Privileged Access Management: 14 Tools compared
Controlling who can access privileged accounts, servers, databases, and cloud infrastructure. PAM is what you reach for when secrets management alone is not enough: when you need session recording, just-in-time access, credential…
Quick comparison
All privileged access management tools side by side, alphabetical. Featured listings are shown first.
| Tool | Deployment | Pricing model | Open source | Standards / certs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SplitSecureFeatured | Cloud + Self-hosted | Tiered (free / per-seat / enterprise) | — | — |
| BeyondTrust | Cloud + Self-hosted | Per-user subscription + modules | — | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001FedRAMP |
| BeyondTrust Password Safe | Cloud + Self-hosted | Enterprise (contact sales) | — | SOC 2 Type 2ISO 27001FedRAMP Moderate |
| CyberArk | Cloud | Per-user subscription + modules | — | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001FedRAMP High |
| CyberArk Conjur | Cloud + Self-hosted | Enterprise license | Yes | — |
| CyberArk Privilege Cloud | Cloud | Enterprise (contact sales) | — | SOC 2 Type 2ISO 27001FedRAMP High |
| Delinea | Cloud + Self-hosted | Per-user or per-server licensing | — | — |
| Delinea Secret Server | Cloud + Self-hosted | Annual license | — | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001 |
| HashiCorp Boundary | Cloud + Self-hosted | Open Source + HCP cloud tiers | Yes | SOC 2 Type 2 |
| ManageEngine PAM360 | Cloud + Self-hosted | Per-admin tiers + perpetual license option | — | SOC 2 Type 2ISO 27001GDPR |
| One Identity Safeguard | Cloud + Self-hosted | Enterprise (contact sales) | — | SOC 2 Type 2ISO 27001FIPS 140-2 |
| Saviynt Privileged Access | Cloud | Enterprise (contact sales) | — | SOC 2 Type 2ISO 27001FedRAMP Moderate |
| StrongDM | Cloud | Per-user (contact sales) | — | SOC 2 Type 2HIPAAISO 27001 |
| Teleport | Cloud + Self-hosted | Open Source + Per-user tiers | Yes | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001HIPAA |
SplitSecure
Distributed secrets management. No vault, no vendor dependency
SplitSecure is a distributed secrets management platform that splits credentials across multiple devices you control using Shamir Secret Sharing. No single device holds a complete credential, and secrets never leave your environment. Designed for highest-sensitivity accounts in regulated industries where vendor dependency is unacceptable.
Capabilities
BeyondTrust
PAM & IdentityOrganizations needing combined privilege management and secure remote access
BeyondTrust is a comprehensive privilege management platform that combines privileged access management, endpoint privilege management, and secure remote access into a unified solution. It enables organizations to reduce attack surfaces by eliminating unnecessary privileges, controlling remote access, and providing full visibility into privileged activity across the enterprise.
BeyondTrust Password Safe
Privileged Access ManagementEnterprises with mixed Unix/Linux/Windows estates needing unified privilege management
BeyondTrust Password Safe is an enterprise PAM platform covering credential vaulting, session management, and privileged task automation. As part of BeyondTrust's Total Privileged Access Management Platform, it pairs with Endpoint Privilege Management (removing local admin rights) and Remote Support. BeyondTrust is a consistent Gartner Leader and is especially strong in heterogeneous environments with Unix/Linux/Mac workload coverage.
CyberArk
PAM & IdentityEnterprise privileged access management and identity security platform
CyberArk is widely regarded as a leader in privileged access management (PAM), providing comprehensive identity security solutions for protecting privileged credentials, controlling access to critical infrastructure, and meeting compliance requirements. Its platform includes privileged session management, credential vaulting, and just-in-time access across on-premises and cloud environments.
CyberArk Conjur
EnterpriseLarge enterprises with complex compliance and PAM requirements
CyberArk Conjur is an enterprise-grade secrets management solution that secures secrets used by machine identities. Part of the CyberArk Identity Security Platform, it provides centralized secrets management with policy-as-code and deep DevOps integration.
