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Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management vs Symantec Privileged Access Manager 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Purview Privilege...
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
15th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
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 Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management is 2.0%, up from 1.5% 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

Mayeen Uddin - PeerSpot reviewer
Security features have increased satisfaction while implementation is seamless
I use Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management primarily for Outlook, Microsoft Word, and Excel Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management is easy to understand, particularly its menu. I am satisfied with its security features provided through Microsoft Security. However, my company…
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

"Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management is easy to understand, particularly its menu."
"The integration with other Microsoft solutions is a standout feature of Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management."
"The ability to provide just-in-time privileged access and set specific parameters for access duration is highly beneficial."
"Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management is easy to understand, particularly its menu."
"The integration with Azure Identity is a significant advantage, as it allows for seamless automation and power app integration."
"The integration with Azure Identity is a significant advantage, as it allows for seamless automation and power app integration."
"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."
"We found that the architecture is scalable and very resilient."
"The agent-based credential management solution allows clients to programmatically use the agent to collect passwords during runtime from Symantec Privileged Access Manager."
"We have received good support from the tech support team."
"For me, it is the robust API which is the most valuable feature. This allows for low maintenance costs and allows applications to automatically connect. This is great to automate security of the DevOps pipeline for shared secrets across environments. Also, being on Linux and a virtual appliance is great."
"It reduces the viral attacks on my website. It also allows certain users access to see what happens daily."
"We can enforce complicated password policies and very important frequent password changes."
"Symantec PAM is easier to deploy compared to its competitors, such as BeyondTrust."
 

Cons

"Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management has made progress in providing insights into generative AI tools being used within organizations, but customers need to further track where sensitive information is being used within AI tooling."
"Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management could improve integration with multiple cloud environments."
"Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management could improve integration with multiple cloud environments."
"There's room for improvement in Microsoft's documentation, as it often lacks clarity."
"Sometimes, its functions, like XLOOKUP in Microsoft Excel, do not find situations properly, especially without the use of pivot tables."
"I do not see any financial benefit after implementing Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management, however, this question would be better answered by my manager."
"The response time for support could be faster. Some features should be added: cloud-based, VPN-less, more secure, and it should be adjusted in a hybrid environment."
"The management console could be improved."
"Technical support was good when CA handled it. After Broadcom took over, it's not as good."
"Recent releases need improvement in webpage management."
"They should include some assignments in the test environment to explore the product's features."
"The setup is complex."
"What I hope happens with the new product CA PAM is to keep all the useful features that exist in PA, but what I’ve noticed with many new products is the UI gets polished but systems lags stability and performance or it adds additional complexity instead of simplifying the user experience."
"I’m no fan of Java as an application front-end, as it tends to have issues depending on what browser one’s using."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It is reasonably priced."
"Don’t go with an agent model. Don’t go with a model that has you buying a thousand different parts. Go with PAM that gives you everything, or you’ll just be paying costs of implementing another tool that PAM would have just given you up front."
"I would prefer better licensing options for the 20-100 users we have at a given time."
"It is more expensive than other solutions on the market."
"The version we are using is affordable compared to BeyondTrust, which is maybe three to four times as expensive, but it depends on the features."
"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."
"They offer per-device, per-user, or monthly and yearly licensing models."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
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
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management?
The ability to provide just-in-time privileged access and set specific parameters for access duration is highly beneficial.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management?
Sometimes, its functions, like XLOOKUP in Microsoft Excel, do not find situations properly, especially without the use of pivot tables. I face a little bit of trouble with its data menu.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management?
I use Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management primarily for Outlook, Microsoft Word, and Excel.
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

Microsoft Privileged Access Management (PAM)
CA PAM, Xceedium Xsuite, CA Privileged Access Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
NEOVERA, Telesis, eSoft
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Purview Privileged Access Management vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
857,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.