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ACF2 vs IBM Resource Access Control Facility vs Top Secret comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Mainframe Security category, the mindshare of ACF2 is 12.1%, up from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Resource Access Control Facility is 11.5%, down from 14.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Top Secret is 12.0%, down from 14.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mainframe Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Top Secret12.0%
ACF212.1%
IBM Resource Access Control Facility11.5%
Other64.4%
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.
KC
Senior systems engineer at Unum
We're able to do role-based security so when new people join the company we're able to quickly add them to the proper security through role-based security groups.
It's completely secure. That's the best answer I can give you. We're able to do role-based security so when new people join the company we're able to quickly add them to the proper security through role-based security groups. Our resources are secured with this product I would welcome something…
it_user814482 - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
All the features help ensure we are compliant with banking regulations
Top Secret is our external security manager for our mainframe systems It's an integral part of all of our mainframe security functions. It's the core of our mainframe security functions. It helps ensure that we are compliant with all of the various banking regulations, security regulations and…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Without the product, extracting this information may take us as much as several days; instead, we can get it in real time."
"Excellent real-time reporting that saves time and resources."
"I love their support. The support is great. They are number one."
"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."
"Know that this tool is a great tool, a good tool to use, because you can quickly automate, quickly provision, and deprovision new users, which is essential when you are bringing new people onboard."
"The most valuable feature is strict and reliable access control to CICS Resources."
"Logging and monitoring are most valuable. It is for the mainframe environment, and it is at the forefront for security and resilience."
"We use this tool to quickly assign privileges to different users as soon as they come in."
"Technical support is exceptional."
"Perfectly integrated with the z/OS operating system and all the other products in the IBM z/OS family."
"It's completely secure."
"It protects our enterprise by providing an access monitor authentication protocol."
"The stability of the product is wonderful."
"We have implemented two-factor authentication, which is a new piece of CA Top Secret."
"Customer service is excellent, as any issue that we have had in working with the product received the best response that we could have hoped for, with technicians who have great knowledge of how the product works and who promptly responded with solutions to any problems that we have had over the years."
"In banking, security is a priority, and we constantly get updates that meet our needs."
"It centralizes all the user security on a single tool, which has truly been the best part for us."
"When selecting a vendor, the most important thing is support."
"It's an integral part of all of our mainframe security functions and helps ensure that we are compliant with all of the various banking regulations, security regulations and requirements."
 

Cons

"Initial setup could be complex if you rely on contractors to help with implementation."
"It needs longer rules. The max rule is 32K."
"The user access review could also be improved. It produces a lot of false positives."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"I would like the generation of RACF on-screen listings and reports to be more flexible."
"I would welcome something that is more easily integrated with distributor platforms."
"The way to pull security logs could be better."
"As an IT auditor, the UI is the tough part. From the IT auditing standpoint, it needs to be more simple to use."
"I would like to see better reporting, more emphasis on audit reporting, and better scrubbing of the canned reports."
"Make sure that there is a post-sale department in your country. We have experienced some post-sale problems to do with integration of CA products into our systems."
"The user interface could be improved. Sometimes, it is not simple to understand where a certain definition should be defined, and I go through a number of screens until I find where to do some of them."
"It would be helpful if they removed limitations on user record sizes."
"It would be helpful if they removed limitations on user record sizes."
"In new releases, installation is not easy and can take about four months to roll out."
"That is an area where I have a concern, because I don't see them keeping pace with what we're doing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Retailer
7%
Financial Services Firm
26%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Large Enterprise8
 

Also Known As

CA ACF2
IBM RACF
CA Top Secret
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sky, Rogers Communications
Information Not Available
First Tennessee Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about CyberArk, IBM, Broadcom and others in Mainframe Security. Updated: May 2026.
896,387 professionals have used our research since 2012.