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BeyondTrust Password Safe vs Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

BeyondTrust Password Safe
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Password Managers (10th)
Microsoft Purview Privilege...
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
18th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
5
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 BeyondTrust Password Safe is 2.6%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management is 1.7%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
BeyondTrust Password Safe2.6%
Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management1.7%
Other95.7%
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
 

Featured Reviews

PawanShirose - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Security Consultant at CyberSec Consulting
Has enabled bulk onboarding and password rotation while ensuring secure privilege management
I have faced stability issues when upgrading BeyondTrust Password Safe solution. The upgrade process can be lengthy compared to other modules. For example, upgrading the appliance and reconfiguring HA is easier in PRA. However, in BeyondTrust Password Safe, the upgrade activity can take longer, and I have occasionally experienced being stuck during appliance version upgrades, sometimes duplicating the upgrade. Regarding additional features, we have good features in BeyondTrust Password Safe compared to other modules, such as Secret Safe to secure secrets and the check-in, check-out functionality. We already have the main features, but I think it would be helpful if BeyondTrust implemented a heartbeat check feature on the privileged account level. This feature would allow PAM to check the credentials of privileged accounts, indicating if they are correct or not, showing if the heartbeat has failed if they are wrong.
reviewer2797275 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at a leisure / travel company with 201-500 employees
Access control has improved approvals and tracking and now supports just-in-time administration
Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management definitely has a good amount of value for me because I associate it in a way that if someone wants to try to do something, they have to get approval. This means someone doing something has to put in what ticket information is relevant so I can keep track of why they are doing it. They are not just going in there with access to do whatever they want to do. It has to be done with a purpose and I think that is a big key point of it. The Just-in-Time access feature has not really helped me a lot more with managing privileged access. I think it is just a matter of how things are set up. If I need to build a server, I have to go in and increase my privileges for an amount of time that is allowed to build the server and then it elapses and then I am kicked out and then the next time I have to do it all over again. This is nice because it keeps track of what is going on. However, it would be nicer if I got a better reporting tool that can show what was happening instead of an email every single time it happens. The access review capabilities of Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management definitely benefits me so that I have a better understanding of who has access to what and what they are doing at what time.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"BeyondTrust is three times less expensive than CyberArk."
"Its number one feature is discovery. The discovery engine in BeyondTrust is off the charts. When they perform a discovery, you know everything there is about a server, including what software is installed. For example, if you want to group all of your database servers together, you can do that by using discovery and Smart Rules. If a server has Microsoft SQL installed, it gets put into a group based on a Smart Rule. It makes it very easy to determine what is what in your environment. As organizations grow or acquire other companies and merge, they lose track of what they have. BeyondTrust can help you throw a rope around it very rapidly."
"Based on having experience with three or four other competing solutions, I would give BeyondTrust a 10 out of 10."
"The most valuable feature is the architecture capabilities, which allow designated server components for high availability and failover. It works well with identity and access management solutions, allowing users to be automatically onboarded and offboarded. The account mapping feature makes rollout seamless. The session monitoring capabilities are excellent, with keystroke and graphical monitoring. This enhanced our security posture by providing detailed accounts of user actions. It helped us pass our SOX audits."
"Overall, I rate the solution ten out of ten."
"Password Safe provides integrated password and session management in one solution."
"It simplifies your compliance and tracking to benchmark other credentials and analytics."
"I rate BeyondTrust Password Safe as an overall 10 out of 10."
"Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management is easy to understand, particularly its menu."
"Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management definitely has a good amount of value for me because I associate it in a way that if someone wants to try to do something, they have to get approval."
"The ability to provide just-in-time privileged access and set specific parameters for access duration is highly beneficial."
"The integration with Azure Identity is a significant advantage, as it allows for seamless automation and power app integration."
"The integration with other Microsoft solutions is a standout feature of Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management."
 

