Flexera vs. USU
Flexera vs. USU for comprehensive software asset management
While USU's IT asset management solution and Flexera One ITAM share some similarities, Flexera stands apart with a much more comprehensive approach. In addition to being a robust ILMT alternative for IBM license compliance, and offering product use rights templates for complex vendors, Flexera takes a holistic view of ITAM and FinOps, covering critical areas such as SaaS management, cloud license management, cloud cost management and sustainability.
Why organizations choose Flexera over USU for software asset management
| Capability | USU | Flexera One ITAM |
|---|---|---|
| IBM Authorized Tooling for License Compliance | No | Yes. Flexera is the only IBM license management tool (ILMT) alternative, certified by IBM for license compliance reporting. By utilizing Flexera, you won’t need multiple tools to manage licenses for IBM and other vendors. |
| Product use rights templates and non-standard complex metric calculations | Partially. USU provides some visibility to product use rights (licenses available for BYO) but does not include detailed product use rights templates. | Yes. Product use rights is the #1 challenge of SAM professionals, according to the latest State of ITAM Report. Flexera’s thousands of product use rights templates help SAM professionals ensure software is used in accordance with the license agreement, helping reduce risk of non-compliance and spend. |
| Data normalization and enrichment and bespoke application library |
Yes. USU claims 90%+ automated product recognition. | Yes. Verified by 75+ domain experts, Flexera’s AI-based Technopedia catalog normalizes 98% of your inventory data in less than 10 minutes. Technopedia enables our customers to decipher and automatically apply product use rights, SKUs and unsurpassed application recognition results. As of July 2025, Flexera Technopedia normalizes/enriches:
|
| SaaS management | Partially. USU provides some visibility to SaaS applications via API connectors and was noted as a niche player in the 2025 Gartner SaaS Management Platform Magic Quadrant. | Yes. Flexera One SaaS Management is the only ITAM provider that is a SaaS management market leader, according to the 2025 Gartnerâ SaaS Management Platform Magic Quadrantä. Flexera’s solution provides the deepest visibility into known and shadow SaaS applications via browser extension, agent, APIs, SSO and CASB connectors. |
| Cloud license management | Partially. USU provides visibility into license demand for BYO licenses in the cloud. | Yes. Flexera offers license compliance and optimization for software running in your cloud environment with our Cloud License Management solution. It helps determine if you’ve over provisioned BYOL and if you’re spending too much on PAYG when you could be using BYOL. |
| Cloud financial management | Partially. USU provides visibility into cloud spend to help allocate costs, as well as for budgeting, forecasting and resource optimization. | Yes. Flexera One Cloud Cost Optimization (CCO) was named a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in 2024 for Cloud Financial Management tools. CCO not only provides visibility, but it has over 90 recommendations for optimization and helps with cloud sustainability initiatives. In 2025, Flexera acquired Spot solutions to strengthen our capabilities to manage cloud infrastructure costs, scale AI infrastructure and optimize Kubernetes environments. |
| IT and cloud sustainability planning and reporting | Partially. USU indirectly supports sustainability by helping organizations optimize IT asset usage. | Yes. Through our partnership with GreenPixie, organizations can get visibility to emissions metrics for their cloud infrastructure. Measure and analyze your emissions across Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 to determine contributing factors for your on-premises estate’s carbon footprint. |
IBM license compliance frequently asked questions
USU and Flexera believe that verification and certification are essential to helping ITAM professionals improve audit reporting accuracy and reduce the time to prepare for an audit. Both of Flexera’s ITAM offerings, Flexera One IT Asset Management and Snow Atlas, are quad verified by Oracle. Snow Optimizer for SAP Software, an agentless solution with quick time to value, is certified by SAP, and Flexera One ITAM offers the only ILMT-certified alternative for IBM license compliance. USU is also quad verified by Oracle and has a certification for its SAP license management solution.
Flexera is a leader in three Gartner Magic Quadrants: the 2025 SaaS Management Platform Magic Quadrant (USU a niche player), the 2024 Cloud Financial Management Tool Magic Quadrant (USU not present) and the 2020 Magic Quadrant for Software Asset Management (USU (formerly Aspera) is a challenger). Gartner no longer publishes a Magic Quadrant for software asset management but a market guide, as they have seen the shift in spend move to SaaS. The 2025 Forrester Wave for Software Asset Management solutions ranked USU and Flexera as leaders.
Hear what our customers say
“Flexera has been a transformative force in our IT Asset Management strategy. Within our first year of implementation, we achieved measurable improvements in software and hardware visibility, enabling smarter lifecycle decisions and cost avoidance of over $300,000. The integration of Flexera One and SaaS Manager has empowered our teams with real-time insights, streamlined compliance, and enhanced governance across our hybrid IT estate.” (Source: User Evidence Survey, June 2025)
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