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IBM Tivoli Access Manager [EOL] vs Ping Identity Platform 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:
 

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
Ping Identity Platform
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (6th), Authentication Systems (7th), Data Governance (11th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (5th), Access Management (6th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (3rd), Directory Servers (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…
AmitRathod - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Analyst at Toll Holdings Limited
Single sign-on has simplified access while adaptive authentication protects complex user journeys
Regarding areas for improvement in Ping Identity Platform, there is not much. In terms of licensing and implementation costs, it has premium pricing, and it has a very complex implementation. It provides greater feasibility, but it takes a very long time in terms of complete building. There is a very limited number of legacy support, which can pose potential difficulties in integrating with certain older or legacy systems. Additionally, issue troubleshooting can be difficult at times. Sometimes issues can be difficult to diagnose and require extensive technical expertise. There is also a very steep learning curve for administrative purposes and potential difficulties with offline authentication scenarios.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a single product that caters for all the business needs throughout the organization."
"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."
"It provided a secure and robust end to end security solution."
"This product is highly recommended to meet access management and web single sign-on requirements."
"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."
"SAML 2.0."
"It provides good scalability and reliability, not to mention the overall availability of the service."
"Tivoli Access Manager (or IBM Security Access Manager) is a fully featured web authentication, sso and authorization product."
"It provides very good possibilities and it's much better than other technology that we have used before which was unstable and slower."
"The soundness of the solution is its most valuable feature. For example, if you are in our corporate network, you can log on without any traffic interfering."
"The solution has a smooth and configurable user interface for single sign-on capabilities."
"Setting up the infrastructure with Ping Identity Platform is very easy compared to other IAM products."
"It's convenient for users to log in through Ping using the Kerberos adapter because it doesn't require them to authenticate again."
"It provides ease of connecting all our devices."
"PingFederate is very flexible. We can do many customizations, and it also provides an SDK to tailor it to our specific requirements. There are also numerous plugins available. I've worked with tools like ForgeRock and Okta, but I find PingFederate to be the most customizable."
"PingFederate is a good product but there are limitations."
 

Cons

"Administration of the product can be improved a lot."
"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."
"The pricing is always costly."
"There is only a single step-up authentication path, but I have sometimes seen the need for several steps or a divergent path."
"I would rate the technical support a 6/10."
"An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) for the newer appliance versions for hosting the virtual appliances on AWS will help."
"The initial set-up is a bit complex for a novice as the Linux version of it needs you to be somewhat good with Linux."
"The license model is pretty complex."
"PingAccess can only have one token provider, and you cannot enable two different token providers simultaneously."
"Ping Identity Platform must improve its UI since its management console is complicated."
"In the beginning, the initial setup was very complex."
"It has a long way to go until it is a cloud-based solution."
"From the improvement perspective, they could bring IGA capability, which right now they only have in their SaaS offering."
"The management console needs to be improved. PingID should revise it."
"They could use some bio-certification. It's just more user-friendly and more convenient than entering the one time passes. That would be an improvement."
"Some colleagues have mentioned API connectivity, data security, and privacy issues."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The IBM prices are, as ever, extortionate, even with a business partnership, and high levels of discounts."
"Ping Identity Platform is not an expensive solution."
"PingID's pricing is pretty competitive."
"Ping Identity Platform is not very expensive."
"Compared to some SaaS-based solutions, the platform is relatively cost-effective."
"The tool is quite affordable."
"The product is costly."
"PingID pricing is a ten out of ten because it's a little bit cheaper than other tools, such as Okta and ForgeRock, and supports multiple tools."
"Ping offers flexible pricing that's not standardized."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
15%
Marketing Services Firm
14%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Retailer
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

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 Business11
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PingFederate?
The product is affordable and starts at 20,000 dollars/year, depending upon the license and maintenance requirement. It makes our work easier and saves a lot of time.
What do you like most about PingAccess?
PingFederate is very flexible. We can do many customizations, and it also provides an SDK to tailor it to our specific requirements. There are also numerous plugins available. I've worked with tool...
What needs improvement with PingAccess?
From the improvement perspective, they could bring IGA capability, which right now they only have in their SaaS offering. Other than that, Ping Identity Platform has multiple products for access ma...
 

Also Known As

Tivoli Access Manager, IBM Security Access Manager
Ping Identity (ID), PingFederate, PingAccess, PingOne, PingDataGovernance, PingDirectory, OpenDJ
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Essex Technology Group Inc.
Equinix, Land O'Lakes, CDPHP, Box, International SOS, Opower, VSP, Chevron, Truist, Academy of Art University, Northern Air Cargo, Repsol
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Okta, Cisco and others in Single Sign-On (SSO). Updated: April 2026.
893,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.