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ACF2 vs CyberArk Privileged Access Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

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

ACF2
Ranking in Mainframe Security
5th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Database Security (15th)
CyberArk Privileged Access ...
Ranking in Mainframe Security
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), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (1st), Operational Technology (OT) Security (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Mainframe Security category, the mindshare of ACF2 is 11.8%, up from 9.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is 3.7%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mainframe Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager3.7%
ACF211.8%
Other84.5%
Mainframe Security
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1077621 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Examiner at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
A reliable, scalable product for security and auditing of our mainframe environment
It is a good product. It has been used for years. As long as it is configured correctly, it is a very stable product. It depends on how an institution or a company configures it. It depends on an institution's risk appetite. You need to make sure it is configured as per the concept of least privilege, and the logging features, detection and control mechanism, and other things like that are enabled. If you configure it to give access to the public, then there could be compromises. You should also have someone who independently checks it to make sure that it is configured keeping security in mind. If it has been configured for a while, when there are enhancements to the product or when you enhance it, you need to make sure that security is also looked at, and it is configured according to an institution's security policies. I would rate it a nine out of 10.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"By providing a high level of access control to the z/OS systems, ACF2 allows us to maintain tight controls on dataset and system access and helps us keep unauthorized users from accessing PHI or PII data."
"The NOACCESS by default is another very good feature. Also, access rules are straightforward, and easy to understand."
"Without the product, extracting this information may take us as much as several days; instead, we can get it in real time."
"I am deeply impressed with the quality and depth and breadth of security and functionality in CA’s ACF2 and Top Secret products."
"We use this tool to quickly assign privileges to different users as soon as they come in."
"I love their support. The support is great. They are number one."
"It is a good product."
"Excellent real-time reporting that saves time and resources."
"CyberArk is a fantastic solution."
"Comparing it to other providers, Cyberark provides a more user-friendly environment with many more features and benefits."
"We are able to rotate credentials and have privileged account access."
"We have demoted a lot of domain admins and taken a lot of that away from people, giving it a shared account structure."
"The solution is scalable."
"Password rotation is the most valuable feature"
"It gives us the capability to rotate passwords, which is the biggest thing because we do not want them being stagnant so every service account that we have needs to be rotated at least once a year."
"On implementing the CyberArk PIM solution, we are able to achieve this goal."
 

Cons

"Reporting can sometimes include false positives."
"Initial setup could be complex if you rely on contractors to help with implementation."
"It needs longer rules. The max rule is 32K."
"I would like my team and me to be able to use simple browsers, like Chrome, to be able to access mainframe data and provision users using the browser."
"They can work on its ability to work in a distributed environment. It's a mainframe product. As many companies move to the cloud, depending on what cloud models they choose, such as a public, hybrid, or private cloud, it should be deployable. I am not sure if it can be deployed on those platforms. It has been there since the '50s or '60s, and it's still scalable. It has survived all these years, and it's scalable to many platforms, but I don't know about the cloud."
"It needs longer rules. The max rule is 32K."
"I would like my team and me to be able to use simple browsers, like Chrome, to be able to access mainframe data and provision users using the browser.​"
"The user access review could also be improved. It produces a lot of false positives."
"We need a bit more education for our user community because they are not using it to its capabilities."
"The solution's architecture could be improved. It requires installation on four to five different servers. Each server has a purpose, but when you need to troubleshoot, it can be difficult because you need to access each of them. Reducing the number of servers would be helpful."
"Regarding technical support from CyberArk, while L2 and L3 teams are effective, L1 support requires improvement due to longer response times in critical situations."
"I'd like it to be a little more granular. I want a little bit more control over exactly what we do. I know if you do that, you add more knobs and dials to deal with, but that's just my personal approach: granular access."
"I would like to see an easier way to define delegated roles within the administration of the core product."
"Stability is a huge concern right now. We are on a version which is very unstable."
"I would like to see better automation in granting access, better tools, more efficient tools, to be able to customize the solution that CyberArk provides."
"The scalability, sometimes, is lacking. It works really well for more static environments... But for an environment where you're constantly spinning up new infrastructure or new endpoints, sometimes it has a hard time keeping up."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Pricing is quite high and it could be improved."
"CyberArk is one of the best PAM solutions and one of the most expensive, but it works better than the others, so the pricing is fair."
"Our risk is definitely significantly lower. Also, our resources are low."
"The solution is cost-effective for the features."
"I would rate the tool’s pricing a six out of ten."
"The price of CyberArk support could be a little bit less. Otherwise, pricing is fine."
"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."
"I believe that this solution is priced well. It's the market leader and I think that it's the best solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Retailer
8%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise42
Large Enterprise174
 

Questions from the Community

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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...
 

Also Known As

CA ACF2
CyberArk Privileged Access Security, CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sky, Rogers Communications
Rockwell Automation
Find out what your peers are saying about ACF2 vs. CyberArk Privileged Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.