Cons

"We didn't see a return on our investment."
"When we deploy BeyondTrust, we have to deploy our own database on a SQL server. It doesn't deploy the database. I wish BeyondTrust packages the whole solution in one and includes the MySQL database so that when you deploy it, it deploys everything for you. BeyondTrust gives you the software, but you are in charge of setting up your own database. It is a single appliance just for the BeyondTrust portion but not the database. Unless that has changed in later releases, you have to set up your own database for BeyondTrust Password Safe. I find that part complex because we then need the expertise and help of the database team to set it up, which also increases the deployment time. If they can deploy the database, it will reduce the deployment time."
"We face screensaver timeout issues and problems with the server. I would like the product to include a server visibility feature."
"Documentation is the primary area of improvement."
"The database instance onboarding should be simplified."
"There are multiple features that have issues, although they could be specific to our environment. What we have seen is that whenever a user gets added to the authentication store, the sync between Password Safe and the authentication store, which is generally easy, takes a lot of time. It does not occur immediately."
"Named accounts don't work well in this solution. If you use named accounts for your administrative access, the way Smart Rules work is that it takes your SAM account name and matches it to the account name of your privileged ID, which creates limitations on size and how big those names can be because the directory has a 20-character limit."
"There is a limited capacity on the appliance, which I wasn't informed about when I purchased the product. I can have a maximum of 150 rules per appliance; any more than that and rule processing becomes very complex, especially regarding password revision. Hitting a capacity limit you don't know about can be problematic. Ideally, we would not have a limited capacity, allowing us to be in a completely managed state with password rotation for every service account, not just the highly privileged ones."
"Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management could improve integration with multiple cloud environments."
"The Just-in-Time access feature has not really helped me a lot more with managing privileged access."
"Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management has made progress in providing insights into generative AI tools being used within organizations, but customers need to further track where sensitive information is being used within AI tooling."
"There's room for improvement in Microsoft's documentation, as it often lacks clarity."
"Sometimes, its functions, like XLOOKUP in Microsoft Excel, do not find situations properly, especially without the use of pivot tables."
"I do not see any financial benefit after implementing Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management, however, this question would be better answered by my manager."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We just pay for Password Safe. Session management is included, but we don't use it. There aren't any additional costs besides the standard licensing fees. We pay for an annual license."
"It has subscription-based licensing. BeyondTrust is three times less expensive than CyberArk."
"The pricing structure is better than the competitors. It's much cheaper than CyberArk. They do the licensing on the basis of assets, not on the number of users. For CyberArk, they base the licensing on the number of users, and they have an expensive model of pricing. BeyondTrust has a cheaper model."
"The pricing of BeyondTrust is very good as compared to other products. That was the main reason we decided to go with BeyondTrust at first."
"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
"The product is quite affordable."
"This solution is not cheap—it's a very expensive solution. Very, very expensive compared to the features and functions that they offer."
"At the time, BeyondTrust was significantly cheaper than CyberArk. Pricing-wise, if I remember correctly, it goes by assets. The pricing was negotiated for our instances based on the number of assets that we onboard into the system. It is a little different from CyberArk, where the pricing is by users. So, it depends. If you have a lot of assets, it can get very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
Construction Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Healthcare Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise10
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BeyondTrust Password Safe?
My experience with BeyondTrust Password Safe's pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been positive, primarily due to its asset-based licensing model. This is a significant advantage for us because...
What needs improvement with BeyondTrust Password Safe?
I have faced stability issues when upgrading BeyondTrust Password Safe solution. The upgrade process can be lengthy compared to other modules. For example, upgrading the appliance and reconfiguring...
What is your primary use case for BeyondTrust Password Safe?
I am working on both BeyondTrust Password Safe and the PRA (Privileged Remote Access). I have three years plus experience working with BeyondTrust Password Safe solution, and I have hands-on, good ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management?
I would say some of the things that could probably be improved is probably the reporting aspects. Being able to get a general and easier setup of reporting to show what was enabled for each day by ...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management?
I utilize Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management for all of our access inside of Azure and 365, associating different rights to different areas. Whether it is creating, assigning licensing ...
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management?
With these two solutions, Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management and Admin By Request, other than the fact that it is for cloud and for on-premises, there are no other main differences. I w...
 

Also Known As

BeyondTrust PowerBroker Password Safe
Microsoft Privileged Access Management (PAM)
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aera Energy LLC, Care New England, James Madison University
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about BeyondTrust Password Safe vs. Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.