CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Symantec Privileged Access Manager comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between CyberArk Privileged Access Manager and Symantec Privileged Access Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager Report (Updated: March 2024).
769,599 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It is a scalable product.""I really like the PTA (Privileged Threat Analytics). I find this the best feature.""The product has allowed us to improve both the management and access to privileged credentials, while also creating a full audit trail of all activities happening within isolated sessions of all tasks and activities taking place within the solution.""We have demoted a lot of domain admins and taken a lot of that away from people, giving it a shared account structure.""If any intruder gets inside, they would not be able to move around nor do lateral movements. It minimize any attack problems within our network.""It is a central repository. Therefore, if someone needs to access a server, then they go through CyberArk PAM. It provides a secure way to do this and CyberArk PAM records everything. For example, if you are connecting to a Linux server, then once you get into the Linux server and if it is integrated with CyberArk, it will automatically start recording everything that is being done. In most banks, seeing the recordings is very useful. If there are any gaps or something has happened which shouldn't have happened, then we can check the logs and videos. So, it gives security, in a robust manner, to the organization.""It takes people out of the machine work of ensuring credentials remain up-to-date, and handles connection brokering such that human usage and credential management remain independent.""Password rotation, session recording & isolation and on-demand privileges."

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"We know we can scale up with what we have, and we probably will not need to buy any further appliances down the road.""The DB clustering is a really good benefit of using CA PAM.""It is great for identity governance.""We have received good support from the tech support team.""Stability is solid as a rock.""Comprehensive coverage of the required features for the PAM solution.""We found that the architecture is scalable and very resilient.""The two factor authentication, and the single most important capability was it supported PIV and CAC as one of the two factors. That was pretty huge for us."

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Cons
"In the beginning, CyberArk Privileged Access Manager didn't have a multifactor authentication feature, so that was an area for improvement, but now it's part of the solution. Having just one console for two CyberArk products would be good, particularly for the CyberArk Privileged Access Manager and the CyberArk Endpoint Privilege Manager, with the latter being a product for endpoint management that supports the workstations and allows you to manage workstations. In the next update of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, it would be good to have a local agent where you can manage all users and processes, and have an agent on the servers such as Linux and Windows.""There were a lot of manual steps in the initial setup which could have been automated. I read the 10.4 release that was sent out about a month or two ago, and I saw the steps required for upgrade have been reduced by about 90%. That was a big thing for me, but I still haven't seen that yet because we have not upgrade past 9.9.5.""Sometimes the infrastructure team is hesitant to provide more resources.""Overall what I would really love to see is the third-party PAS reporter tool pulled more into the overall solution, ideally as its own deployable component service installation package.""They can do a better job in the PSM space.""CyberArk has a lot on the privileged access side but they have to concentrate more on the application side as well.""The documentation is rather basic and it is missing many use cases.""I don't know if "failed authentication" is a glitch or if that was an update... However, since we are the CyberArk support within our organization, we need to know that the password is suspended and we won't know that unless we have the ITA log up. So when a user calls and says, "Hey, I'm locked out of CyberArk, I can't get into CyberArk," we have to go through all of these other troubleshooting steps because the first thing we don't think of right now is, "The account is suspended." It doesn't say that anymore."

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"The management console could be improved.""It'd be great if you just stuck in your PIV card and Windows popped up, asked you for your password. You typed it in, then it remembered your credentials.""We experience stability issues after every patch upgrade. This is a place where CA needs to improve drastically.""Instead of just giving passwords to the user based on job function, from auditing perspective, turn that cycle around. That would really help from an auditing standpoint.""We have to do a lot of manual work to automate features.""They should include some assignments in the test environment to explore the product's features.""The service account management functionality needs to be extended to application pools, SQL database, PowerShell scripts, service account discovery, etc.""I’m no fan of Java as an application front-end, as it tends to have issues depending on what browser one’s using."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Pricing and licensing depend on the environment."
  • "It is not a cheap solution. It is expensive as compared with other solutions. However, it is one of the best solutions in their domain."
  • "It can be an expensive product."
  • "Cost efficiency is the number one thing that can be improved in my mind. This would change lots of companies minds on purchasing the product."
  • "The cost is high compared to other products."
  • "CyberArk provides all the features bundled. This is compared to other vendors who provide them as a different license for each functionality."
  • "Our risk is definitely significantly lower. Also, our resources are low."
  • "If you are looking at implementing this solution, buy the training and go to it."
  • More CyberArk Privileged Access Manager Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Don’t go with an agent model. Don’t go with a model that has you buying a thousand different parts. Go with PAM that gives you everything, or you’ll just be paying costs of implementing another tool that PAM would have just given you up front."
  • "The prices are not low, but one can ask for a discount. It’s not the cheapest PAM solution."
  • "Appliances are relatively cheap, don’t skimp. Make sure you have redundancy, high availability, and enough appliances to manage the concurrent workload."
  • "Cost-wise, CA was better compared to others in the market. ​"
  • "Pricing is fair compared to other top vendors."
  • "The licensing is simple and scalable."
  • "I would prefer better licensing options for the 20-100 users we have at a given time."
  • "It is more expensive than other solutions on the market."
  • More Symantec Privileged Access Manager Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:We evaluated Sailpoint IdentityIQ before ultimately choosing CyberArk. Sailpoint Identity Platform is a solution to manage risks in cloud enterprise environments. It automates and streamlines the… more »
    Top Answer:The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
    Top Answer:We can check the activities in the server for fragile files and documents in case of any issues.
    Top Answer:The product's pricing depends on the agreement. They offer per-device, per-user, or monthly and yearly licensing models.
    Top Answer:There should be some training platform similar to Microsoft and IBM. We can't find useful documentation or YouTube videos to learn about the process. They should include some assignments in the test… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    10,944
    Comparisons
    6,238
    Reviews
    33
    Average Words per Review
    626
    Rating
    8.9
    Views
    865
    Comparisons
    540
    Reviews
    3
    Average Words per Review
    424
    Rating
    6.7
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    CyberArk Privileged Access Security
    CA PAM, Xceedium Xsuite, CA Privileged Access Manager
    Learn More
    Overview

