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Symantec Advanced Authentication vs Venafi comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 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

Symantec Advanced Authentic...
Ranking in Authentication Systems
19th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.7
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Venafi
Ranking in Authentication Systems
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Symantec Advanced Authentication is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Venafi is 1.2%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Umair (Abu Mohaymin) Akhlaque - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Adam Goldstein - PeerSpot reviewer
Automates certificate management across platforms and has enhanced integration support
Venafi's automation capabilities were significant, as they allowed us to automate certificate rotation and deployment effectively. We integrated it with GlobalSign and aimed to automate DNS verification, although challenges remained. Venafi's platform-agnostic nature was beneficial for handling certificates across different systems like IIS, AWS, and Azure. It ensures centralized certificate management, which is crucial for compliance and maintaining best practices. It significantly improved our operational efficiency by automating certificate workflows. This reduced the number of certificates requiring manual management, freeing internal resources from deploying trivial certificates. While some complex certificates still needed manual intervention, automating simpler ones eliminated internal bottlenecks associated with tasks like uploading certificates to Imperva. By automating these processes, we reduced errors, streamlined workflows, and eliminated the need to repeatedly remember and execute complex procedures, ultimately increasing our overall operational efficiency. The automation capabilities are good; when properly configured, it performs as expected.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability."
"One of the most valuable features of this solution is that it's a strong authentication solution that's able to integrate with applications."
"It tells us exactly what we want in terms of authentication to various applications and provides protection for users who access them."
"Rules on Risk Authentication are very good."
"The most valuable feature of Venafi is the automation that helps save time and reduce human error."
"We use Venafi for PKI certificates."
"Venafi's technical support is impressively fast."
"It's definitely worth the money to have Venafi as a tool; it's definitely miles away from the competition, in my opinion."
"The most important feature for us is the ease of use. If something is not available, we can develop our own scripts for it. We can create change management around this tool."
"Automating anything, whether on-prem or cloud, is possible."
"The most valuable feature of Venafi is that it provides a seamless user interface and integrations."
"Venafi's automation capabilities were significant, as they allowed us to automate certificate rotation and deployment effectively."
 

Cons

"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."
"Urgent improvement is necessary to ensure that support responses are faster and more effective, aligning with the demands of MFA implementation."
"This solution could be improved with risk-based authentication. I think that this product has everything that most customers are looking for, but modern technology has people looking for security tools with risk-based authentication, which they have a separate tool for. If they could integrate this, it would improve Symantec Advanced Authentication. They have to look at what's newly trending and how things are moving forward, and then adapt and adopt those features. Symantec's technical support should also be improved, in terms of response time."
"The product was really good when it was a Venafi product. However, since its acquisition by CyberArk, there has been a lack of significant innovations."
"Venafi could enhance its offerings by providing more automation features."
"Venafi excels in automating certificate rotation and deployment but could enhance its offering by improving support for hardware security modules like Fortanix and providing more advanced, out-of-the-box integrations with public certificate authorities for DNS re-verification."
"I would like to see included in the next release of Venafi integration with the cloud HSM's, Hardware Security Module. Additionally, I would say other cloud services, because it's not only cloud that's essential. If you have a customer that has a lot of their IT moved into cloud, integration with different cloud services is always an area to improve."
"There's definitely lots of room for improvement with Venafi. They have a website where we can suggest new features, and they need to take that a little bit more seriously."
"Venafi's overall installation could be made easier."
"The product was really good when it was a Venafi product. However, since its acquisition by CyberArk, there has been a lack of significant innovations. They are pushing for cloud adoption, but we prefer on-premises solutions due to regulatory concerns."
"There are quite a few different technical aspects of Venafi that I feel they just missed out on; I'd have to look at my notes for the specifics."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is reasonable."
"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."
"Venafi's pricing appears to be competitive within the market."
"The pricing model is complex, considering factors beyond the number of certificates. This complexity can make our payments to Venafi challenging if costs continue to rise. It is good but more expensive than the competitors."
"I feel that it's fairly priced compared to other solutions we evaluated, such as IBM, SailPoint, and KiteServer. It is fairly priced and offers good value."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
16%
Insurance Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Symantec Advanced Authentication?
One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability.
What needs improvement with Symantec Advanced Authentication?
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 ar...
What do you like most about Venafi?
We use Venafi for PKI certificates.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Venafi?
I was the member who decided it, so I'm aware of the pricing. I feel that it's fairly priced compared to other solutions we evaluated, such as IBM, SailPoint, and KiteServer. It is fairly priced an...
What needs improvement with Venafi?
We have not faced any kind of disadvantage regarding Venafi, but they could improve on the bugs, as sometimes the system gets stuck.
 

Also Known As

CA Advanced Authentication, CA Strong Authentication, CA Risk Authentication, Arcot WebFort, Arcot RiskFort
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Global bank, Large Filipino Bank and SK Infosec
Surescripts, CME Group, TD Bank Group, Aetna, MoneyGram, Zions Bancorp, Cisco
Find out what your peers are saying about Symantec Advanced Authentication vs. Venafi and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.