IBM Tivoli Access Manager [EOL] vs Okta Platform comparison

IBM and Okta are both solutions in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category. Additionally, 93% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Okta users who would recommend it.

IBM Tivoli Access Manager [...

Read 29 IBM Tivoli Access Manager [EOL] reviews

93% willing to recommend

Okta Platform

Read 122 Okta Platform reviews

22,376 Views
8,279 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

IBM Tivoli Access Manager [...

Okta Platform

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

IBM Tivoli Access Manager and Okta Platform compete in identity management solutions. Okta Platform appears superior due to its advanced features and cloud-based architecture offering greater flexibility and scalability.

Features: IBM Tivoli Access Manager provides robust access control, authentication, and authorization with strong enterprise-grade security. Okta Platform includes features like strong multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, and adaptive security measures, offering a comprehensive suite for identity and access management.

Room for Improvement: IBM Tivoli Access Manager could enhance its cloud integration and offer more straightforward deployment options. It can also improve the modernity of user interfaces and simplification of its configuration processes. Okta Platform could expand its offline functionalities, refine integration with legacy systems, and improve customization options for users seeking more tailored experiences.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Tivoli Access Manager's on-premises deployment often requires more time and direct interactions with customer service. Okta Platform's cloud-based nature allows for faster deployment and offers extensive online support, providing more accessible customer service.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Tivoli Access Manager has higher initial setup costs due to its on-premises nature but may offer stable ROI over time for existing users. Okta Platform, with a subscription-based model, generally offers lower upfront costs with quicker ROI due to easy deployment and regular updates.

To learn more, read our detailed Single Sign-On (SSO) Report (Updated: June 2026).

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Single Sign-On (SSO)

June 2026

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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

IBM Tivoli Access Manager [...

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

3.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Okta Platform

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

122

Ranking in other categories

Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (3rd), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (3rd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (2nd), Access Management (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (3rd), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (1st), AI IT Support (1st)

Featured Reviews

it_user711612

Senior Consultant at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Reverse proxy provides central control over authentication and authorization.

It is a single product that caters for all the business needs throughout the organization. It provides a seamless integration that in turn encourages most of the applications to use the SSO features Reverse proxy is the most valuable feature as it provides central control over authentication and…

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Sravanakumar Nidamanooru

Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees

Automated lifecycle management has cut onboarding times and now drives secure, clean access

Although I am a fan of Okta Platform overall, there are areas where it could improve security outcomes and reduce admin friction. My top improvement areas include the system log and analytics upgrade, which are great for point troubleshooting, but trending and root cause analysis across large tenants still require exporting to SIEM. Verbose queries and long-range retention costs can add up. Additionally, while certificate rotations are better than most, the process is still manual for busy portfolios, especially concerning multi-SP SAML certificate rotations and app metadata drift. Two more buckets of potential improvements for Okta Platform involve user experience and security. There is the issue of push fatigue and prompt sprawl, where users receive multiple prompts across different apps and sessions. I arrived at the rating of eight because the core controls are strong and reliable, but a few operational UX and UI gaps prevent it from being rated higher. The reasons for not giving it a nine or ten include ongoing issues concerning safety and change safety, the complexity of group rules and mappings, and the lack of robustness in policy management. Additionally, there remains a need for more manual involvement than necessary, especially for large portfolios and dual certificate rotation, along with proactive SP data metadata validation.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The combination of TAM with IDM in IBM Tivoli Identity Manager helped us to realize robust and secure authentication infrastructure in accordance with industry regulations and laws."

"Since its birth it is an unbelievable stable product."

"It is a very stable and good product."

"The SSO, URL-based access control, OAuth 2 and OIDC are the most valuable features."

"It has helped them to improve and control web and mobile application security."

"It is a totally secure way of accessing clients through various application portals for more than ten EU countries, just by using single sign-on."

"It is a simple-to-deploy solution, with many features that are supported out-of-the-box without complicated setup."

"It is a single product that caters for all the business needs throughout the organization."

More IBM Tivoli Access Manager [EOL] pros

"As an integrator, I find Okta Platform user-friendly with a good number of connectors, making it easy to integrate with applications, and it is easy for SSO implementation and MFA implementation."

"This solution is very good."

"The main benefits Okta Customer Identity provides to users include single point of login for all applications and single authentication, which saves time and reduces frustration."

"The most valuable feature in Okta Workforce Identity is the single sign-on, universal directory, and lifecycle management."

"This product is very stable and is one of our best applications."

"Okta Platform is absolutely stable, with no experienced lag, which ensures immediate action upon changes applied within Okta Platform, stabilizing operations in managing user accounts, identities, logins, and user profiles."

"Okta Platform is a great IAM solution because it's a very mature and cloud-first IAM platform, making it perfect for companies or startups that are just starting out; they don't need to go through on-premise setups."

"The impact of SSO on my IT overhead and user experience has been significant because it reduced authentication fatigue, password sharing, and password reusing."

More Okta Platform pros

Cons

"Older TAM versions are not compatible for connecting to a DB."

"The self-service portal needs improvement."

"There were endless issues with stability in version 8.0.1."

"The pricing is always costly."

"Looking at their roadmap, they have a broad grasp of the security features which the industry needs."

"Installation and configuration. If you don’t know the requirements of the supporting components, it could be complicated to install and this has been improved in the later versions that are renamed to IBM Tivoli Security Access Manager."

"Initial setup was complicated because TAM was implemented as a part of the IDM solution."

"The initial set-up is a bit complex for a novice as the Linux version of it needs you to be somewhat good with Linux."

