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Certificate Lifecycle Manager vs RSA Authentication Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 2, 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

Certificate Lifecycle Manager
Ranking in Authentication Systems
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Certificate Management Software (2nd)
RSA Authentication Manager
Ranking in Authentication Systems
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Certificate Lifecycle Manager is 1.9%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RSA Authentication Manager is 2.5%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Certificate Lifecycle Manager1.9%
RSA Authentication Manager2.5%
Other95.6%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Karthik Kashyap T H - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Eliminates certificate expiration outages and offers good customization and reporting capabilities
Even though it allows for email editing, until version 23.1, you had to log on to the server, and the console itself used to take a lot of time. That has changed from the last release onwards. When you're defining the flow, there are some areas that can probably cause confusion to the users. If you want to rename the default field, you cannot rename it, which caused a lot of confusion during the initial days until everyone got settled in. Allowing the renaming or updating of the default field is something Certificate Manager can improve on. Certificate Manager has both the on-prem and the cloud versions, but the on-prem version is far more mature than the cloud version, which lacks a lot of features that the on-prem version offers, at least when we did the POC and evaluated the product. The maturity of the cloud version needs improvement. Additionally, when considering the on-prem version, there is a minor glitch in the system. When an administrator makes changes, they have flexibility regarding the approval flow. When dealing with a certificate that requires approval from several different teams, there is a minor glitch in the system where the name of the approver does not appear. This is a bug that we are currently addressing. Additionally, there is room for improvement in key management. Changing the default account name is not a straightforward process; it can be quite tedious. This is an area where improvements could be made. If there is a particular workflow that we want to tweak, right now, we can achieve it only via a PowerShell script. It would be great if they could also support a small Python script or anything to expand their scripting or adaptable workflow code base. Even though we can call another script from a PowerShell script, if someone doesn't have knowledge of PowerShell, that would be challenging.
US
VP Business Development at SDVG
Enhancing security with seamless single sign-on and Microsoft integration
We use RSA Authentication Manager for web applications and internal applications. We have a number of applications connected to it, serving over thirty thousand clients. It is integrated into everything from our standard login to Windows in the morning, as well as our applications Due to its…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Venafi's automation capabilities were significant, as they allowed us to automate certificate rotation and deployment effectively."
"Venafi is super stable, and we experienced no issues with its stability."
"The reporting analysis is what I liked the most about it; that was the nicest thing about it—it helped keep track of certificates and their status and where we needed to make improvements, update, replace things."
"The support is definitely great. What I like best about Venafi is that it's very easy to get somebody on a call and get any of my questions answered. That's probably the biggest thing. Besides the fact that it's a mature product and it works, the support is a big deal."
"The most valuable feature of Venafi is the automation that helps save time and reduce human error."
"CyberArk Certificate Manager has positively impacted my organization as a powerful tool for enhancing the security certificate management process, and by automating the lifecycle of TLS and SSL certificates, it has improved security and ensured operational efficiency, making it a vital component of modern IT infrastructure management."
"We use Venafi for PKI certificates."
"We have reduced 80% to 90% of our outages with Venafi, which impacts the revenue substantially."
"In 2005 we started with a managed authentication service for three small companies with each having approx. 250 users, and now we have 25 large enterprises/government departments with over 150,000 authenticating users and an uptime of nearly 100% over the last five years."
"Easy setup, deployment, and integration in different infrastructures, including virtual ones."
"It is a stable solution. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is the provision part. The mapping and the logging is also very good. In addition, the troubleshooting, from a console point of view, is easy for administration and on the provisioning and logging part."
"RSA Authentication Manager is the best available solution."
"The single sign-on feature is the most important."
"I have found RSA Authentication Manager to be scalable."
"The most valuable feature is the SecurID."
 

Cons

"Documentation could use some improvement, but that's about all."
"In terms of scalability, given that we were in the situation where it was on-prem, there were certain limitations there."
"Regarding stability, I observed that in the last year, CyberArk Certificate Manager was down two to three times without any notification."
"The on-prem version is far more mature than the cloud version, which lacks a lot of features that the on-prem version offers, at least when we did the POC and evaluated the product."
"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."
"Unfortunately, we didn’t receive a notification from Venafi because it wasn't configured correctly, which led to a loss of around 12 million dollars."
"Venafi's overall installation could be made easier."
"Regarding needed improvements, the UI needs enhancement. Sometimes it experiences latency-wise issues."
"Perhaps parts of the the user interface should become more intuitive."
"My observation over the years is that the system upgrades can be complicated and must be well planned out to address 'what if' issues, including backing off upgrades if necessary."
"The reporting needs to be improved, and they should be delivered by email."
"The product's capabilities to protect cloud environments need improvement."
"The price needs to be improved."
"Our major problem is the authentication via Microsoft, via Microsoft cloud systems. This is our major aim, to be a valued product for the future. The biggest problem is to work against cheap cloud systems. Cloud identification is our main problem at this time."
"We are not planning on using the solution in the future."
"We are seeing a lot of difficult issues in terms of RSA, especially the cloud-based two-factor authentication process."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Venafi's pricing appears to be competitive within the market."
"As a new customer, the minimum cost would be four dollars, but you have room for negotiation, potentially bringing it down to as low as three dollars."
"The solution is costly."
"The pricing is a little bit complicated because sometimes resellers are able to make prices that are too low. Our price, with a discount, is typically not as high as some of our competitors."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Construction Company
7%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
10%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Venafi?
In terms of pricing, they are a little costly, but they are the best in the market today, so I would say they are worth every penny, rating them again at seven or eight.
What needs improvement with Venafi?
CyberArk Certificate Manager can be improved, particularly in terms of integrations with other tools. I would like to see improvements in integrations with ID, Kerberos, or with other companies for...
What advice do you have for others considering Venafi?
Since using CyberArk Certificate Manager, I have seen specific outcomes such as a reduction in incidents because I can work with CyberArk Certificate Manager, where digital certificates are everywh...
What needs improvement with RSA Authentication Manager?
RSA Authentication Manager is perfect. We do not see current missing products or enhancements yet emphasize the importance of a continuous development roadmap.
What is your primary use case for RSA Authentication Manager?
We use RSA Authentication Manager for web applications and internal applications. We have a number of applications connected to it, serving over thirty thousand clients. It is integrated into every...
What advice do you have for others considering RSA Authentication Manager?
RSA Authentication Manager is the best available solution. However, for other companies, it might seem expensive. It's important for RSA to keep developing new features and maintain a robust roadma...
 

Also Known As

Venafi
ACE/Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Surescripts, CME Group, TD Bank Group, Aetna, MoneyGram, Zions Bancorp, Cisco
Tiera, Fred Loya, BRE Leasing, ADP, BlueFort Security, New Hanover County
Find out what your peers are saying about Certificate Lifecycle Manager vs. RSA Authentication Manager and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
906,852 professionals have used our research since 2012.