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Okta Platform vs Symantec Advanced Authentication comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

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

Okta Platform
Ranking in Authentication Systems
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
103
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (2nd), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (3rd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (2nd), Access Management (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (4th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (1st), AI IT Support (2nd)
Symantec Advanced Authentic...
Ranking in Authentication Systems
23rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.7
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Okta Platform is 5.0%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Advanced Authentication is 1.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Okta Platform5.0%
Symantec Advanced Authentication1.5%
Other93.5%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

SN
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.
Umair (Abu Mohaymin) Akhlaque - PeerSpot reviewer
Group CEO at Flexsolutions
Ensures robust security features and ease of deployment, although it may lack some of the more modern authentication options
There has been a need for aggressive development to modernize the product and align it with contemporary security requirements. While the rebranding has been a step forward, further enhancements are essential to meet the evolving demands of the market. It lacks features such as ActiveSync Exchange security, and it doesn't offer alternatives like password-less authentication via biometrics or patches. While Symantec mainly relies on traditional token-based or password-based methods, newer authentication methods are missing from its repertoire. Support services often lack promptness and depth of knowledge, leaving customers waiting for weeks to resolve issues. In the realm of multifactor authentication, swift resolution of problems is critical, as any slowdown or interruption can significantly impact operations. Urgent improvement is necessary to ensure that support responses are faster and more effective, aligning with the demands of MFA implementation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The support for YubiKey is really good because you don't actually have to type in your username and password."
"The feature that is most valuable to me is the automated user provisioning that we set up using Okta as a major part of that process."
"It's very stable we have 99.999% uptime on the base"
"We can automate the process of adding users to Okta if they are activated in Active Directory, or if they are added to the database of applications or Active Directory in the last couple of days."
"The ease of deployment, ease of use, and speed of delivery is what I like about Okta Workforce Identity, as it is quite simple to use and lets you integrate any software into Okta with a network of 7,000 applications that easily integrate into it."
"Account creation and disabling people on time has made our team more productive."
"Valuable features include UD, SSO functionality, MFA and Adaptive MFA functionality, ability to link multiple Directory databases with UD."
"This product is very stable and is one of our best applications."
"Rules on Risk Authentication are very good."
"Being able to issue a soft token, but still having fairly strong security, is a big factor for us."
"It actually increases our revenue and the customer base."
"CA products are the best fit with our backend systems."
"Symantec Advanced Authentication can be useful for wherever you require a strong authentication."
"One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability."
"It tells us exactly what we want in terms of authentication to various applications and provides protection for users who access them."
"It allows us to assure our customers that we are protecting their data."
 

Cons

"Whenever I write Cypress test cases, we encounter problems with logging in through Okta."
"We've not had any problems with Okta."
"Therefore, if you have 10 million users, that's almost 100 million, so it is costly."
"UD attribute mapping, Okta group rules, and dynamic usage could use improvement. It also needs more in-depth functionality and features to integrate with RADIUS solutions."
"The stability could be better."
"The lifecycle management part can be improved. It should also have identity governance and the ability to choose a specific factor authentication at the application level."
"It only facilitates provisioning and not de-provisioning."
"It's my personal opinion, but it was a classic UI and now the UI is different."
"Urgent improvement is necessary to ensure that support responses are faster and more effective, aligning with the demands of MFA implementation."
"We have seen quite a few issues with bugginess. It is indeed pretty buggy and we have had to install some fixes."
"Arcot itself is based on a browser technology. This means that the office ID is effectively stored as a cookie in the browser."
"Symantec has very bad support, so I have no words for it. It's one of the worst support experiences I've ever had."
"They definitely need to automate a few processes like the Wiley process."
"It needs faster implementation on the cloud for our customers."
"We have seen quite a few issues with bugginess. It is indeed pretty buggy and we have had to install some fixes."
"Advanced Authentication talks about the Device ID. But how the device ID is captured, I want to know more about that."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model is fine for general service usage. However, the charges for API features and API tokens can be quite high."
"The product has a user-based license model."
"Okta's pricing is right where it needs to be and right in the middle of the market."
"The cost per user for this solution is really high and could be reduced."
"The price of the solution is fair for what it offers."
"Pricing might be high, but it comes down when the number of people using the product goes up."
"The licensing is per user per month and includes full technical support."
"Okta has fairly competitive pricing."
"There are eventually going to be implementation costs. Sometimes you're required to have custom code developments there, so that has to be part of the implementation price."
"The price is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Educational Organization
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise50
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Okta Workforce Identity?
Okta has introduced the Universal Directory. It has custom attribute capability and user permissions to read/write on their profiles or hide them. Profile sources and identity profile sourcing are ...
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.
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 ...
Ask a question
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Also Known As

Okta Customer Identity, Workforce Identity
CA Advanced Authentication, CA Strong Authentication, CA Risk Authentication, Arcot WebFort, Arcot RiskFort
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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.
Global bank, Large Filipino Bank and SK Infosec
Find out what your peers are saying about Okta Platform vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.