas AI Security, next-generation database activity monitoring and email security. It is also sold through the AWS, Azure, Salesforce and Snowflake marketplaces.

Ownership is changing. Proofpoint agreed on October 15, 2026 to buy Varonis for $49.75 per share in cash, about $6.3 billion, with closing expected in the first half of 2027, as SiliconANGLE reported.

Best for: Enterprises whose AD audit is one part of a wider data protection project.

Pricing:

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

Watch out for:

• Plans and bundles may change once Proofpoint takes over, so ask about contract terms before a multi-year deal.
• Varonis is going SaaS-only and ends its self-hosted product by December 31, 2026, so on-premises-only sites need another option.

Official site: Varonis.

Wazuh

Wazuh is the free route. It is an open source security platform with log analysis, file integrity monitoring and compliance features, and an agent on each domain controller ships Windows Security events to your Wazuh server. The 4.14 line is current, with frequent patch builds and 5.0 in release candidate on GitHub.

A Wazuh blog series shows rules for DCSync, Kerberoasting and Golden Ticket attacks built on event IDs 4662, 4769 and 4624, with Sysmon on the DC for extra detail. Wazuh Cloud is the hosted option, with a free trial and prices on request.

Best for: Teams with Linux and SIEM skills who want AD monitoring without a licence bill.

Pricing:

• Free and open source
• Wazuh Cloud: free trial; price on request

Watch out for:

• Setup is manual. The Wazuh AD detection guide has you edit agent config files, add custom rules and restart services by hand, and it does not cover the audit policies that make Windows log those events.

Official site: Wazuh.

How to choose

When to stay with ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

ADAudit Plus is still good value for a single domain with a handful of DCs. Standard for 2 domain controllers is $595 a year, every price is on the pricing page, and the free edition never expires and covers 25 workstations. Professional adds account lockout analysis for tracing the source of failed logons. Of the commercial picks here, only Netwrix publishes a self-service price at all.

Frequently asked questions