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CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs IBM Security Secret Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 6, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

CyberArk Privileged Access ...
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
230
Ranking in other categories
User Activity Monitoring (1st), Enterprise Password Managers (2nd), Mainframe Security (1st), Operational Technology (OT) Security (3rd)
IBM Security Secret Server
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
22nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Privileged Access Management (PAM) category, the mindshare of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is 10.5%, down from 19.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Security Secret Server is 1.2%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager10.5%
IBM Security Secret Server1.2%
Other88.3%
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
 

Featured Reviews

Atul-Gujar - PeerSpot reviewer
CyberArk manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Secures critical infrastructures with essential user session audit records
A potential area for improvement is enhancing support for cluster environments and distributed Vaults. Clients in multiple countries that need central access have different challenges that require better solutions from CyberArk. For financial services, CyberArk can improve incident response by ensuring fast support for critical priority tickets to meet compliance requirements. Providing more documentation on CyberArk is recommended for new team members to enhance their troubleshooting capabilities. I understand it's up to the client, but 99% fail to change the demo key, so it's crucial for CyberArk to emphasize changing the key and documenting it as part of the installation process.
AsifIqbal - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Information Security Officer at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees
Privileged access monitoring has strengthened identity control and improved security posture
I find the monitoring and recording parts of IBM Security Secret Server to be the most valuable features. Password vaulting is somewhat typical, but I rate monitoring and recording as very good features, along with ease of deployment. The reporting tools in IBM Security Secret Server have helped me identify vulnerabilities. From the monitoring part, you can somewhat cover the identity vulnerability aspect. However, for identity vulnerability, I think the best approach is to use IAM rather than PAM. It is easy to integrate IBM Security Secret Server with cybersecurity frameworks, which is a very important aspect. When we are improving our attack surface, identity is the most important thing that we need to cover, and PAM will play a very crucial role in improving our cybersecurity framework and architecture. The main benefits that IBM Security Secret Server provides for me include complete control over the privileged identities, which are the main sources that can have the privilege to make numerous changes on the system. If we protect these identities through PAM and provide elevation on their accounts when required, then we can improve our security posture and infrastructure security.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Our most valuable features would probably be key rotation, the SKM or SSH key manager, and account discovery."
"CyberArk Privileged Access Manager indeed helps meet compliance and regulatory requirements for customers, especially in the financial sector, by aligning with PCI DSS standards."
"We have accomplished our security goals. We have two-factor authenticated and vaulted our important accounts, so people can't just steal stuff from us."
"CyberArk is the key technology around which we have built our security management solution."
"It is useful for protecting passwords. If you need to do access security management, you can first use the CyberArk console, and after that, you can connect the firewall interface or firewall command line. Similarly, if you need to do an RDP session, you need to first log in to CyberArk before connecting to the Windows RDP session. This way, the admin doesn't know the password, and that password is changed immediately. To change the password, you first discover the old password in the network, and after that, you can change the password."
"We could see the benefits of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager immediately after we deployed it and started using it."
"We have demoted a lot of domain admins and taken a lot of that away from people, giving it a shared account structure."
"Before CyberArk, our developers would connect from the VPN directly to the jump servers to get all of their access; we have removed the jump servers to connect to CyberArk, security has improved, we know who is accessing and what they are doing, the access is secure, and CyberArk has increased our security."
"This product has been able to cover most of the requests from our customers."
"The main benefits that IBM Security Secret Server provides for me include complete control over the privileged identities, which are the main sources that can have the privilege to make numerous changes on the system, and if we protect these identities through PAM and provide elevation on their accounts when required, then we can improve our security posture and infrastructure security."
"Stability-wise, I think it is a very good solution."
"As a PAM solution, Secret Server performs all the use cases in our environment."
"The live recording is a very useful feature."
"One of the most valuable features is scalability, and how it allows you to scale it without affecting the underlying core components."
"Access to privileged, shared credentials is simplified by optimizing the whole workflow and approval processes."
"Centralized Password Management: Our client has more than 400 geographical locations and approximately ten employees work at each location."
 

