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Ping Identity Platform vs Symantec Siteminder comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 28, 2025

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

Ping Identity Platform
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
3rd
Ranking in Access Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (7th), Data Governance (8th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (5th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (2nd), Directory Servers (1st)
Symantec Siteminder
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
12th
Ranking in Access Management
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Web Access Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Ping Identity Platform is 7.0%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 2.3%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Ping Identity Platform7.0%
Symantec Siteminder2.3%
Other90.7%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

MAHESHKUMAR7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers multi-factor authentication and application support side of PingFederate but application only supports specific protocols
A lot of teams work with technical support, but I work with it for user issues only. You might need support with things like application swaps, application names, and application URLs. I didn't know where to find those in Ping Identity, so I contacted technical support for those issues. The support team is very clever and active. They provide end-to-end support once an issue is created. I have worked with most of the support team. I also work with the support team because I work with the operations team. I provide 24/7 support to production and non-production environments. I coordinate with application and network teams to troubleshoot critical tickets and issues related to Ping Identity solutions.
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

"PingFederate is very flexible. We can do many customizations, and it also provides an SDK to tailor it to our specific requirements. There are also numerous plugins available. I've worked with tools like ForgeRock and Okta, but I find PingFederate to be the most customizable."
"I find the auto-discovery feature the most valuable. It helps us automate a lot of things using a single password across applications."
"The soundness of the solution is its most valuable feature. For example, if you are in our corporate network, you can log on without any traffic interfering."
"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"I like the self-service feature. The 502 and UBP systems are also excellent. PingID's ability to authenticate with SSH, RDP, and Windows login is pretty handy. It covers the entire spectrum of use."
"The only feature we were looking for in PingID was SSO integration with our existing web app."
"The solution is stable. We haven't experienced any bugs or glitches."
"It offers robust features and customization options that justify the cost."
"Right now, federation that comes out-of-the-box with single sign-on is the most valuable feature that we have, and also scalability."
"We almost never have outages nor see slowdowns."
"It has considerably reduced the amount of time that new users would take to join into the organization. Previously, it was a lengthy, manual process because it's a very secure environment, where they need to verify the user before they can actually grant him a user-ID and password. Integrating with the built-in custom application, and exposing CA Single Sign On to the internet, we were able to get the employees onboard. The time that we gained was: previously it would generally take from four to eight weeks for each employee, we brought it to one to two days."
"I liked the debugging part. There are only two files (trace file and log file) that you need to look into while performing debugging, and the logs give you the exact info on where and what needs to be fixed."
"It is reliable."
"It's agent-based. It's convenient to deploy and integrate."
"Authentication & Authorization are important because all the sites need authentication for security purposes. That has been handled pretty well all these years with SSO."
"IWA is an out-of-the-box feature. The SAML-based federation is standard for all tools. However, CA Single Sign-On has made the federation configuration way too simple and handy to set up and use."
 

Cons

"They could enhance the product's device tracking for better zero-trust security would be beneficial. Currently, it tracks IPs well but lacks detailed device information, which is crucial from a security standpoint."
"The management console needs to be improved. PingID should revise it."
"The timing of the token validity, if it could be extended, would be great. I'm not sure if there is even an option to configure these types of settings."
"Ping Identity Platform must improve its UI since its management console is complicated."
"Notifications and monitoring are two areas with shortcomings in the solution that need improvement."
"PingID's device management portal should be more easily accessible via a link. They provide no link to the portal like they do for the service. The passwordless functionality could be more comprehensive. You can't filter based on hardware devices. Having that filtering option would be great. Device authentication would be a great feature."
"We have encountered instances where it is not easy to do authentication."
"PingAccess can only have one token provider, and you cannot enable two different token providers simultaneously."
"While I have some integration with a few major providers, support for more would be advantageous."
"Some of the new protocols, like OAuth 2.0, could be improved."
"The maintenance cost has increased significantly, and we are concerned about this."
"Better documentation. I went through some sessions on single sign-on for version 12.7."
"The GUIs are not very clear, especially when integrating with other products from CA."
"To add more value to this solution it needs to be more user-friendly."
"Symantec Siteminder needs to have adaptive authentication and multi-factor authentication as integrated features."
"We are finding some compatibility issues. We're still working with CA on them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared to some SaaS-based solutions, the platform is relatively cost-effective."
"PingID's pricing is pretty competitive."
"PingID pricing is a ten out of ten because it's a little bit cheaper than other tools, such as Okta and ForgeRock, and supports multiple tools."
"The pricing is neither too expensive nor too cheap."
"The product is costly."
"Ping Identity Platform is not an expensive solution."
"The platform's value justifies the pricing, especially considering its security features and scalability."
"Ping Identity Platform is not very expensive."
"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."
"The price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"Symantec Siteminder is expensive; they could definitely do better on the price."
"I recommend conducting a PoC on every available product before choose one."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"CA solutions are generally expensive but for the customer the ROI is big."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
24%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
9%
Financial Services Firm
30%
Insurance Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about PingID?
The mobile biometric authentication option improved user experience. It's always about security because, with two-factor authentication, it's always a separate device verifying the actual user logg...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PingID?
The pricing is neither too expensive nor too cheap.
What needs improvement with PingID?
The management console needs to be improved. PingID should revise it.
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

Ping Identity (ID), PingFederate, PingAccess, PingOne, PingDataGovernance, PingDirectory, OpenDJ
SiteMinder, CA SSO, Layer7 SiteMinder
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Equinix, Land O'Lakes, CDPHP, Box, International SOS, Opower, VSP, Chevron, Truist, Academy of Art University, Northern Air Cargo, Repsol
British Telecom, CoreBlox, DBS, HMS, Itera ASA and Simeo
Find out what your peers are saying about Ping Identity Platform vs. Symantec Siteminder and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,778 professionals have used our research since 2012.