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ARCON Privileged Access Management vs Symantec Privileged Access Manager 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

ARCON Privileged Access Man...
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
12th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Symantec Privileged Access ...
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Privileged Access Management (PAM) category, the mindshare of ARCON Privileged Access Management is 2.2%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Privileged Access Manager is 1.7%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ARCON Privileged Access Management2.2%
Symantec Privileged Access Manager1.7%
Other96.1%
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
 

Featured Reviews

DS
System and DBA at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Enhanced security through session monitoring and activity recording
From an end-user point of view, it would be beneficial if the system could provide information about the last login. This would help identify if the server was accessed by me or if someone has potentially stolen my credentials. It would provide a clearer picture of whether ARCON Privileged Access Management is accessed by an authentic user.
Muzi Lubisi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior technical Consultant at CA Africa
Secure management of sensitive servers and seamless applications with direct linking
The credential injection feature is highly valued, particularly for RDP sessions. A majority of customers use it for RDP, and a couple for Linux servers. The broader capabilities, including access to multiple systems, web-based applications, and clustering, have never posed an issue. The threat analytics aspect is also a robust feature that analyzes all pertinent information.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The password vaulting is robust."
"The deployment process for the solution was easy...The solution's technical support team was good."
"After storing the administrator password in this password vault of the solution, the solution can automatically go and change the password based on the defined frequency with the defined complexity."
"The technical support is excellent."
"ARCON will give you all the features in a very cost-effective solution."
"It has really helped us a lot."
"100% compliant and you don't have to maintain ID management for each and every user."
"They don't just stick to a base version; instead, they actively enhance and improve it based on client feedback and industry trends."
"I like the fact that passwords are checked-in automatically."
"Xceedium/CA PAM support has been excellent and that is one of the main reasons we have stuck with this solution."
"The key benefits are we improve our governance. We ensure we can build more trust in the way we run and operate our environment, and most of all is the accountability."
"The reason we chose CA PAM is it worked in the scenarios that we wanted it to, and it just worked without problems."
"The password manager is a valuable feature."
"It will provide us with more security."
"The most important feature is that we do not need to know the passwords any more; just having access to the end point; and that it’s easy to manage users and the account."
"We do not have to authenticate users due to automatic authentication, so this allows us to be much more secure."
 

Cons

"They they should focus on support. The support needs to be very strong. Since the product is becoming stronger, their support team also should be equally strong. They should respond to open queries within the time limit they have set. Their support team should be more technical, to understand the issue or the set up."
"It should support the SQL Always On platform with FQDN name instead of IP, so where all the databases are managed centrally."
"The solution lacks to offer a governance mechanism for operational technology assets."
"One thing which needs improvement is where it is keeping video logs of Windows Servers, whatever activities are being carried out by the administrator. Because Windows logs are a video, they are unsearchable, so if you need to search for a specific administrator and what he has done on a server, right now you need to go through different video logs of that particular timeframe. I think they are coming up with an additional feature where in it can be indexed and can be searchable."
"For the in-house built applications, they need to provide good, solid access through their portal."
"There is often a slow response when logging into routers, switches, or servers compared to direct access."
"It would be helpful to have a "Favorites" list. For example, if I have 100 servers but I only go to 10 servers frequently, a Favorites list would allow me to go through those ten servers only."
"I'll provide feedback on additional features after the project is completed. I think it would be better to comment on that after the implementation is finished."
"We experience stability issues after every patch upgrade. This is a place where CA needs to improve drastically."
"The first setup was complex. The implementation, to me, was very bad."
"Some rollover credentials often do not work or you need a more complex configuration."
"Updates get difficult for the client. It needs to improve."
"The basic reporting that comes with it is basic."
"The rule management portion and reporting is very weak on its own."
"The response time for support could be faster. Some features should be added: cloud-based, VPN-less, more secure, and it should be adjusted in a hybrid environment."
"So far, with the functionality of what we had, there has not been much improvement at this point of time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am not in a position to give any financials, but whatever we have paid, it is value for money. Their licensing model is good. They have been flexible for us."
"There are no major concerns with licensing because we can handle multiple servers in our kiosk system."
"The pricing and licensing model is very economical."
"The solution’s pricing is neither cheap nor expensive."
"The product's pricing is a good value. It's appropriately priced. The product has all the required features. It doesn't work in some of the areas but, right now overall, it's pretty good."
"ARCON Privileged Access Management's pricing is reasonable."
"The licensing is simple, and there are only two types licensing: device licensing and user-based licensing."
"Product pricing is based on users and connections. We did not have to pay more for additional features."
"The licensing is simple and scalable."
"I would prefer better licensing options for the 20-100 users we have at a given time."
"Pricing is fair compared to other top vendors."
"The version we are using is affordable compared to BeyondTrust, which is maybe three to four times as expensive, but it depends on the features."
"Appliances are relatively cheap, don’t skimp. Make sure you have redundancy, high availability, and enough appliances to manage the concurrent workload."
"Cost-wise, CA was better compared to others in the market. ​"
"It is more expensive than other solutions on the market."
"The prices are not low, but one can ask for a discount. It’s not the cheapest PAM solution."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Construction Company
14%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise30
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with ARCON Privileged Access Management?
From an end-user point of view, it would be beneficial if the system could provide information about the last login. This would help identify if the server was accessed by me or if someone has pote...
What is your primary use case for ARCON Privileged Access Management?
Currently, I access our server through the R-Course application, which serves as a part of RDP, Remote ( /products/remote-reviews ) Desktop. However, I connect to my RDP server through the ARCON Pr...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Privileged Access Manager?
Due to the nature of the solution, it is hard to gauge, but compared to competitors, the pricing is very good. I would rate it as an eight and a half out of ten.
What needs improvement with Symantec Privileged Access Manager?
Recent releases need improvement in webpage management. For instance, navigating through a webpage that acts like a wizard, where I proceed to the next page and enter more information, is not handl...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Privileged Access Manager?
With the customers that I have so far, I help them broker RDP sessions to sensitive servers, particularly those that manage aspects like physical access. I have also done it for backend databases, ...
 

Also Known As

ARCON ARCOS, ARCON PAM
CA PAM, Xceedium Xsuite, CA Privileged Access Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

RAK Bank, AXIS Bank, Reliance Capital, Kotak Life Insurance, MTS
NEOVERA, Telesis, eSoft
Find out what your peers are saying about ARCON Privileged Access Management vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.