Cons

"Occasionally, there are lagging issues. Sometimes users have to re-login. When users copy passwords, there is sometimes a lag, so they have to log out and log in, but these are very rare cases."
"Better search functionality in the EPM console. It becomes difficult to search lengthy policies for specific items."
"Over the past seven years, I have seen a lot of ups and downs with the product, but now I am happy with the version that we are using now."
"Having a cloud version would be very helpful. You have to invest a lot of money for the infrastructure hardware so the cloud version would help."
"On the UI level, things could be better."
"I'd like it to be a little more granular. I want a little bit more control over exactly what we do."
"CyberArk Privileged Access Manager could improve the integration docking, it should have more layers, for example, integration with OpenShift."
"There is a bit of a learning curve, but it's a pretty complex solution."
"Although much has improved in last two years, the GUI for IBM products can be improved."
"Secret Server should have the ability to discover privileged accounts in the servers, like the administrator or users, from SQL and Oracle without having to import a script."
"Unfortunately, the technical support is not very responsive because we purchased it from IBM; however, the actual support comes from Thycotic."
"It would be preferable if the full proxy was included in the IBM Security Secret Server."
"I mention that password vaulting and password rotation in IBM Security Secret Server are basically the same thing, and it becomes somewhat complex when integrating a different system with them because it requires API development."
"If you have a hosted PIM in your local environment and you plan to migrate it to some cloud-based environment, then migration will become a painful task."
"The nonclustered index is working in an area with a problem that needs improvement."
"The newer interface is maybe confusing old customer that using previous one from their point of views, I think they will need little pass of time to be familiar with."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I'm a technician so I don't handle the licensing for CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, but I know that the price for the core license is about €140 per year. There's another type of license, the external vendor license, and that's about €600 and you can manage twenty devices. From what I know, the price for one device in a subscription is about €65 per year. You can buy the CyberArk Endpoint Privilege Manager too, or you can buy some other application or application license with CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, but all other features, such as the Analytics Server is included in the basic CyberArk license. With WALLIX, you need to buy separate licenses for the features."
"It's not a cheap application. It's very expensive."
"Since CyberArk is at the top of the Gartner list, the cost is indeed on the higher side, but customers must discern which entities are essential to purchase. They should weigh the cost against the quality received."
"It's expensive, certainly. But CyberArk is the leader in the market with regards to privileged access management. You pay a lot, but you are paying for the value that is being delivered."
"I do not have any opinions to add about the pricing of the product."
"Although CyberArk Privileged Access Management is expensive, its protection capabilities outweigh the cost."
"Network and security licenses are currently being managed by other outsource vendors, so they are facing some type of problems in the digital aspect."
"My company always complains about the cost of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager because it's too high."
"My rating for the IBM Security Secret Server pricing is seven out of ten. It could be cheaper."
"The price could be better. I think it's a good price for the on-premises environment and the high availability for enterprises the solution provides."
"I believe that we paid 35,000 or 40,000 US dollars for it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Insurance Company
19%
Construction Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Performing Arts
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise42
Large Enterprise174
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

How does Sailpoint IdentityIQ compare with CyberArk PAM?
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 m...
What do you like most about CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
The most valuable features of the solution are control and analytics.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
My thoughts on the pricing of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager depend entirely on the vendors' requirements. If they want their things to be secure, they have to spend accordingly. We have four t...
What needs improvement with IBM Security Secret Server?
I believe there is not much that can be improved for IBM Security Secret Server. Providing local support and local vendor availability would be beneficial so we are not dependent on international s...
What is your primary use case for IBM Security Secret Server?
IBM Security Secret Server serves multiple use cases for us, including the monitoring of privileged users, as well as the recording and password vaulting of their accounts, passwords, and need-base...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM Security Secret Server?
I mention that password vaulting and password rotation in IBM Security Secret Server are basically the same thing, and it becomes somewhat complex when integrating a different system with them beca...
 

Also Known As

CyberArk Privileged Access Security, CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault
IBM Secret Server, Secret Server, IBM Security Privileged Identity Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Rockwell Automation
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs. IBM Security Secret Server and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
886,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.