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Axiad Conductor vs Symantec Advanced Authentication comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 5, 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

Axiad Conductor
Ranking in Authentication Systems
23rd
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (30th), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (37th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (27th), Passwordless Authentication (7th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (20th), Insider Risk Management (17th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (7th), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (12th), Credential Management Systems (CMS) (5th)
Symantec Advanced Authentic...
Ranking in Authentication Systems
21st
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 August 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Axiad Conductor is 1.4%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Advanced Authentication is 1.4%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec Advanced Authentication1.4%
Axiad Conductor1.4%
Other97.2%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2230065 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Architect at a wellness & fitness company with 10,001+ employees
We have seen increased productivity now that users can self-serve their account recovery
We were looking for a way for users to self-serve and increase productivity. Before Axiad Cloud, every time a user was locked out they would have to call the help desk and wait for someone to call back and help them recover their accounts. Now users can do it themselves and cut down on the time they are down with an expired credential. That was the primary driver for why we looked at using this solution. The biggest benefit is that Axiad Cloud has increased the productivity of the business unit where it has been deployed. Before, we had anywhere between 10 and 15 percent of our users that were, at any given time, not able to sign into their systems because of expired credentials. With the introduction of the solution for that business unit, that number went down. That's a measurable advantage. Users also say it is much easier to use but that is not something that we can measure.
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

"Aside from Active Directory, anything that is a multi-factor platform is handled through Axiad Cloud. It is critical for helping to enforce usage of authentication devices across our organization."
"It's very user-friendly. We're issuing YubiKeys for our corporate users and they just plug it in, go to the Axiad Cloud portal, and click the issue button. It's a couple of steps."
"It was very impressive in terms of its utility right from the get-go, and has shown its ongoing utility when we have reached these catch points, issues it has been able to resolve."
"They have honestly been one of the best vendors we've worked with, we've had a great experience with them so far, and they've really exceeded expectations."
"The solution has also saved us time by having end-users troubleshoot issues through the MyCircle feature, and has definitely reduced the efforts of our administrators. It is saving us five to 10 minutes per incident."
"Don't think twice about it. It really is a solid platform and well worth the money you spend."
"The life cycle management of credentials is the aspect that we have found to be the most useful... The differentiator that Axiad provided was the ability to provide users a way to self-serve the updating of their credentials on their private keys. That was the feature we were most interested in and Axiad does an excellent job of it."
"What I have found most valuable is the overall way Axiad listened to our problems and helped us solve them. They provided guidance and expertise, with their experience, that enabled us to be successful in a very challenging space."
"One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability."
"CA products are the best fit with our backend systems."
"It allows us to assure our customers that we are protecting their data."
"Symantec Advanced Authentication can be useful for wherever you require a strong authentication."
"It actually increases our revenue and the customer base."
"It tells us exactly what we want in terms of authentication to various applications and provides protection for users who access them."
"Ease of deployment: no need to keep up with physical devices for multi-factor authentication; no software to deploy on end-user computers requiring administrative rights."
"Rules on Risk Authentication are very good."
 

Cons

"I'm looking forward to seeing how they move to FIDO U2F as their primary authentication method across all of their solutions."
"We would prefer that the solution be hosted in Canada because we're a Canadian entity. That would be nice to have. It's not a feature, as such, but it would really make us a lot happier if it could be located in Canada."
"With their licensing model, it becomes hard to scale. For example, we couldn't roll it out enterprise-wide because if you scale it across more than 100,000 users, the cost becomes too exorbitant."
"macOS is notoriously ever-evolving and it's difficult to keep pace with it as it pertains to certain kinds of crypto authentication. That's really not even on Axiad. That's a decision by Apple, but it makes it a moving target."
"The only con is that they are a small, but growing, organization."
"I would like a more modern look to the portal."
"There are just some minor tweaks that could be made on the front end. It would be cool to have nicknames for authenticator devices. If you have more than one, it's hard to discern what you have."
"There are just some minor tweaks that could be made on the front end."
"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."
"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."
"The initial setup of the tenant is a big cost element of the service and we were doing multiple tenants for our customer."
"Sometimes getting this set up does take a bit longer. It's not always install, next, next, next, finish."
"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."
"Arcot itself is based on a browser technology. This means that the office ID is effectively stored as a cookie in the browser."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's very cheap on a per-year basis. The cards themselves last about three years and the license is on the order of double-digit dollars per user, and not hundreds of dollars per user, per year."
"Don't just focus on the hardware or software costs of acquiring a solution, but look at it from the perspective that so much of what it takes to run a PKI environment has to do with the people who are running it.... look at the total cost of ownership and not just the cost of acquisition."
"Axiad's pricing was what we were expecting. It was at the right spot. They were competitive."
"The pricing is very competitive for what is offered at the level that we need. They are right there with what the industry standards are. They tend to be a little bit less, in terms of cost, when we are talking about security at government standards. So, I would say that they have a slight advantage on cost compared to the industry average. They are the lower cost solution and the best bargain out on the market today."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
38%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Construction Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Large Enterprise7
 

Also Known As

Axiad Cloud
CA Advanced Authentication, CA Strong Authentication, CA Risk Authentication, Arcot WebFort, Arcot RiskFort
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Global bank, Large Filipino Bank and SK Infosec
Find out what your peers are saying about Axiad Conductor vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.