Exostar Managed Access Gateway (MAG) vs OpenIAM: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, compared head to head.
Exostar Managed Access Gateway (MAG) is a commercial access management tool by Exostar. OpenIAM is a free identity governance and administration tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best access management fit for your security stack. Independent and vendor-neutral: our scores and rankings are earned, never bought — sponsored placement is always labeled.
CST VerdictShort answer
Mid-market and enterprise security teams managing third-party partner access across regulated supply chains will get the most from Exostar Managed Access Gateway because it handles the friction of federated identity at scale without forcing partners through your internal IAM infrastructure. The platform covers ITAR, DFARS, and NIST 800-171 compliance natively, and its pre-vetted network of 200,000 organizations cuts onboarding cycles from weeks to days. Skip this if your partner ecosystem is small or you need deep workforce IAM controls; MAG is purpose-built for B2B access governance, not employee identity management. Mid-market organizations building internal developer platforms or modernizing legacy identity infrastructure will find OpenIAM's free tier valuable for piloting identity governance without license friction. The platform bundles CIAM, MFA, and PAM capabilities in a single deployment, which is rare at the free tier and sidesteps the typical vendor compartmentalization. Skip this if you need deep integration with your existing IAM stack or require vendor support SLAs; OpenIAM's community-driven model means you're debugging with forums, not escalation paths.
Based on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:
