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IBM Tivoli Access Manager [EOL] vs Okta Platform comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 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

IBM Tivoli Access Manager [...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
3.8
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Okta Platform
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
127
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (3rd), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (3rd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (2nd), Access Management (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (3rd), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (1st), AI IT Support (1st)
 

Featured Reviews

it_user711612 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reverse proxy provides central control over authentication and authorization.
It is a single product that caters for all the business needs throughout the organization. It provides a seamless integration that in turn encourages most of the applications to use the SSO features Reverse proxy is the most valuable feature as it provides central control over authentication and…
SN
Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees
Automated lifecycle management has cut onboarding times and now drives secure, clean access
Although I am a fan of Okta Platform overall, there are areas where it could improve security outcomes and reduce admin friction. My top improvement areas include the system log and analytics upgrade, which are great for point troubleshooting, but trending and root cause analysis across large tenants still require exporting to SIEM. Verbose queries and long-range retention costs can add up. Additionally, while certificate rotations are better than most, the process is still manual for busy portfolios, especially concerning multi-SP SAML certificate rotations and app metadata drift. Two more buckets of potential improvements for Okta Platform involve user experience and security. There is the issue of push fatigue and prompt sprawl, where users receive multiple prompts across different apps and sessions. I arrived at the rating of eight because the core controls are strong and reliable, but a few operational UX and UI gaps prevent it from being rated higher. The reasons for not giving it a nine or ten include ongoing issues concerning safety and change safety, the complexity of group rules and mappings, and the lack of robustness in policy management. Additionally, there remains a need for more manual involvement than necessary, especially for large portfolios and dual certificate rotation, along with proactive SP data metadata validation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"OAuth 2 is now the de facto standard for API protection and scoped authorized delegation. IBM TAM now supports OAuth 2 and can act as fully compliant OAuth 2 authorization server."
"The combination of TAM with IDM in IBM Tivoli Identity Manager helped us to realize robust and secure authentication infrastructure in accordance with industry regulations and laws."
"It is a totally secure way of accessing clients through various application portals for more than ten EU countries, just by using single sign-on."
"IBM directory server offers the best roll-out experience."
"We have managed to automate the creation of all employees, and the company's clients and then assign the accounts/accesses according to business need."
"Some of the valuable features are: Reverse proxy Protected object space Ease of integration Multiple and robust AuthN and AuthZ mechanisms built-in No single point of failure (SPOF)"
"Flexibility to connect with different environments and product stability are the best features."
"It is a very stable and good product."
"The tool helps improve our security and productivity."
"Okta controls all the users. It has context-based access from the user and type of device. It identifies the risk and can do a step of authentication when that user is trying to access some sensitive application from an unknown device."
"The positive impact of Okta Platform on my organization is evident, as it strengthened security and streamlined identity management for various teams, including IT, dev, and testing teams, making login and authorization processes much easier and secure."
"The most valuable features are ease of operation and visibility."
"The most valuable features are identity management and OpenID."
"It is very seamless."
"Valuable features include UD, SSO functionality, MFA and Adaptive MFA functionality, ability to link multiple Directory databases with UD."
"Okta Platform has positively impacted my organization by improving efficiency, security, and user satisfaction by allowing us to use external applications."
 

Cons

"Older TAM versions are not compatible for connecting to a DB."
"Installation and configuration. If you don’t know the requirements of the supporting components, it could be complicated to install and this has been improved in the later versions that are renamed to IBM Tivoli Security Access Manager."
"This product is also available in the appliance offering which has not yet matured and has many issues."
"The user interface looks like it was designed for technical personnel only."
"The license model is pretty complex."
"Multi-factor authentication with social integration needs to improve."
"Web Portal Manager does not implement the full set of functions found in the command line"
"You must be skilled to use Tivoli Access Manager."
"There is a need for Okta to provide an end-to-end solution without needing a separate product like Zscaler for multifactor authentication."
"There is an access request system that is very limited access to the systems available for end-users. The access request should improve in Okta Customer Identity."
"What I dislike about Okta Platform is that sometimes there has been some downtime."
"One feature I can mention is that there should be an optional registration option for multiple MFA factors."
"Users sometimes have difficulty getting verification codes."
"Okta Platform does not recognize when I have already verified myself once on my HubSpot login across multiple tabs."
"I arrived at the rating of eight because the core controls are strong and reliable, but a few operational UX and UI gaps prevent it from being rated higher."
"The product must be provided for free."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The IBM prices are, as ever, extortionate, even with a business partnership, and high levels of discounts."
"This solution is costly. Pricing is decent if you have less users, but it significantly goes up the more users you have, with its cost not justified."
"It has a yearly subscription. As compared to its competitors, it is quite expensive. It also has a complex licensing model."
"The price of Okta Workforce Identity is competitively priced. We pay annually for the use of the solution."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"Okta has fairly competitive pricing."
"Okta's pricing is right where it needs to be and right in the middle of the market."
"The solution's pricing model could be better for SMBs."
"The pricing for Okta Workforce Identity could still be improved or made cheaper. It costs from 50 to 100 euros a year per user. Okta Workforce Identity has different packages you can choose from, and my previous company had all of them, particularly the full Okta suite."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise27
Large Enterprise65
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Okta Workforce Identity?
Pricing for Okta is reasonably not that much, however, I don't have access to the commercial aspect.
What needs improvement with Okta Workforce Identity?
Currently, in Okta Workforce Identity we get the two-digit authentication code. Instead of getting the two-digit authentication code, if we had an option to do fingerprint verification, that would ...
What is your primary use case for Okta Workforce Identity?
I don't have many details about Okta Workforce Identity. I use the tool just to sign in to different applications that we have. We basically set up Okta Workforce Identity in our mobile phone. We d...
 

Also Known As

Tivoli Access Manager, IBM Security Access Manager
Okta Customer Identity, Workforce Identity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Essex Technology Group Inc.
FedEx, Zoom, Takeda, Lululemon Athletica, GrunHub, jetBlue, McKensson, Bain & Company, Engie, Peloton, Sonos, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, MGM Resorts, Ally Financial, Priceline, Albertsons, Itercom, Classy, FICO, Kensho, Live Nation, Drata, Rotary, and others.
Find out what your peers are saying about Okta, Microsoft, One Identity and others in Single Sign-On (SSO). Updated: October 2026.
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