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Certificate Lifecycle Manager vs Symantec Advanced Authentication comparison

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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
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Certificate Management Software (2nd)
Symantec Advanced Authentic...
Ranking in Authentication Systems
22nd
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 October 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Certificate Lifecycle Manager is 2.3%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Advanced Authentication is 1.4%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Certificate Lifecycle Manager2.3%
Symantec Advanced Authentication1.4%
Other96.3%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Deb Malya - PeerSpot reviewer
Section Head Cybersecurity at a energy/utilities company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Strong privileged access controls have protected critical sessions and improved credential oversight
The best features of CyberArk Certificate Manager include its robust privileged access management capability, session monitoring, and strong defense against threat vectors. PSM, PIM, and application legacy connectivity for CyberArk Certificate Manager are probably the best in the market. The real-time threat intelligence feature helps with preventing security breaches as it never allows any privileged access to get into the application until you check out the user ID and password, effectively managing credentials. It also includes MFA and session monitoring, tracking who is checking out the password and credentials, which are capabilities that cannot be bypassed, thus neutralizing threat protection. I use features like PSM, PIM, session monitoring, and everything else with CyberArk Certificate Manager.
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

"Venafi's automation capabilities were significant, as they allowed us to automate certificate rotation and deployment effectively."
"So, from the perspective of risk reduction, it can be directly quantified in the value for the customer."
"CyberArk Certificate Manager has excellent capability in handling certification renewals; whenever you specify any validity period that needs to be renewed within certain days, it triggers automatically, and I appreciate that aspect."
"The best feature I appreciate about Venafi is its user interface, which allows me to search for any particular certificate and immediately see the certificate details and expiry."
"CyberArk Certificate Manager is doing its best with multiple layers of security, and while they face challenges with legacy applications, they can still connect to web applications, rich applications, desktop applications, and cloud-native applications."
"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."
"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."
"It tells us exactly what we want in terms of authentication to various applications and provides protection for users who access them."
"It actually increases our revenue and the customer base."
"Being able to issue a soft token, but still having fairly strong security, is a big factor for us."
"CA products are the best fit with our backend systems."
"Symantec Advanced Authentication can be useful for wherever you require a strong authentication."
"It allows us to assure our customers that we are protecting their data."
"One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability."
"Rules on Risk Authentication are very good."
 

Cons

"In terms of scalability, given that we were in the situation where it was on-prem, there were certain limitations there."
"For the stability of the solution itself, I would rate it a seven."
"The initial setup is complex. You need third-party support or support from CyberArk Certificate Manager if you do not have a lot of skillset inside your own company."
"Venafi could enhance its offerings by providing more automation features."
"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."
"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."
"Documentation could use some improvement, but that's about all."
"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."
"We have seen quite a few issues with bugginess. It is indeed pretty buggy and we have had to install some fixes."
"Sometimes getting this set up does take a bit longer. It's not always install, next, next, next, finish."
"Advanced Authentication talks about the Device ID. But how the device ID is captured, I want to know more about that."
"Arcot itself is based on a browser technology. This means that the office ID is effectively stored as a cookie in the browser."
"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."
"They definitely need to automate a few processes like the Wiley process."
"The initial setup of the tenant is a big cost element of the service and we were doing multiple tenants for our customer."
 

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."
"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."
"The price is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Construction Company
17%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
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...
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Also Known As

Venafi
CA Advanced Authentication, CA Strong Authentication, CA Risk Authentication, Arcot WebFort, Arcot RiskFort
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Surescripts, CME Group, TD Bank Group, Aetna, MoneyGram, Zions Bancorp, Cisco
Global bank, Large Filipino Bank and SK Infosec
Find out what your peers are saying about Certificate Lifecycle Manager vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
919,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.