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SAP Access Control vs Symantec Siteminder 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

SAP Access Control
Ranking in Access Management
16th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
3.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Symantec Siteminder
Ranking in Access Management
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (13th), Web Access Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Access Management category, the mindshare of SAP Access Control is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 3.4%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Access Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec Siteminder3.4%
SAP Access Control0.9%
Other95.7%
Access Management
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2129061 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sap Its Workstream Manager at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Centralized access control has improved risk detection and streamlined multi-system user provisioning
Having one tool to populate many systems for one user is one of the most beneficial aspects of the product, along with the audit part. When using Firefighter, we could have information about what a user modified or did in production because we sometimes have to use an SU01 transaction, so in that case, we use Firefighter. The main benefit for me is that it is a global system to manage the user in many systems, and also the assessment of risk with GRC. We are using Access Request to onboard people. I see some potential improvements for stability because sometimes we do not know why the approval workflow of GRC stops in the middle. When we have a look in GRC, we see that the validation is finished, but that is not the case. Sometimes, we have to check and relaunch GRC. It helps in risk detection. The benefits of SAP Access Control's user permissions management are measured through the reports in GRC. Time savings are obvious. In one request, we are able to create a user in a different system, so it is a time saving. It is a money saving as well because the access manager spends less time creating a user in a different system.
Muzi Lubisi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior technical Consultant at CA Africa
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 an SAP product, so it integrates very well with other SAP products."
"Having one tool to populate many systems for one user is one of the most beneficial aspects of the product, along with the audit part."
"It is an SAP product, so it integrates very well with other SAP products."
"Authentication Authorization for our websites are important because all the sites need authentication for security purposes and that has been handled pretty well all these years with SSO."
"It has considerably reduced the amount of time that new users would take to join into the organization, as previously it was a lengthy, manual process in a very secure environment where they needed to verify the user before granting a user-ID and password, but by integrating with the built-in custom application and exposing CA Single Sign On to the internet, we were able to get employees onboard in one to two days instead of four to eight weeks."
"The single sign-on is the solution's most valuable feature"
"It is pretty easy to learn."
"SAML is the best thing we're using right now because there is no need for creating an external account."
"The solution has saved our company from a lot of problems."
"The authentication and single sign-on features of Symantec Siteminder are valuable."
"The valuable features are security in general and ease of use, more specifically ease of use for the developers, and security where the developer doesn't have to know about authentication or security."
 

Cons

"It would be better if we could also manage other systems with it. Currently, you have to purchase plugins for it to work with other non-SAP systems. It would be good if there is an easy way to integrate SAP Access Control with other non-SAP systems."
"Because it took time to get advice on a tricky issue, the support from SAP could be better."
"It would be better if we could also manage other systems with it. Currently, you have to purchase plugins for it to work with other non-SAP systems."
"I would like to see more usability; more customer usability."
"Some of the new protocols, like OAuth 2.0, could be improved."
"I think that one drawback to this product is that it's too big."
"Although the policy server has sometimes spontaneously restarted, it’s mostly good."
"I'd like to see a rework of the user directory configuration."
"It's a hit and miss thing, like all support organizations. For the most part, for simple problems they can get to a resolution fairly quickly, but if the problem is a little more complicated, they really struggle with getting us a solution."
"The installation process was complex. There are a lot of different moving pieces, and the main complaint is that it's hard to automate any of it."
"We are finding some compatibility issues. We're still working with CA on them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a part of our package with SAP. There is no extra cost in addition to the license."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"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."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"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."
"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 solution's pricing is competitive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
24%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Insurance Company
7%
Performing Arts
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with SAP Access Control?
SAP Access Control is quite complex. The complexity arises because we need a GRC specialist to set up the connection between GRC and the other system. We also spend time doing some specific configu...
What is your primary use case for SAP Access Control?
The major use case for SAP Access Control is to create an end-user account, and the second purpose is to check the Separation of Duties risk and the risk on our roles and authorizations. Having one...
What advice do you have for others considering SAP Access Control?
We do work with some other SAP products. We are using SAP Access Control with the GRC Access Control product. We are also using the module for Separation of Duties and the Firefighter module. It is...
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 ...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Siteminder?
I deploy and support Symantec Siteminder ( /products/symantec-siteminder-reviews ). I have been a partner and reseller.
 

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 SAP Access Control vs. Symantec Siteminder and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.