Privileged Access Management Tools -- CyberArk Alternatives
Privileged access management (PAM) is the practice of controlling, monitoring, and auditing access to critical systems and sensitive data through privileged accounts. CyberArk has long been the market leader in PAM, but several alternatives offer compelling capabilities for credential vaulting, session management, privilege elevation, and compliance. Whether you need a comparable enterprise platform, a more affordable option, or a modern approach to privileged access, these alternatives provide effective PAM solutions for different organizational needs and budgets.
Scan your environment to identify all privileged accounts across servers, databases, network devices, cloud platforms, and applications. Build a comprehensive inventory of who has access to what and identify unmanaged or orphaned privileged accounts.
Onboard discovered privileged credentials into a secure vault with encryption at rest. Configure automatic password rotation policies to eliminate static credentials and reduce the window of exposure for any compromised credential.
Establish just-in-time access workflows where users request privileged access for a specific duration and purpose. Configure approval chains, time-based access grants, and automatic credential checkout and check-in to minimize standing privileges.
Enable session monitoring and recording for all privileged access. Configure real-time alerting for suspicious activity, keystroke logging for sensitive systems, and session recording for post-incident analysis and compliance evidence.
Generate compliance reports showing who accessed what systems, when, and what they did. Conduct periodic access reviews to verify that privileged access is still appropriate. Use behavioral analytics to identify anomalous privileged activity and continuously refine access policies.
Custom enterprise pricing
BeyondTrust is the closest enterprise-grade alternative to CyberArk for comprehensive PAM, with added strengths in endpoint privilege management and secure remote access that make it particularly strong for organizations needing a unified privilege management platform.
From $10,000/year (Secret Server) / Custom enterprise
Delinea's Secret Server provides proven PAM capabilities with faster deployment times and competitive pricing. It covers the core PAM use cases of credential vaulting, session management, and compliance while offering better usability for many teams.
Custom enterprise pricing
One Identity Safeguard provides solid PAM capabilities with the unique advantage of integrated identity governance through Identity Manager. It is a strong choice when PAM and IGA need to work together from a single vendor.
From $7,995/year (2 admins)
ManageEngine PAM360 delivers essential PAM capabilities at a significantly lower cost, making enterprise-grade privileged access management accessible to mid-market organizations and budget-conscious teams.
Free (Community) / From $20/resource/month (Enterprise)
Teleport provides a modern, zero-trust approach to privileged access that eliminates traditional credential management entirely. It is ranked here for teams that want to rethink PAM fundamentally rather than replicate traditional approaches.
Unified privilege management and secure remote access platform
Custom enterprise pricing
Organizations needing combined privilege management and secure remote access
Cloud-ready PAM platform built on Secret Server and privilege management
From $10,000/year (Secret Server) / Custom enterprise
Organizations wanting a faster PAM deployment with lower complexity
Unified identity security platform with PAM and governance
Custom enterprise pricing
Organizations needing unified identity governance and privileged access management
Affordable full-featured privileged access management solution
From $7,995/year (2 admins)
Mid-market organizations needing capable PAM at a lower price point
Open-source identity-based infrastructure access platform
Free (Community) / From $20/resource/month (Enterprise)
Engineering teams needing modern, developer-friendly infrastructure access
Privileged access management (PAM) is a security discipline that controls access to accounts with elevated permissions such as administrator, root, and service accounts. It is critical because privileged accounts are the most common target in cyberattacks. Compromised privileged credentials can give attackers full control over critical systems, data, and infrastructure. PAM reduces this risk through credential vaulting, access controls, session monitoring, and automatic rotation.
Key evaluation criteria include credential vaulting and rotation capabilities, session monitoring and recording features, deployment complexity and time-to-value, integration with your existing tools and infrastructure, compliance reporting capabilities, total cost of ownership including implementation, and scalability for your environment size. Request proof-of-concept deployments and reference customers in your industry.
Yes, but PAM migrations require careful planning. Most PAM vendors offer migration tools and professional services to assist with transitioning from CyberArk. Key steps include exporting credential inventories, mapping access policies, migrating session recording configurations, and retraining administrators. Plan for a parallel-run period where both systems operate simultaneously to ensure continuity.
Yes. Identity providers manage authentication and single sign-on for standard user access, while PAM specifically addresses privileged accounts that have elevated access to critical systems. These are complementary solutions. An identity provider handles who you are, while PAM controls what elevated actions you can perform and ensures those actions are monitored and audited.
Unified privilege management and secure remote access platform
ComparisonCloud-ready PAM platform built on Secret Server and privilege management
ComparisonUnified identity security platform with PAM and governance
CategoryCompare modern PAM alternatives to CyberArk including Teleport, StrongDM, and HashiCorp Boundary. Zero-trust, identity-based infrastructure access for cloud-native teams.
CategoryCompare enterprise PAM alternatives to CyberArk including BeyondTrust, Delinea, and ManageEngine PAM360. Full-featured privileged access management platforms.
Use CaseCompare zero trust access alternatives to CyberArk. Modern platforms for identity-based, least-privilege access to infrastructure and applications.
Use CaseCompare compliance and audit alternatives to CyberArk. Solutions for meeting SOC 2, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and other regulatory requirements for privileged access.
Use CaseCompare remote infrastructure access alternatives to CyberArk. Modern tools for secure SSH, database, Kubernetes, and cloud access without VPNs.