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Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs SailPoint Identity Security Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
3.7
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks boosts efficiency and ROI with XSOAR integrations, though ROI quantification can be challenging.
Sentiment score
7.1
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud reduces costs, automates access, enhances productivity, and achieves ROI within 14 to 18 months.
The solution provides a good ROI, especially for regular customers, offering discounts for three-year licenses.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I don't think the tool in itself is very capable of doing that, but we have XSOAR and other tool integrations done on the platform, so this can be accomplished.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Cortex Cloud's customer service is praised for prompt, knowledgeable support and effective troubleshooting, earning high user ratings.
Sentiment score
5.3
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud offers praised support with weekend availability, though regional and language challenges may occur.
If I make it a high priority, they have resolved one query within 20 minutes.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
If local Indian support cannot resolve an issue, global tech support aligns promptly within the agreed SLA.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Fast response times and knowledgeable staff who understand the intricacies of the system.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
SailPoint's team consists of specialists who handle tickets without needing to depend on other teams.
Technical Support Analyst at CLSA
Sometimes, the support is slow, and they often suggest resorting to expert services.
Vice President Sales at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
Technical support is very good.
Senior Manager Cybersecurity at LTI - Larsen & Toubro Infotech
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
4.5
Palo Alto's Cortex Cloud is scalable and efficient, with easy onboarding, but can be costly for higher licenses.
Sentiment score
7.1
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud is scalable, supporting millions of identities, though may require extra resources and faces Java memory challenges.
For stability, scalability, mean time to response, and potential incident investigation improvements, I would give it a nine or probably even a ten.
Business Development Team Lead at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Onboarding endpoints and assets on Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is very easy.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
The platform is able to auto-shut certain resources that are not in use through the agentless scan feature.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
The solution scales well as long as we provide the necessary resources.
Vice President Sales at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
The solution is scalable and can be upgraded to accommodate increased user counts.
Technical Project Manager & Senior Security Architect at Tech Mahindra Limited
SailPoint is scalable, though challenges exist in terms of workflow and user interface design.
Technical Support Analyst at CLSA
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is praised for its stability, reliability, and seamless security performance without latency or issues.
Sentiment score
7.9
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud is stable, with high reliability ratings, minor issues, and seamless integration fostering user satisfaction.
My impression of Cloud Runtime Security in stopping attacks in real-time is that I have never had an issue where it has let something through, causing an outage or concerns to the customer.
Business Development Team Lead at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
However, now in Cortex Cloud, I have not seen any lag or buffer.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
My evaluation of how stable and reliable Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is very positive.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
IdentityIQ deserves a rating of 12 out of ten for stability.
Vice President Sales at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
The version I use now is very stable, especially compared to previous versions like eight point zero and eight point one.
Specialist Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex Cloud's interface and costs challenge users, with needs for improved integration, efficiency, and identity management features.
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud is costly, complex, and lacks user-friendliness, necessitating better automation, support, customization, and integration.
Regarding the generative AI security tool, I know for sure it's Agentic.
Cybersecurity Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The solution is quite premium in cost compared to alternatives such as Wiz.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
There is not a clear MSP model compared to other vendors such as CrowdStrike.
Business Development Manager For Palo Alto Networks at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
SailPoint lacks some features like privileged account management and access management features found in products like Okta.
Technical Project Manager & Senior Security Architect at Tech Mahindra Limited
I find raising a ticket to be too complex, which could be improved for better user-friendliness.
Technical Support Analyst at CLSA
We have also put our enhancement request, and the SailPoint team has accepted that the feature is not available and plans to include it going forward.
Senior Manager Cybersecurity at LTI - Larsen & Toubro Infotech
 

Setup Cost

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud is costly, with varying prices and separate fees, but offers discounts for long-term plans.
The solution is costly, with high-end capabilities suitable for enterprises.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Today, it is smart and easy to calculate the licenses.
Cloud Security Manager at T-Systems International GmbH
SailPoint is cheaper than ServiceNow, which is very expensive.
Technical Support Analyst at CLSA
The pricing of SailPoint could be better.
Vice President Sales at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
The costs are slightly higher than SailPoint IQ due to included charges for maintenance.
Technical Project Manager & Senior Security Architect at Tech Mahindra Limited
 

