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BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs IBM Security Secret Server 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

BeyondTrust Privileged Remo...
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (8th)
IBM Security Secret Server
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
18th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Privileged Access Management (PAM) category, the mindshare of BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access is 4.6%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Security Secret Server is 1.0%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
 

Featured Reviews

Hahn Rolf - PeerSpot reviewer
Securely manage high-privilege remote access with granular configurations
I recommend that we improve integration with other products like PasswordSafe, aiming for smoother integration. Better alignment between products would enhance manageability from a single point. Additionally, BeyondTrust should focus on automating the update process to reduce unnecessary ticket creation. Improved quality control for non-English language versions is needed to avoid translation and layout errors.
AsifIqbal - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to set up and manage and has good scalability and stability, but its technical support team needs to be more aggressive in solving issues
What needs improvement in IBM Security Secret Server is support. The local partner provides good support, but IBM itself doesn't. Most of the time, the IBM support team does not aggressively resolve issues reported through chat or the IBM website. In the next version of IBM Security Secret Server, I want to see more lightweight recording, architecture, or infrastructure requirements. Currently, it's heavy, so I want it reduced to make adapting IBM Security Secret Server much more effortless.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like all of it. You can access computers that are on a DMZ. You can access computers that are off the network and on the network. You pretty much have access to computers wherever they are. As long as they have the client on them, you can get to them. So, it is convenient, but its main feature is that you can use your smart card to elevate your privileges remotely. That's a great feature."
"Based on the feedback from my colleagues who have never complained about the technical support, I would say that the product's support team is good."
"The secure access must be audited live, ensuring patient data protection."
"The privileged remote access platform is able to track and record everything that happens within a session."
"This product is very stable and scalable. This is an excellent platform."
"We can truly elevate our admin rights while we're in there to fully take control of a system and manage it as if it was sitting right here on our desk. Most of the organization has gone to remote work or work from home. With that being the case, this solution allows us to be able to still work with our end-users, even though they're not always sitting on our network."
"The most valuable feature is that this solution can be implemented regardless of the operating system."
"I'd rate the solution ten out of ten."
"What I like best about IBM Security Secret Server is its single-access console. It's also easy to manage and fulfills the requirements with the least resistance."
"Stability-wise, I think it is a very good solution."
"The live recording is a very useful feature."
"One of the most valuable features is scalability, and how it allows you to scale it without affecting the underlying core components."
"As a PAM solution, Secret Server performs all the use cases in our environment."
 

Cons

"The integration client, backup solution, and SSO setup and provisioning could be improved. There isn't any documented or supported user provisioning currently, which slows down the processes of onboarding and assigning permissions. I would like to see this improved soon."
"They could probably integrate a wizard or something like that to add a new use case. It could be something that makes it easier to add a new use case."
"The price is pretty expensive."
"In terms of the ability to automate the creation of new accounts within it, it's still a bit laborious."
"The issue I found with the product revolves around the fact that RDP and SSH sessions take too much time, making it an area of concern where improvements are required."
"One of our gaps or pain points is having multi-factor authentication at the endpoint and using the PRA password injection from BeyondTrust, which does not work in our environment. We can only have MFA at the login of BeyondTrust to check out the password. Therefore, we can't meet our security requirements of having it on the endpoint."
"The solution's Vault is a nice feature. It helps to securely share a security password in teams, but it is not at the level of a password management solution. So, it is just really a vault. We were expecting to have more features to better manage passwords, but that is something that you can work around if you also have a password safe solution. I would like them to have features like password rotation or password auditing, e.g., old passwords."
"The solution is very flexible, which is a plus, but I would say the implementation requires someone with knowledge and experience, as it can be easy to get lost in all the details. The implementation process could be streamlined and simplified. Though the complexity of the solution provides greater flexibility, it requires a lot of time to understand it fully."
"The newer interface is more difficult to use than the previous one, and consequently, new users might need more training."
"What needs improvement in IBM Security Secret Server is support. The local partner provides good support, but IBM itself doesn't. Most of the time, the IBM support team does not aggressively resolve issues reported through chat or the IBM website."
"The nonclustered index is working in an area with a problem that needs improvement."
"Secret Server should have the ability to discover privileged accounts in the servers, like the administrator or users, from SQL and Oracle without having to import a script."
"It would be preferable if the full proxy was included in the IBM Security Secret Server."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I wish it was a little bit cheaper, but when a product is as solid as this, I understand what the cost does. It helps them to make sure it stays that way. If you want a reliable, solid product, you're going to pay more."
"Don't get into a situation where you are licensing per desktop or per person until you fully understand the licensing."
"PRA was one of the cheapest solutions that we evaluated."
"I rate the product's pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is high, and ten is low. It is an expensive product."
"My client found the solution a bit expensive but considering their use case and requirements, they didn't have any other choice. As far as I know, implementation and licensing are the only costs."
"I wasn't directly involved in the licensing and pricing, but I can say that PRA is licensed per endpoint added to the Vault. I would advise users to take frequent exports of their license usage package; it's a simple feature that provides a spreadsheet of every machine in the Vault. This helps to cut down on duplicate licenses, which can happen by adding the same endpoint using an IP address and a fully qualified domain name, for instance. The implementation is an additional cost, and they offer several tiers, so the price varies. There are also some optional add-ons, so I would advise people to research the product well and find out precisely what they need regarding features. The Advanced Web Access add-on provides some required functionality when interfacing with websites; that's one to consider."
"Though the solution was a bit expensive, the overall pricing was average."
"Its price is pretty good for the features and services that it provides. It is not outrageous. I'm not aware of any additional charges or anything like that."
"I believe that we paid 35,000 or 40,000 US dollars for it."
"My rating for the IBM Security Secret Server pricing is seven out of ten. It could be cheaper."
"The price could be better. I think it's a good price for the on-premises environment and the high availability for enterprises the solution provides."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?
The product has improved remote support capabilities since it works fine.
What needs improvement with BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?
I recommend that we improve integration with other products like PasswordSafe, aiming for smoother integration. Better alignment between products would enhance manageability from a single point. Ad...
What is your primary use case for BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?
We use the tool for vendor access, providing secure vendor access to manage systems. Most of our use cases involve selling the product for vendor access with high privileges. We also use it when us...
What do you like most about IBM Security Secret Server?
Stability-wise, I think it is a very good solution.
What needs improvement with IBM Security Secret Server?
The nonclustered index is working in an area with a problem that needs improvement. In some cases, when they create some index in the tool, you may face some problems with the parallelism and some ...
What is your primary use case for IBM Security Secret Server?
I use the tool for dynamic services, integration services, and reporting services. I have years of working experience with the tool. I am a DBA and a support administrator for SQL Server, and also ...
 

Also Known As

Bomgar Privileged Access
IBM Secret Server, Secret Server, IBM Security Privileged Identity Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Horizon Beverage, Air Liquide, Gateway Bank of Florida
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs. IBM Security Secret Server and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.