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Cybersecurity · head to head

One Identity vs pnpm

One Identity logo

One Identity

Cybersecurity

Quest-owned identity governance, PAM and Active Directory management

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
pnpm logo

pnpm

Developer Tools

Fast, disk space efficient package manager

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only pnpm has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: One Identity the portfolio is assembled from separate acquisitions, so components are separately licensed, separately administered and do not present one console, which raises operational cost.; pnpm requires command-line proficiency to use
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which One Identity and pnpm actually diverge.

Attributes where One Identity and pnpm differ
AttributeOne Identitypnpm
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Windows, LinuxLinux, Windows, macOS
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools
FoundedUnknown2017

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

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 One Identity

  • Identity Manager
  • Safeguard
  • Active Roles
  • OneLogin
  • Password Manager
  • syslog-ng
  • Starling connectors

Only in pnpm

Nothing recorded that One Identity does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

One Identity

  • An organisation whose authoritative directory will remain on premises Active Directory and needs delegated administration with attribute-level controlnot pnpm
  • A government or defence environment requiring privileged session management on a hardened physical appliance rather than a cloud servicenot pnpm
  • A manufacturer with SAP and Active Directory needing provisioning governed under one certification processnot pnpm
  • An enterprise consolidating Active Directory after an acquisition and needing automated account lifecycle across both forestsnot pnpm

pnpm

  • Installing dependencies faster than npm in monorepo workspacesnot One Identity
  • Sharing common dependencies across multiple projects to save disk spacenot One Identity
  • Preventing dependency version conflicts in workspace environmentsnot One Identity
  • Managing workspaces with many interdependent packagesnot One Identity

Where each one falls short

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

One Identity

  • The portfolio is assembled from separate acquisitions, so components are separately licensed, separately administered and do not present one console, which raises operational cost.
  • Identity Manager implementations are customisation-heavy and commonly run over a year, with the services spend exceeding the licence cost in the first year.
  • Quest has changed private equity ownership more than once since the Dell separation, and buyers should ask directly about product investment commitments before signing a multi-year deal.
  • Product documentation and support sit behind a customer portal, which makes independent evaluation before purchase harder than with vendors that publish openly.
  • The cloud-native and developer experience trails the pure-play identity vendors, so organisations moving decisively to SaaS applications find the on premises heritage becomes a constraint rather than an asset.

pnpm

  • Requires command-line proficiency to use
  • Community-driven support only

Pricing, plan by plan

One Identity

On request
  • Identity Manager$undefined/year
    • Priced per managed identity
    • On premises or hosted
    • Access certification and provisioning
  • Safeguard$undefined/year
    • Priced per privileged user or per appliance
    • Hardened appliance option for session management
    • Licensed separately from Identity Manager
  • Active Roles$undefined/year
    • Priced per managed Active Directory account
    • Delegated administration and automated provisioning
    • Licensed separately

pnpm

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the pnpm review.

Which should you pick?

Choose One Identity if

  • You need identity manager.
  • You work on Web, Windows, Linux.
  • You also want safeguard.
One Identity review

Choose pnpm if

  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, macOS.
pnpm review

Questions people ask

Is One Identity or pnpm better?
Neither clearly leads. One Identity starts at On request and pnpm at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, One Identity or pnpm?
pnpm has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for One Identity and Free for pnpm.
Does One Identity or pnpm run on more platforms?
One Identity runs on Web, Windows, Linux. pnpm runs on Linux, Windows, macOS.
Can I use pnpm for free?
Yes. pnpm has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. One Identity starts at On request.
What is One Identity best used for?
One Identity is most often used for an organisation whose authoritative directory will remain on premises active directory and needs delegated administration with attribute-level control, a government or defence environment requiring privileged session management on a hardened physical appliance rather than a cloud service, a manufacturer with sap and active directory needing provisioning governed under one certification process, an enterprise consolidating active directory after an acquisition and needing automated account lifecycle across both forests. Of those, an organisation whose authoritative directory will remain on premises active directory and needs delegated administration with attribute-level control and a government or defence environment requiring privileged session management on a hardened physical appliance rather than a cloud service are not what pnpm is typically brought in for.
What can One Identity do that pnpm cannot?
One Identity covers Identity Manager, Safeguard, Active Roles, OneLogin.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

One Identity: Is One Identity the same company as Quest?

Yes. One Identity is Quest Software's identity and access management business unit, not a separate vendor.

pnpm: Is pnpm free and open source?

Yes. pnpm is free and open source software developed for Node.js. Version 10 and 11 are currently available.

Source
One Identity: Does it include privileged access?

Safeguard provides it, but it is licensed separately from Identity Manager. Neither includes the other.

pnpm: How does pnpm save disk space?

pnpm uses a content-addressable store with hard linking and symlinks to avoid duplication. All files are saved in a single place on disk and hard-linked to individual projects, dramatically reducing storage requirements compared to npm.

Source
One Identity: Why choose this over SailPoint or Saviynt?

Almost always because of Active Directory depth via Active Roles or an appliance requirement for privileged sessions. For cloud-first estates the specialists are the stronger choice.

pnpm: Is pnpm faster than npm?

Yes. pnpm performs installation in three stages: dependency resolution, directory structure calculation, and linking. Packages are fetched and linked as soon as possible, making it significantly faster than npm's sequential approach.

Source
pnpm: Does pnpm support monorepos?

Yes. pnpm has built-in support for monorepositories. You can create a workspace using pnpm-workspace.yaml to unite multiple projects in a single repository.

Source
pnpm: How does pnpm handle node_modules differently than npm?

pnpm uses symlinks to add only direct dependencies to node_modules root, preventing accidental access to undeclared dependencies. This encourages more explicit dependency management compared to npm's flattened node_modules structure.

Source
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