Valuable Features

Cortex Cloud enhances security management with AI-driven threat detection, automation, and seamless CI/CD integration, reducing response times significantly.
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud offers intuitive UI, fast deployment, extensive connectors, and strong compliance with AI-enhanced automated identity management.
AI/ML aids in anticipating remediation for misconfigurations and vulnerabilities, and automatic remediation can be easily configured.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks has reduced the time spent on incident investigations, and if I had to estimate, I would say it has cut our investigation time in half.
Sr. Compliance Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
This simplifies the management of shared responsibility among different people and entities, allowing you to use one single tool instead of having dozens of different tools to orchestrate and integrate.
Business Development Manager For Palo Alto Networks at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The automation of provisioning and deprovisioning, managing contractors, temporary users, and the overall automation factor is fantastic.
Vice President Sales at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
The solution can be customized to adapt the workflow to our industry, offering considerable flexibility.
Specialist Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
From a project management point of view, the tool supports audit success with features to segregate permanent and contractor employees, integrate with HR systems, and indicate other sources for contractors.
Senior Manager Cybersecurity at LTI - Larsen & Toubro Infotech
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto N...
Ranking in Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (29th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (13th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (16th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (11th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (11th), Software Supply Chain Security (6th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (7th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (6th)
SailPoint Identity Security...
Ranking in Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
72
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (2nd), Identity Management (IM) (2nd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (4th), SaaS Management Platforms (1st), Identity Governance Administration (IGA) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) category, the mindshare of Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is 7.2%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SailPoint Identity Security Cloud is 8.9%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud8.9%
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks7.2%
Other83.9%
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

SJ
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
Cloud security has improved as AI-driven runtime protection detects threats and reduces incidents
In my opinion, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks could be improved or enhanced in various ways. I don't have an idea about that yet because for that you actually need to use two or three different other tools to make a basic comparison. If you ask me how good the tool is, I would fairly rate it quite high. The tool is very popular, and customers can already see that it is one of the cloud leaders in the security space. The platform had a very good feature which provides documentation links about how to use a specific feature on the UI. It takes you to the proper documentation page where it suggests what to do and tells you about the steps that need to be done for a resource deployment. My thoughts about improving the product which I believe could greatly aid vendors is that it used to be a very user-friendly tool, but now they have incorporated everything under one umbrella. It has XDR, XSOAR, and Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks. Before, we used to have separate modules and separate environments for each of these capabilities or features. Right now, it is a little complex and users would take their own time to know the tool better. This is something that would have been way better, but I would say there would be different opinions on this. Talking about user-friendliness, it has decreased now.
Mitch MO - PeerSpot reviewer
Specialist Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Access lifecycle has been streamlined but connectors for non‑human identities still need improvement
We currently use IdentityIQ and do not have SailPoint Identity Security Cloud. We only have IdentityIQ on-premises. I do not have extensive experience with analytics, but I know that there are custom reports available to obtain information about data in SailPoint. I am not entirely familiar with analytics data. It is difficult to score because you have to compare with another product to assess it. We are satisfied with IdentityIQ. However, I understand that we will not have a choice but to move to a cloud solution in the future because SailPoint is not investing in new upgrades or evolution of IdentityIQ. My overall rating for this product is 7.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
Construction Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise43
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
I am not fully aware of the pricing and licensing of Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks. The pricing is also based on the number of defenders or the agents that are created, so it is very different...
What needs improvement with Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
In my opinion, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks could be improved or enhanced in various ways. I don't have an idea about that yet because for that you actually need to use two or three different...
What is your primary use case for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
The usual use cases for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks that I have been working with mostly are as simple as detection of misconfigurations during the deployment cycle. Whenever customers want ...
How does Sailpoint IdentityIQ compare with CyberArk PAM?
We evaluated Sailpoint IdentityIQ before ultimately choosing CyberArk. Sailpoint Identity Platform is a solution to manage risks in cloud enterprise environments. It automates and streamlines the m...
What advice do you have for others considering SailPoint IdentityIQ?
You can use SailPoint Atlas to take identity security to the next level. In SailPoint IIQ, writing a custom connector using the open source framework is a good option.
 

Also Known As

No data available
IdentityIQ, IdentityNow, Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management, Intello
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Adobe, AXA Technology Services, Cuna Mutual Group, Equifax, ING Direct, Orrstown Bank, Rockwell Automation, SallieMae, Spirit Aerosystems, TEL
Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs. SailPoint Identity Security Cloud and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.