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Cybersecurity · head to head

Diligent vs NICE Actimize

Diligent logo

Diligent

Cybersecurity

Board management and enterprise GRC platform assembled from Galvanize, Steele and Diligent Boards

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
NICE Actimize logo

NICE Actimize

Cybersecurity

Financial crime, risk and compliance suite for regulated institutions

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Diligent the platform is an assembly of acquisitions, with the analytics engine from ACL, risk from Rsam, ethics and third-party diligence from Steele and the board portal from Diligent itself, so cross-module reporting and consistent user experience should be tested in a proof of concept rather than assumed.; NICE Actimize modules are licensed separately, so a bank that starts with AML and later needs fraud and surveillance faces three negotiations and a bill that compounds rather than a suite price.
  • They diverge on capability: Diligent covers Diligent Boards, NICE Actimize covers Suspicious activity monitoring.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Diligent and NICE Actimize actually diverge.

Attributes where Diligent and NICE Actimize differ
AttributeDiligentNICE Actimize
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, WindowsWeb, Linux, Windows

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Diligent

  • Diligent Boards
  • Entity management
  • Audit and analytics
  • Risk management
  • Third-party risk
  • Ethics and compliance
  • ESG and sustainability
  • Market intelligence

Only in NICE Actimize

  • Suspicious activity monitoring
  • Watchlist filtering
  • Customer due diligence
  • Payment fraud detection
  • Markets surveillance
  • Case management
  • X-Sight marketplace

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Diligent

  • A listed company that wants board papers, entity records and the audit committee reporting pack produced from one governance systemnot NICE Actimize
  • An internal audit function moving from sampling to full-population transaction testing using the ACL heritage analytics enginenot NICE Actimize
  • A regulated firm consolidating a whistleblower hotline, third-party due diligence and policy attestation after an enforcement findingnot NICE Actimize
  • A group needing sustainability disclosure data collected with the same audit trail and controls as financial reportingnot NICE Actimize

NICE Actimize

  • A bank under a regulatory consent order that needs a monitoring system with an audit trail examiners already recognisenot Diligent
  • A broker dealer required to implement trade surveillance covering both orders and trader communicationsnot Diligent
  • A regional bank outgrowing spreadsheet-based sanctions screening and needing documented model governancenot Diligent
  • A payments firm needing real time fraud scoring on faster payments alongside batch AML monitoringnot Diligent

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Diligent

  • The platform is an assembly of acquisitions, with the analytics engine from ACL, risk from Rsam, ethics and third-party diligence from Steele and the board portal from Diligent itself, so cross-module reporting and consistent user experience should be tested in a proof of concept rather than assumed.
  • Pricing is unpublished and consistently at the top of the market, and organisations that need only one capability, a board portal or an audit analytics tool, generally pay less and get more from a specialist.
  • Renewal leverage is weak once the board portal is embedded, because directors are the least willing user group to be migrated and that dependency is well understood by the vendor at renewal time.
  • The analytics engine expects real data skills, and audit teams without an analytics-capable member typically use a fraction of what they licensed while paying for all of it.
  • Module-by-module implementation means the promised single view of governance and risk usually arrives years after the first purchase, if the later modules are ever funded.

NICE Actimize

  • Modules are licensed separately, so a bank that starts with AML and later needs fraud and surveillance faces three negotiations and a bill that compounds rather than a suite price.
  • Tuning and model validation are consultant-heavy, and the services spend over a deployment often exceeds the first year licence cost.
  • The older on premises deployments carry batch-oriented architecture that makes true real time decisioning harder than in newer cloud native rivals.
  • Rule and model changes go through a controlled release process, so a bank reacting to a new fraud typology may wait weeks for a change that a modern platform would ship in days.
  • Because it is the incumbent at so many institutions, criminals have a good working understanding of what the standard rule sets detect, and undifferentiated out of the box configurations catch predictable behaviour.

Pricing, plan by plan

Diligent

On request
  • Diligent One Platform$undefined/year
    • Quoted by module and user count
    • Board portal seats priced separately from GRC modules
    • Annual subscription, commonly multi-year

NICE Actimize

On request
  • NICE Actimize$undefined/year
    • Licensed per module, not as one suite
    • Scaled by institution asset size or transaction volume
    • On premises or Actimize cloud deployment

Which should you pick?

Choose Diligent if

  • You need diligent boards.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
  • You also want entity management.
Diligent review

Choose NICE Actimize if

  • You need suspicious activity monitoring.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Windows.
  • You also want watchlist filtering.
NICE Actimize review

Questions people ask

Is Diligent or NICE Actimize better?
Neither clearly leads. Diligent starts at On request and NICE Actimize at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Diligent or NICE Actimize?
Diligent starts at On request and NICE Actimize at On request.
Does Diligent or NICE Actimize run on more platforms?
Diligent runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows. NICE Actimize runs on Web, Linux, Windows.
What is Diligent best used for?
Diligent is most often used for a listed company that wants board papers, entity records and the audit committee reporting pack produced from one governance system, an internal audit function moving from sampling to full-population transaction testing using the acl heritage analytics engine, a regulated firm consolidating a whistleblower hotline, third-party due diligence and policy attestation after an enforcement finding, a group needing sustainability disclosure data collected with the same audit trail and controls as financial reporting. Of those, a listed company that wants board papers, entity records and the audit committee reporting pack produced from one governance system and an internal audit function moving from sampling to full-population transaction testing using the acl heritage analytics engine are not what NICE Actimize is typically brought in for.
What can Diligent do that NICE Actimize cannot?
Diligent covers Diligent Boards, Entity management, Audit and analytics, Risk management. NICE Actimize covers Suspicious activity monitoring, Watchlist filtering, Customer due diligence, Payment fraud detection.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Diligent: Is Diligent One the same product as Galvanize?

It contains it. Diligent bought Galvanize, the ACL and Rsam merger, for around one billion dollars in April 2021, and its audit analytics and risk modules are that heritage rebranded into Diligent One.

NICE Actimize: Is Actimize one product?

No. It is a family of separately licensed modules covering AML, fraud, due diligence and surveillance. You buy what you need and each has its own price.

Diligent: What does Diligent cost?

Not published. It is quoted by module and user, and board portal seats are priced differently from GRC seats. Expect an annual or multi-year enterprise agreement.

NICE Actimize: Can it run in the cloud?

Yes, Actimize offers cloud deployment, though a large share of the installed base still runs on premises for data residency reasons.

Diligent: Can you buy just the board portal?

Yes, Diligent Boards is sold on its own and is the most common entry point. The GRC modules are separate purchases.

NICE Actimize: Who owns it?

NICE Ltd, an Israeli company listed on Nasdaq. Actimize is its financial crime division.

Diligent: Does it replace a SOC 2 automation tool?

No. Diligent is aimed at enterprise audit, risk and governance, not at automated evidence collection for security certifications.

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