Group Policy Management Comparison Matrix

Product Feature Active Administrator GPMC
OS Support
Windows versions supported for GPO management

Windows 2000
Windows 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows 2000
Windows 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows versions supported for RSoP

Windows 2000
Windows 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2

MMC Snap-In   Yes
Standalone Management Application Yes  
Group Policy Management
Provides GPO settings, Security Group Filters, Security Delegation, WMI Filter and Link information Yes Yes
Has Built-in Reporting Yes Yes
Reporting Formats HTML and MHT HTML, XML
Differentiates Unlinked GPOs Yes
Manage WMI Filters Yes Yes
Backup and Restore GPO Settings Yes Yes
View all backed up GPOs as a GPO History Yes
Edit backed up GPOs within GPO History Yes
View version changes of backed up GPOs Yes
Report on Settings in backed up GPOs Yes
Resultant Set of Policies
Group Policy Results (viewing current settings) Yes Yes
Group Policy Modeling (viewing "what-if" scenarios) Yes Yes
Modeling supports WMI Filtering   Yes
Modeling can report on GPO Deltas only Yes
Modeling can report against Offline Repository Yes
Reporting Formats HTML, MHT, TXT HTML, XML
Offline GPO Repository
Utilizes Offline GPO Repository Yes
Check Out/Check In Offline GPOs to Edit Yes
Edit Offline GPOs Yes
Reporting on Offline GPO Settings Yes
Compare Offline to Live GPO Settings Yes
Export Offline GPO to Live AD GPO Yes
GPO Auditing
Centralized auditing of all Live GPO administration Yes
Client Side Troubleshooting
Centralized enabling of GPO Logging to Event Log Yes
Centralized filtered viewing of GPO-related client-side events Yes
Additional Capabilities
AD Permissions Management Yes
Active Template permissions with Self-Healing capabilities Yes
Centralized auditing of and reporting on all AD administration Yes
Object-Level Restores of AD Objects Yes
AD Security & Permissions Management Yes
Active Directory health assessment, checkups and reporting Yes
Account management and cleanup Yes