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Symantec Siteminder vs Symantec VIP Access Manager 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 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)
Symantec VIP Access Manager
Ranking in Access Management
20th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Access Management category, the mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 2.8%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec VIP Access Manager is 1.4%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Access Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Symantec Siteminder2.8%
Symantec VIP Access Manager1.4%
Other95.8%
Access Management
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Berk Onur - PeerSpot reviewer
Presales Consultant at Cyberwise
With its mobile application, this tool offers a convenient and user-friendly experience to its users
To improve the tool, I think that the solution should consider integrations with other cybersecurity and IT technologies, such as Privileged Access Management and Site Integration. Additionally, the implementation of second-factor authentication via Symantec VIP Access Manager, CyberArk, and Delinea, among other technologies, could be best for the product. While the existing technology is okay, improving the integration capabilities for Symantec VIP Access Manager would benefit the product. I would like to see the solution meet the integration needs at our company. While many cybersecurity solutions can function independently, they often lack integration with our systems due to missed integration points. Improving the solution's integration feature would be beneficial.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the Federation part of Single Sign On, which is customizable and is easily integrated with any customer application or any third party application."
"If you look at our organization, and really all financial institutions, we have a lot of legacy apps. So it really helps to get Single Sign-On."
"Federation is valuable, for sure, because we have a lot of third-party vendors that we need to integrate with, and this is a turnkey solution in some ways."
"We almost never have outages nor see slowdowns."
"Ease of use is very good, for administrating it. It's very well known."
"The authentication and single sign-on features of Symantec Siteminder are valuable."
"It is reliable."
"It's quite scalable."
"The product is useful for providing user access from an in-built office server as we follow the work-from-home model."
"It offers more platform support, like Apple, Android, and Microsoft."
"In this version 9.1, lots of changes are done for the dashboard, User Store etc."
"Cloud-based service and management."
"Other than it provides us with remote access, so it's fairly easy to install, fairly easy to set up, and provides us the ability to get into our corporate environment."
"It is easy to use."
"The VPN we are using is good and working quite well."
"It's a good tool. It's pretty straightforward."
 

Cons

"We're currently unable to find information about if the solution can do a full implementation with SQL. Some better and more accessible documentation for new users or those curious about the product would be helpful."
"Symantec Siteminder needs to have adaptive authentication and multi-factor authentication as integrated features."
"They need to make configurations easier, and not have the engineer having to guess what will happen when he changes a particular setting."
"The maintenance cost has increased significantly, and we are concerned about this."
"The support team could work on their response time and overall competence."
"I would like to see a move towards the newer technologies, which is what we are doing right now. I think that's in the roadmap that's coming, in the 12.8 and 14 releases, but we would like to have it sooner than later."
"The GUIs are not very clear, especially when integrating with other products from CA."
"Better documentation. I went through some sessions on single sign-on for version 12.7."
"Maybe Symantec could consider providing a step-by-step guide for first-time users."
"The gateway server is a RADIUS server, but it lacks the functionality of returning RADIUS attributes other than those that are required for the gateway to authenticate the users."
"It gets out of sync with Active Directory or whatever it might be, whatever the authentication piece is on Active Directory, and they just reset it on the backend. I never have to contact the vendor."
"In the next release, I would like the ability to work offline with remote access."
"It is challenging to use when installing a new version."
"The User Store synchronization part needs to improve. Also, the logs, reports, and dashboard can be improved."
"Geofencing needs improvement."
"I would like to see the solution meet the integration needs at our company...Improving the solution's integration feature would be beneficial."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I recommend conducting a PoC on every available product before choose one."
"Symantec Siteminder is expensive; they could definitely do better on the price."
"CA solutions are generally expensive but for the customer the ROI is big."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
"The price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"Licensing and pricing seems very fair."
"I can say that the solution is worth the money."
"There are additional costs for maintenance."
"There is a one-time setup fee plus the licenses are provided as per the number of users. For SMS and voice calls, the costs are separate."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
25%
Insurance Company
9%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Performing Arts
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise69
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

SiteMinder, CA SSO, Layer7 SiteMinder
Symantec VIP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

British Telecom, CoreBlox, DBS, HMS, Itera ASA and Simeo
Maine Medical Center, Aria S.p.A
Find out what your peers are saying about Symantec Siteminder vs. Symantec VIP Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
882,410 professionals have used our research since 2012.