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Delinea Secret Server 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

Delinea Secret Server
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Password Managers (5th)
Symantec Privileged Access ...
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
18th
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 2025, in the Privileged Access Management (PAM) category, the mindshare of Delinea Secret Server is 8.9%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Privileged Access Manager is 1.6%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
 

Featured Reviews

Avinash Gopu. - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective for password rotation policies triggered by audit requirements, it helps maintain compliance standards and seamless integration with third-party tools
The "App to App" feature has been most impactful. It allows secure communication between applications without requiring direct user access, which is crucial for several applications. Additionally, working in the finance department, we are heavily focused on enhancing audit reporting and compliance. So, the GRC (Governance, Risk & Compliance) capabilities of Delinea Secret Server have also been crucial for us. We implemented a custom reporting system that can automatically send reports to auditors daily, weekly, or according to your organization's needs. We also upgraded the audit role within Secret Server, allowing auditors to access and analyze the reports directly. Additionally, Secret Server provides comprehensive logging capabilities. Auditors can see what data users access, their access levels, and their activities, including check-in and check-out times. Furthermore, Secret Server helped us manage privileged, elevated access, which we call "K2K." As the lead for this project, I could identify users with the highest access levels and implement specific policies to monitor their activity on servers.
Muzi Lubisi - PeerSpot reviewer
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 most valuable feature of this solution is that it provides us with a secure way of managing passwords."
"I like that you can change the password remotely."
"Technical support is pretty good."
"Its technical support is good."
"The privileged access management module is the most reliable feature."
"One of the features I find most valuable is workflow, which allows you to configure the solution to have multiple approvals."
"I like that it is Windows-based. It is good that primarily, it is not an appliance. Some of the other applications in the space, such as a Quest Software CPAM or a Safeguard, are appliances, so you can't deploy the ends of them. With Thycotic, you can either install your Temporal Protection module physically in the VM host, or you can use BouncyCastle for high-security module capabilities."
"Provides us with the ability to control access [to secrets] by groups."
"We can check the activities in the server for fragile files and documents in case of any issues."
"Comprehensive coverage of the required features for the PAM solution."
"We have received good support from the tech support team."
"The interface is very friendly, colorful, and bold."
"The system is very stable."
"The product is very scalable in terms of concurrent sessions that it can handle at a time, number of device it can support, accounts that it can manage, or number of nodes that you can deploy in a cluster."
"The DB clustering is a really good benefit of using CA PAM."
"We know we can scale up with what we have, and we probably will not need to buy any further appliances down the road."
 

Cons

"The UI needs improvement because the interface is a little clumsy."
"It would be better if they had a Linux version of the secret server."
"I would like to see improvement with the integration with Azure Active Directory. This would mean that we can have support on multiple platforms such as Windows, Linux, and Mac."
"Whenever an update is applied to Secret Server, it requires downtime."
"One of the things that we want is to be able to do some of the management of it using APIs."
"In many PAM tools, when users request a password checkout, they need to provide justification. However, in my experience across four organizations, nobody actually reads the justifications. Users can simply type anything and get the password. This becomes a risk and compliance issue. There needs to be continuous improvement in this area, focusing on problem identification and mitigation strategies."
"Documentation could be improved if they were to include more about connectors. There is not enough documentation."
"I would like to see the shadowing of ongoing terminal sessions (Remote Desktop Mirroring)."
"The management console could be improved."
"I would like this solution to be simpler. It should have a one-click access that works together with AWS."
"They should include some assignments in the test environment to explore the product's features."
"The support for other remote assistance tools would be excellent. Free included tools in Windows (Remote Assist) and Microsoft SCCM Configuration Manager (ConMgr Remote Control) allow companies to reduce the amount of RDP connections and expand the usage of the tools are frequently used by companies to provide technical support for remote assistance."
"It'd be great if you just stuck in your PIV card and Windows popped up, asked you for your password. You typed it in, then it remembered your credentials."
"I’m no fan of Java as an application front-end, as it tends to have issues depending on what browser one’s using."
"They need to do a little bit more on the mainframe side.​"
"We have to do a lot of manual work to automate features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In the Nigerian market, the adoption of Delinea depends largely on an organization's budget. If they have the financial capacity, they might consider Delinea as a viable option."
"It is very expensive, and its price should be lower."
"Secret Server is expensive when compared to the cost to some alternatives."
"There is an annual license fee per user and the price is fair."
"There is an annual license needed to use Delinea Secret Server."
"Most customers opt for a yearly license."
"There are different plans and additional licensing costs that can be instituted for add-ons."
"They are priced quite well."
"The licensing is simple and scalable."
"It is reasonably priced."
"Cost-wise, CA was better compared to others in the market. ​"
"The prices are not low, but one can ask for a discount. It’s not the cheapest PAM solution."
"It is more expensive than other solutions on the market."
"Pricing is fair compared to other top vendors."
"I would prefer better licensing options for the 20-100 users we have at a given time."
"Appliances are relatively cheap, don’t skimp. Make sure you have redundancy, high availability, and enough appliances to manage the concurrent workload."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Looking for recommendations and a pros/cons template for software to detect insider threats
This is an inside-out --- outside-in --- inside-in question, as an insider can be an outsider as well. There is no short answer other than a blend of a PAM tool with Behavioral Analytics and Endpo...
What do you like most about Delinea Secret Server?
The privileged access management module is the most reliable feature.
What needs improvement with Delinea Secret Server?
The integration with the ticketing system ServiceNow is complex. That can be enabled with an API-based out-of-the-box consumption. We have customized it, and the features cannot be used without cus...
What do you like most about Symantec Privileged Access Manager?
We can check the activities in the server for fragile files and documents in case of any issues.
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...
 

Also Known As

Thycotic Secret Server, Delinea Password Reset Server
CA PAM, Xceedium Xsuite, CA Privileged Access Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Secure-24, University of San Diego, International Rescue Committee, San Francisco Ballet, Perkins Coie, University of San Diego, D.S.S. Limited, Turbo's Hoet, Eclipse Computing, Cathay Bank, Stellarise, J&R Consulting
NEOVERA, Telesis, eSoft
Find out what your peers are saying about Delinea Secret Server vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
857,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.