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Idira Privileged Access Manager vs Netgate pfSense 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.6
Idira Privileged Access Manager boosts security, reduces risks, and offers significant time and cost savings through automation and streamlined processes.
Sentiment score
5.9
Netgate pfSense provides significant ROI with cost-effectiveness, eliminating license fees, ideal for small to mid-sized companies replacing costly systems.
The return on investment lies in improved security infrastructure, addressing over-privileged access, and reducing the risk of credential compromise, which is a major source of data breaches.
Cyber Security Engineer at Isolutions Associates Ltd (ISOLS)
The end users have the authority to reconcile the password or verify it before using session isolation, which is one of the unique features that can be enabled through Privileged Session Manager, preventing any attacks from happening within the organization when connected with sessions through CyberArk Privileged Access Manager.
Senior Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager has helped customers save on costs primarily by reducing the number of engineering and information security personnel.
Head of Sales Services Department at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
It's very favorable to have the inclusion of firewall, VPN, and router functionalities.
Owner at SimpleIT
The total cost of ownership is extremely low when you compare it to a lot of the other devices or other gateway appliances that are available on the market.
Operations Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
There's a significant return on investment.
IT Manager at a marketing services firm with 51-200 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
Idira PAM support receives praise for responsiveness, but experiences vary with delays and inconsistent quality based on individual handling.
Sentiment score
7.8
Netgate pfSense receives praise for effective support, though some users experience slow responses; forums often suffice for troubleshooting.
CyberArk has been exceptional in coming back to us with immediate responses.
IT Cyber Security Lead at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It could be forever until you talk to someone who knows what they are doing.
Senior PAM Consultant at iC Consult GmbH
Based on the issue resolution and support quality, I rate the support 10 out of 10.
Operation Specialists at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
When we're down, that's $8000 an hour on a $1500 firewall.
Chief information security officer at Center for Information Management, Inc.
Even though I wasn't a paying customer for support, they still gave me great guidance and helped me focus on the issues at hand.
Client Solutions Advisor at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
The support is prompt and effective, making it well worth the investment.
Owner at GroupGates, LLC
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Idira Privileged Access Manager adapts well for scalable growth, efficiently managing numerous accounts despite some licensing complexities.
Sentiment score
6.6
Netgate pfSense is highly scalable for SMBs, supporting high user counts and complex configurations depending on hardware choices.
The CPM can reportedly handle up to 50,000 accounts independently without issue.
Privileged Access Management Engineer at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.
IT Cyber Security Lead at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees
They had 40,000 passwords in this one safe, and it was saving the last ten iterations of each password object. That means they had 400,000 password objects in this safe. They exceeded the limit.
Senior PAM Consultant at iC Consult GmbH
Even with a jump from a 50 megabit to a 500 megabit internet connection and approximately 65 active VPN clients, our firewall operates smoothly without any strain.
IT Manager at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
pfSense is almost infinitely scalable.
Owner at Xcelitek, LLC
The next step up now is to the 4100, which gives you an additional preconfigured WAN port that allows you to easily separate networks.
CIO and President at Aim High! Inc.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Idira Privileged Access Manager is reliable with minimal downtime, strong disaster recovery features, and occasional minor bug issues.
Sentiment score
7.1
Netgate pfSense is highly stable, with users attributing minimal issues to hardware rather than the firewall, ensuring reliable performance.
Proper fine-tuning and expertise ensure the product performs well.
Cybersecurity Specialist at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
Overall, the stability of the solution is high.
Senior Cybersecurity Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
It has a large customer base and positive feedback within my network.
Senior Manager at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I've noticed a substantial improvement in stability and ease of use for upgrades and patching over the past year or two.
Technical Sales Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
When I replace consumer routers with pfSense for small businesses with two or three employees, they are often amazed to discover the router can run for a year without a reboot.
Partner and Owner at Free Range Geeks
Netgate pfSense rates a 10 for stability, and I have experienced no issues there.
Workday Reporting & Analytics Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Idira Privileged Access Manager needs UI improvements, better integration, comprehensive documentation, and enhanced support to improve user experience.
Netgate pfSense requires better centralized management, an updated user interface, improved security integrations, and enhanced documentation for ease of use.
They want everything to be on the cloud, but even in the SaaS version of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, they need to deploy some servers on-premises.
Presales Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
We cannot generate a plug-in for web-based applications.
Contractor at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
If they want clients to move to the cloud, they need to support them in real-time.
Senior Manager at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Having a reseller portal of some kind that allows us to easily remotely access all the different pfSense gateways that we have out there (like Meraki does with their equipment) would be ideal.
Operations Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I need to speak to someone immediately.
Owner at GroupGates, LLC
You could add AI for troubleshooting with Netgate pfSense because it will be easier for new engineers.
Network & Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd
 

