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Microsoft Active Directory vs Symantec Siteminder comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 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

Microsoft Active Directory
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Active Directory Management (4th)
Symantec Siteminder
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Web Access Management (1st), Access Management (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Active Directory is 3.3%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 2.4%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

Roberta Politano - PeerSpot reviewer
Has good authentication features
The solution's group policy is a normal way to deploy configuration and helps deploy to a wider environment. The solution is deployed both on-premises and on the cloud. I would recommend the solution to other users based on their infrastructure. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Muzi Lubisi - PeerSpot reviewer
Improved user experience with seamless integration and easy installation
The feature that I mostly valued is the ease of installation on different systems, especially on Windows. Additionally, it is very beneficial for deploying single sign-on sessions between different windows on a web browser, provided I am connected to the right identity provider. That seamless integration significantly improves user experience and efficiency.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is easy to handle, and it gives a hundred percent results with the group policies."
"The password policy helps enforce security protocols by requiring complex passwords and frequent password changes."
"We use the tool for FSMO, policies, and customized user registrations."
"One noteworthy aspect we discovered is the ability to exercise tight control over systems, specifically Windows PCs. This pertains to the management of policies, usage patterns, and user access on these devices, particularly within the framework of Active Directory which is extremely well thought. This actually works better with on-premises solutions. However, as the global trend shifts towards cloud and hybrid environments, Active Directory and its use is diminishing. Yet, it hasn't entirely lost its relevance and remains a presence that cannot be entirely disregarded."
"Audit, authentication and authorization are the best features."
"The user interface of the product is very easy to use."
"The solution's technical support is good."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The most valuable feature is the integration with the Active Directory."
"You can quickly deploy the entire product with a basic config within couple of hours."
"The solution has features that allow you to easily distinguish between protected and unprotected resources."
"A valuable feature of Siteminder is the way it handles bulk traffic. The features it has, in terms of routing the traffic and load balancing, are good."
"SAML is the best thing we're using right now because there is no need for creating an external account."
"The authentication and single sign-on features of Symantec Siteminder are valuable."
"The Directory is secure. It's our user store, and it's important to keep our members safe. The product does well with that."
"If you look at our organization, and really all financial institutions, we have a lot of legacy apps. So it really helps to get Single Sign-On."
 

Cons

"The interface for logs should be user-friendly and allow for enhanced filtering to drill down to incidents."
"There is room for improvement."
"Active Directory's user experience is a little dated. Group policy management should be more customizable."
"It could be more stable."
"If you are using the Active Directory, the main concern is that the policy is restricted to the specific local area network."
"We may occasionally experience difficulty integrating some solutions with Microsoft Active Directory, but I am unsure whether the issue lies with Microsoft Active Directory or the other solution."
"The interface hasn't changed much over the years. It's suitable for my tastes, but that doesn't mean everybody likes it."
"The solution could be made more safe by using authentication mechanisms."
"We would like to the OAuth be more stable, more issues being fixed rather than not."
"While I have some integration with a few major providers, support for more would be advantageous."
"We're currently unable to find information about if the solution can do a full implementation with SQL. Some better and more accessible documentation for new users or those curious about the product would be helpful."
"As we are moving in to the mobility space, this is where we really see SiteMinder and their other product really come together to provide a solution base to a different area where the IoT is coming, the different business communications are happening. All of those things require authentication and we really want to see this product grow into that role."
"The support team could work on their response time and overall competence."
"They need to make configurations easier, and not have the engineer having to guess what will happen when he changes a particular setting."
"Symantec SiteMinder is not easy to set up and maintain at an infrastructure level."
"The tech support has not been very good for us so we don't use them anymore. We have had some issues. Nobody is perfect."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's premium support services are expensive."
"Its price is reasonable."
"The version of Microsoft Active Directory I was using was expensive because it was used for large companies."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten."
"I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten."
"It's not overly expensive. It's considered a base function by Microsoft."
"The solution is based on a licensing model."
"Microsoft Active Directory is not an expensive solution."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"The price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."
"CA solutions are generally expensive but for the customer the ROI is big."
"I recommend conducting a PoC on every available product before choose one."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
"Symantec Siteminder is expensive; they could definitely do better on the price."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"Siteminder is a little costly. You pay for licensing, and they offer packages, so if you have less users, then you have to buy different products at different prices. If you have more of a user base, then the package is different. They also include other features—for example, if you have a database and you're using Siteminder, then it's good to use a Semantic-specific database, but if you are using less, then you have to purchase the database separately. Whereas if you are going for a bigger license, then it comes within the package. It depends on which plan you are using."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
30%
Insurance Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Transportation Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Active Directory?
The solution is easy to install and has good reliability.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Active Directory?
There are a few areas that could be improved with Microsoft Active Directory, along similar lines as Intune. Not too much on the support side, but on the Group Policy side, it doesn't always functi...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Active Directory?
The use cases for Microsoft Active Directory are managing all users on-premises. We have over 200 employees and multiple computers, approximately over 200 computers. We have shared computers and sh...
What do you like most about Symantec Siteminder?
It's agent-based. It's convenient to deploy and integrate.
What needs improvement with Symantec Siteminder?
Symantec Siteminder needs to have adaptive authentication and multi-factor authentication as integrated features. Currently, multi-factor authentication is available as a separate solution, and it ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SiteMinder, CA SSO, Layer7 SiteMinder
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
British Telecom, CoreBlox, DBS, HMS, Itera ASA and Simeo
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Active Directory vs. Symantec Siteminder and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.