CyberArk Privilege Cloud
Privileged Access ManagementLarge enterprises and government agencies with complex legacy environments and compliance requirements
CyberArk Privilege Cloud is the SaaS delivery of CyberArk's PAM platform. It provides a credential vault, session management, threat analytics, and just-in-time access for privileged users, managed entirely by CyberArk. Privilege Cloud is widely used in enterprise and government PAM deployments, with FedRAMP High authorization and deep integrations with legacy enterprise systems (mainframes, AS/400, network devices).
Delinea
PAM & IdentityOrganizations wanting a faster PAM deployment with lower complexity
Delinea, formed from the merger of Thycotic and Centrify, offers a PAM platform centered around its flagship Secret Server product. Delinea focuses on making privileged access management accessible and easy to deploy, with cloud-ready solutions for credential vaulting, privilege elevation, and server access management.
Delinea Secret Server
EnterpriseEnterprises focused on privileged access management and compliance
Delinea Secret Server is an enterprise privileged access management (PAM) solution that stores, controls, and audits access to privileged credentials. It provides automated password rotation, session monitoring, and compliance reporting for large organizations.
HashiCorp Boundary
Privileged Access ManagementTeams already invested in HashiCorp tooling who want unified secrets + session access
HashiCorp Boundary is an identity-aware session broker for remote access to infrastructure. It pairs naturally with HashiCorp Vault to provide just-in-time credential brokering: users authenticate with Boundary using their identity provider, Boundary requests short-lived credentials from Vault, and injects them into the session without exposing them. Boundary is open source (MPL 2.0) with a commercial HCP Boundary cloud offering.
ManageEngine PAM360
Privileged Access ManagementMid-market teams needing enterprise-style PAM features without the CyberArk price tag
PAM360 is ManageEngine's privileged access management product, part of the broader Zoho / ManageEngine IT management suite. It offers credential vaulting, session management, and privilege elevation at a price point well below CyberArk or BeyondTrust. PAM360 is especially popular with mid-market organizations that already use ManageEngine tools for endpoint management, ITSM, or monitoring.
One Identity Safeguard
Privileged Access ManagementRegulated enterprises wanting an appliance-based PAM tied into broader IGA
One Identity Safeguard is an enterprise PAM suite covering privileged password management, privileged session management, and behavior analytics. Part of One Identity (owned by Quest Software, which also owns OneLogin), Safeguard ships as hardened appliances or virtual appliances, and is frequently chosen by organizations that prefer a hardware-based root of trust for their privileged vault.
Saviynt Privileged Access
Privileged Access ManagementCloud-first enterprises consolidating IGA and PAM under one platform
Saviynt Privileged Access is a cloud-native PAM module inside the Saviynt Enterprise Identity Cloud. Unlike legacy PAM vendors, Saviynt's PAM is built into a broader identity governance and administration (IGA) platform, so privilege certification, SoD checks, and access reviews all share the same policy engine as workforce identity. It is especially popular with cloud-first enterprises replacing on-premises PAM.
StrongDM
Privileged Access ManagementGrowing engineering teams that want a polished, turnkey alternative to building PAM themselves
StrongDM is an infrastructure access platform that provides a single proxy layer for databases, servers, Kubernetes, and internal web apps. Engineers authenticate once with their SSO identity and StrongDM handles credential injection, session recording, and fine-grained authorization. It is positioned between Teleport (cloud-native, OSS-first) and traditional PAM (CyberArk, BeyondTrust) as a modern but polished commercial solution.
Teleport
Privileged Access ManagementDevOps and SRE teams replacing bastion hosts, VPNs, and shared SSH keys
Teleport is a modern infrastructure access platform that unifies SSH, Kubernetes, database, and application access behind a single identity-aware proxy. It replaces VPNs, bastion hosts, and shared credentials with short-lived certificates tied to SSO identity. Teleport is open source at its core (Apache 2.0), with a commercial Enterprise tier that adds FedRAMP support, IdP hosting, and advanced policies. It is popular with DevOps and SRE teams operating at cloud-native scale.
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Privileged Access Management tools, listed alphabetically and compared on public information. How we work →