More IBM Tivoli Access Manager [EOL] cons

"Okta Platform is a bit expensive compared to other solutions. Okta Platform is a bit expensive, and in fact, I am using the managed services from Okta Platform; they too are a bit expensive for us, but we are using them because we are happy to go with this solution."

"A room for improvement in Okta Workforce Identity is its price. It could be cheaper. The biggest benefit of the solution is that everything works securely without extra steps, so you're saving on your workforce's time and effort because your applications work smoothly and securely, but you'd need to pay some amount of money for that. Another area that could be improved, though not necessarily regarding Okta Workforce Identity, is the SSO applications because so many of the source applications charge extra money to put the SSO to work, which means you have to buy a more expensive license. Nowadays, SSO is a mainstream functionality and it should be out-of-the-box in those applications because it's so easy to set up."

"The initial setup is difficult because you're setting it up with your own portal."

"The solution’s policies are difficult to understand due to the policy methods. They use authentication. The solution’s workflow is also difficult and not very active. They need to have proper documentation on it. In the next release, I would like to see the workflows being more digestible."

"Initial technical support is not very responsive, it's only after escalation that we get proper support."

"It is challenging to obtain a comprehensive backup."

"We had an issue with the Okta Workforce Identity dashboard once in 2023 when we had an outage, but it recovered in a few minutes."

"The integration process takes a bit longer than we would want it to."

More Okta Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The IBM prices are, as ever, extortionate, even with a business partnership, and high levels of discounts."

"The solution's pricing model could be better for SMBs."

"This is an expensive solution but the security makes it worthwhile."

"The solution is not the cheapest but not the most expensive. They are in the middle rating."

"The price of this product could be lower."

"It has a yearly subscription. As compared to its competitors, it is quite expensive. It also has a complex licensing model."

"Okta has fairly competitive pricing."

"The cost per user for this solution is really high and could be reduced."

"It could be a bit too pricey for small companies. Okta Workforce Identity can add a lot of benefits, but smaller companies may not have a lot of applications that need to be managed by Okta Workforce Identity. In larger organizations, there are more departments, applications, and users to manage. Okta Workforce Identity adds a bit more value to those bigger organizations. In addition to standard licensing fees, there are also additional costs for things"

More Okta Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Marketing Services Firm

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	18

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	51
Midsize Enterprise	27
Large Enterprise	62

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Okta Workforce Identity?

Pricing for Okta is reasonably not that much, however, I don't have access to the commercial aspect.

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What needs improvement with Okta Workforce Identity?

Currently, in Okta Workforce Identity we get the two-digit authentication code. Instead of getting the two-digit authentication code, if we had an option to do fingerprint verification, that would ...

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What is your primary use case for Okta Workforce Identity?

I don't have many details about Okta Workforce Identity. I use the tool just to sign in to different applications that we have. We basically set up Okta Workforce Identity in our mobile phone. We d...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Tivoli Access Manager [EOL]

June 2026

Download IBM Tivoli Access Manager [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Okta Platform

June 2026

Download Okta Platform product report

Also Known As

Tivoli Access Manager, IBM Security Access Manager

Okta Customer Identity, Workforce Identity

Overview

IBM Tivoli Access Manager is a robust and secure centralized policy management solution for e-business and distributed applications. IBM Tivoli Access Manager WebSEAL is a high performance, multi-threaded Web server that applies fine-grained security policy to the Tivoli Access Manager protected Web object space. WebSEAL can provide single sign-on solutions and incorporate back-end Web application server resources into its security policy.

IBM

Okta Platform provides comprehensive identity and access management, featuring Active Directory Sync, user management, and app auto-provisioning. It ensures security through single sign-on and adaptive multi-factor authentication.

Okta Platform offers advanced integration capabilities, allowing seamless connection with in-house and cloud applications. Security features are robust, incorporating multi-factor authentication and SSO to prevent unauthorized access. Users benefit from its ease of use and the ability to integrate and manage numerous applications effectively. While generally praised, users note areas for improvement, such as high costs and complex setups. Better integrations with on-premises systems and third-party tools are desired along with enhanced error logging and reporting features.

What are Okta's key features?

Active Directory Sync: Simplifies app management by synchronizing user directories.
Single Sign-On: Provides desktop SSO for easier access to multiple apps.
Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication: Offers robust security options for different scenarios.
Universal Directory: Supports flexible identity management and configuration.
Integration Capability: Enables connections with both in-house and SaaS applications.

What benefits do organizations find in Okta?

Enhanced Security: Multi-layered authentication to prevent unauthorized access.
Improved Efficiency: Streamlines user provisioning and app assignments.
Increased Compliance: Ensures secure access management aligning with IT policies.
Seamless Integration: Facilitates connections with various applications enhancing operational workflows.

Companies across industries implement Okta to secure user authentication and streamline onboarding processes. It supports access management for both on-premises and cloud applications, synchronizing directories and facilitating SaaS services. Organizations benefit from reduced credential management complexity and improved IT infrastructure compliance.

Okta

Sample Customers

Essex Technology Group Inc.

FedEx, Zoom, Takeda, Lululemon Athletica, GrunHub, jetBlue, McKensson, Bain & Company, Engie, Peloton, Sonos, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, MGM Resorts, Ally Financial, Priceline, Albertsons, Itercom, Classy, FICO, Kensho, Live Nation, Drata, Rotary, and others.

Find out what your peers are saying about Okta, Microsoft, Cisco and others in Single Sign-On (SSO). Updated: June 2026.

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