    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is a next-generation solution that allows users to secure both their applications and their confidential corporate information. It is extremely flexible and can be implemented across a variety of environments. This program runs with equal efficiency in a fully cloud-based, hybrid, or on-premises environment. Users can now protect their critical infrastructure and access it in any way that best meets their needs.

    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager possesses a simplified and unified user interface. Users are able to manage the solution from one place. The UI allows users to view and manage all of the information and controls that administrators need to be able to easily access. Very often, management UIs do not have all of the controls and information streamlined in a single location. This platform provides a level of visibility that ensures users will be able to view all of their system’s most critical information at any time that they wish.

    Benefits of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager

    Some of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager’s benefits include:

    • The ability to manage IDs and permissions across a cloud environment. In a world where being able to work remotely is becoming increasingly important, CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is a very valuable tool. Administrators do not need to worry about infrastructure security when they are away from the office. They can assign and manage security credentials from anywhere in the world.
    • The ability to manage the program from a single centralized UI. CyberArk Privileged Access Manager’s UI contains all of the system controls and information. Users now have the ability to view and use all of their system’s most critical information and controls from one place.
    • The ability to automate user management tasks. Administrators can save valuable time by assigning certain management tasks to be fulfilled by the system itself. Users can now reserve their time for tasks that are most pressing. It can also allow for the system to simplify the management process by having the platform perform the most complex functions.

    Reviews from Real Users

    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager’s software stands out among its competitors for one very fundamental reason. CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is an all-in-one solution. Users are given the ability to accomplish with a single platform what might usually only be accomplished with multiple solutions.

    PeerSpot users note the truly all-in-one nature of this solution. Mateusz K., IT Manager at a financial services firm, wrote, "It improves security in our company. We have more than 10,000 accounts that we manage in CyberArk. We use these accounts for SQLs, Windows Server, and Unix. Therefore, keeping these passwords up-to-date in another solution or software would be impossible. Now, we have some sort of a platform to manage passwords, distribute the inflow, and manage IT teams as well as making regular changes to it according to the internal security policies in our bank."

    Hichem T.-B., CDO & Co-Founder at ELYTIK, noted that “This is a complete solution that can detect cyber attacks well. I have found the proxy features most valuable for fast password web access.”

    CA Privileged Access Manager is a simple-to-deploy, automated, proven solution for privileged access management in physical, virtual and cloud environments. It enhances security by protecting sensitive administrative credentials such as root and administrator passwords, controlling privileged user access, proactively enforcing policies and monitoring and recording privileged user activity across all IT resources.  It includes CA PAM Server Control (previously CA Privileged Identity Manager) for fine-grained protection of critical servers

    Sample Customers
    Rockwell Automation
    NEOVERA, Telesis, eSoft
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm23%
    Insurance Company13%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Healthcare Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization30%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Manufacturing Company5%
    REVIEWERS
    Retailer20%
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Logistics Company15%
    Government10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company14%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise66%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise38%
    Large Enterprise48%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise63%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business14%
    Midsize Enterprise7%
    Large Enterprise79%
    Buyer's Guide
    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    769,599 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is ranked 1st in Privileged Access Management (PAM) with 142 reviews while Symantec Privileged Access Manager is ranked 18th in Privileged Access Management (PAM) with 50 reviews. CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is rated 8.8, while Symantec Privileged Access Manager is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager writes "Lets you ensure relevant, compliant access in good time and with an audit trail, yet lacks clarity on MITRE ATT&CK". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Symantec Privileged Access Manager writes "Allows IT and consultants to access the infrastructure environment but needs more security and better support". CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is most compared with Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine), Microsoft Entra ID, Delinea Secret Server, WALLIX Bastion and One Identity Safeguard, whereas Symantec Privileged Access Manager is most compared with Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine), BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management, Delinea Secret Server, ARCON Privileged Access Management and VMware Identity Manager. See our CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager report.

    See our list of best Privileged Access Management (PAM) vendors.

    We monitor all Privileged Access Management (PAM) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.