CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Symantec Privileged Access Manager comparison

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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: May 2024).
772,649 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
"Their legacy of more than 20 years is very valuable. It brings a lot of stability to the product and a wide variety of integration with the ecosystem. Because of these factors, it has also been very successful in deployment. So, the legacy and integration with other technologies make the PAM platform very stable and strong. In terms of features, most of the other vendors are still focusing just on the privileged access management or session recording, but CyberArk has incorporated artificial intelligence to make PAM a more proactive system. They have implemented threat analytics into this, and there is also a lot of focus on domain controller production, Windows Server protection, and stuff like that. They have also further advanced it with the security on the cloud and DevOps systems. They have a bundle licensing model, which really helps. They don't have a complex licensing model. Even though in our market, people say CyberArk is expensive as compared to some of the other products, but in terms of overall value and as a bundling solution, it is an affordable and highly scalable product.""DVR like video recording and text-based recording for easier audits.""Password rotation, session recording & isolation and on-demand privileges.""It enables companies to automate password management on target systems gaining a more secure access management approach.""It has helped us with our adoption with other teams, and it has also helped us to integrate it at the ground level.""It helps our customers in their software requirement imports.""CyberArk Privileged Access Manager's main benefit is it provides secure access to our servers. There are features to capture the user activity, it provides video recording processing. If the users are logged in to the server, we can see what activities they are performing. It's a very nice tool for Privileged Access Management. They have plenty of useful services and the solution has fulfilled our needs.""It has helped from an auditing perspective identify who has access to privileged accounts."

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"Comprehensive coverage of the required features for the PAM solution.""Transparent login for users of privileged IDs (Linux, Windows). This prevents sharing of the password because it is never seen.""It gives you list of servers, so you can see which users have access to which servers. This is really useful, so we can make sure nobody is getting extra access than what is needed.""You can do A2A integration. You can have your own script, which can then run outside of PA to retrieve the password and perform other tasks.""It's easy to use and easy to configure.""For me, it is the robust API which is the most valuable feature. This allows for low maintenance costs and allows applications to automatically connect. This is great to automate security of the DevOps pipeline for shared secrets across environments. Also, being on Linux and a virtual appliance is great.""Stability is solid as a rock.""It reduces the viral attacks on my website. It also allows certain users access to see what happens daily."

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Cons
"Their post-sale support area requires a big improvement. Customers cannot automate tickets directly with CyberArk. They have to come through the distributor or bring in partners who have access to the support portal. Basically, the support for post-sales implementation is there, but the role of CyberArk is very minimal. Customers have to rely on partners, which sometimes creates issues. Some of the vendors help you during the implementation process, but the CyberArk support team does not do that. They have 24/7 support for our region, but they help only if there is an emergency or there is a problem with their system. If the password vault is down or the system is down, they provide immediate attention. For almost everything else, they take more time to respond. They give low priority to service-related or migration-related questions.""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.""I think having a distributed architecture would certainly help this solution.""There is some stuff that we still have not fully integrated, which is our AIM solution. We are having all types of issues with it. I have been working with Level 3 support on it, but otherwise, from a functionality perspective, everything has been working except for the AIM solution.""I'm not a fan of technical support with CyberArk. It's like jumping through red tape and hoops. Quite frankly, it's almost like when you call CyberArk you get the Help Desk or the level-one. I'm a level-one. I got the CCD, I know how to do the initial troubleshooting. When I call CyberArk it's because I can't figure the problem out. So I need a level-two, three, four. I don't need you to tell me, "Hey, open a ticket and then give me logs."""Make it easier to deploy.""The greatest area of improvement is with the user interface of the Password Vault Web Access component.""The solution could improve by adding more connectors."

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"I’m no fan of Java as an application front-end, as it tends to have issues depending on what browser one’s using.""The service account management functionality needs to be extended to application pools, SQL database, PowerShell scripts, service account discovery, etc.""We experience stability issues after every patch upgrade. This is a place where CA needs to improve drastically.""The management console could be improved.""They should include some assignments in the test environment to explore the product's features.""The support for other remote assistance tools would be excellent. Free included tools in Windows (Remote Assist) and Microsoft SCCM Configuration Manager (ConMgr Remote Control) allow companies to reduce the amount of RDP connections and expand the usage of the tools are frequently used by companies to provide technical support for remote assistance.""An improvement for this solution is that it should not be constantly based on user name and password. There should be a condition to edit and update your username.""It's difficult to locate the reports, there are limits on what reports can be run from the GUI, and the report formats are lacking."

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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 most valuable features of the solution are control and analytics.
    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
    Retailer19%
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Logistics Company14%
    Government10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Manufacturing Company14%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise66%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise38%
    Large Enterprise47%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise61%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business14%
    Midsize Enterprise7%
    Large Enterprise79%
    Buyer's Guide
    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is ranked 1st in Privileged Access Management (PAM) with 144 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, ARCON Privileged Access Management and Delinea Secret Server. 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.