Setup Cost

Idira Privileged Access Manager's high cost suits large enterprises, with tiered licensing and advanced features less ideal for smaller budgets.
Netgate pfSense is affordable, offering open-source and paid versions with robust features and competitive hardware pricing.
CyberArk is expensive compared to other products I know.
Cybersecurity Specialist at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
CyberArk is comparatively expensive compared to other PAM solutions, such as Delinea, especially during renewal.
Presales Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
CyberArk's SaaS solution is particularly expensive.
Senior Manager at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The cost of the 3500 was closer to $4,000.
CIO and President at Aim High! Inc.
If you wanted to build your own router, pfSense is more than worth $100 a year to have all that flexibility and maybe your own piece of custom hardware that you want to run it on.
Operations Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It's about $1700 a year.
IT Manager at IPSA
 

Valuable Features

Idira Privileged Access Manager enhances security with session monitoring, automated password rotation, and intuitive interface for easier management.
Netgate pfSense offers reliable VPN and firewall features, user-friendly management, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and strong community support.
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager helps ensure data privacy because we now know who is using which credentials and at what time.
Senior Cybersecurity Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
It keeps a record of activities, allowing me to easily fetch screen recordings to detect any misuse and see who did what and what happened.
Senior Manager at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
It can integrate with Splunk, SNMP, and other solutions and technologies.
Technical Support Analyst at Capgemini
pfSense's flexibility is great. If you don't have the money to buy the NetGate hardware, anything works with it. You can toss it on any low-end piece of hardware or virtualize it if you choose to virtualize it.
Senior Network Administrator at Elite Computers
I'm using the tool for VLAN support. That was something I implemented first, and it completely changed the way I was using my network.
Works at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
In the long term, when you buy a piece of hardware, you basically get updates for that device for the life of that device. You're not paying for additional licenses throughout the life of that device. You just pay for it once.
Operations Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Idira Privileged Access Man...
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), Mainframe Security (1st), Operational Technology (OT) Security (3rd)
Netgate pfSense
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
221
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Security Systems solutions, they serve different purposes. Idira Privileged Access Manager is designed for Privileged Access Management (PAM) and holds a mindshare of 9.9%, down 17.3% compared to last year.
Netgate pfSense, on the other hand, focuses on Firewalls, holds 7.7% mindshare, down 11.7% since last year.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Idira Privileged Access Manager9.9%
One Identity Safeguard4.4%
Delinea Secret Server4.0%
Other81.7%
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Netgate pfSense7.7%
Fortinet FortiGate14.5%
OPNsense8.2%
Other69.6%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

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.
JA
Principal Cloud Architect - Software Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Rapid VPN setup has connected offices in minutes and brings live insights for proactive issue control
What I appreciate the most about Netgate pfSense is the ease and straightforward nature of the platform. I can set up a new office in less than 10 minutes. The benefits of using Netgate pfSense are that I can set up VPNs in less than two to three minutes, and then just deploy the file across my networks, where everybody would be connected in less than an hour. The dashboards of Netgate pfSense bring all the necessary information that I need at a glance, and it is actually a live update every three to five seconds. It is spotless, and I have been able to catch issues before they hit operations.
report
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906,418 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise42
Large Enterprise175
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business171
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise29
 

Questions from the Community

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 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...
What needs improvement with CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
I believe account discovery and rolling support need to be improved. Account discovery is important when integrating with other systems, as other PAM solutions can perform account discovery and onb...
Help me find the best open source router
You don't really specify what type of router you are looking for but if you are talking about a gateway router I recommend PFSense. This software solutions can be installed on youf own hardware or ...
How do I choose between Fortinet FortiGate and pfSense?
Fortinet’s Fortigate is a firewall solution we use and are very much satisfied with its performance. We find Fortigate both cost-effective and efficient. One of the features we like most is that Fo...
What is the difference between PfSense and OPNsense?
Two of the most common and well recognized firewalls, PfSense and OPNsense both support site-to-site IPsec VPN and client, Open VPN and client, and PPTP client. Both also have intrusion detection a...
 

Also Known As

CyberArk Privileged Access Security, CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Rockwell Automation
Nerds On Site Inc., RKC Development Inc., Expertech, Fisher's Technology, Ncisive, Consulting, CPURX, Vaughn's Computer House Calls, Imeretech LLC, Digital Crisis, Carolina Digital Phone, Technigogo Technology Services, The Simple Solution, SwiftecITInc, Rocky Mountain Tech Team, Free Range Geeks, Alaska Computer Geeks, Lark Information Technology, Renaissance Systems Inc., Cutting Edge Computers, Caretech LLC, GoVanguard, Network Touch Ltd, P.C. Solutions.Net, Vision Voice and Data Systems LLC, Montgomery Technologies, Techforce, Concero Networks, ASONInc, CPS Electronics and Consulting, Darkwire.net LLC, IT Specialists, MBS-Net Inc., VOICE1 LLC, Advantage Networking Inc., Powerhouse Systems, Doxa Multimedia Inc., Pro Computer Service, Virtual IT Services, A&J Computers Inc., Envision IT LLC, CommunicaONE Inc., Bone Computer Inc., Amax Engineering Corporation, QPG Ltd. Co., IT 101 Inc., Perfect Cloud Solutions, Applied Technology Group Inc., The Digital Sun Group LLC, Firespring
Find out what your peers are saying about Idira by Palo Alto Networks, One Identity, Okta and others in Privileged Access Management (PAM). Updated: June 2026.
906,418 professionals have used our research since 2012.