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Idira Privileged Access Manager vs Top Secret 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

Idira Privileged Access Man...
Ranking in Mainframe Security
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
230
Ranking in other categories
User Activity Monitoring (1st), Enterprise Password Managers (3rd), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (1st), Operational Technology (OT) Security (3rd)
Top Secret
Ranking in Mainframe Security
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Mainframe Security category, the mindshare of Idira Privileged Access Manager is 5.3%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Top Secret is 12.3%, down from 15.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mainframe Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager5.3%
Top Secret12.3%
Other82.4%
Mainframe Security
 

Featured Reviews

Atul-Gujar - PeerSpot reviewer
CyberArk manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Secures critical infrastructures with essential user session audit records
A potential area for improvement is enhancing support for cluster environments and distributed Vaults. Clients in multiple countries that need central access have different challenges that require better solutions from CyberArk. For financial services, CyberArk can improve incident response by ensuring fast support for critical priority tickets to meet compliance requirements. Providing more documentation on CyberArk is recommended for new team members to enhance their troubleshooting capabilities. I understand it's up to the client, but 99% fail to change the demo key, so it's crucial for CyberArk to emphasize changing the key and documenting it as part of the installation process.
it_user814482 - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
All the features help ensure we are compliant with banking regulations
Top Secret is our external security manager for our mainframe systems It's an integral part of all of our mainframe security functions. It's the core of our mainframe security functions. It helps ensure that we are compliant with all of the various banking regulations, security regulations and…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The technical support is very good and helpful."
"CyberArk is the best out there."
"Users were removed from local administrators group on all desktop endpoints providing a more secure computing environment, allowing only those programs approved to run securely."
"Accounts are managed, passwords change frequently, and we have better audit logs!"
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it's the best in the market. I haven't seen any other PAM solutions better than CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault."
"The automatic change of the password and Privileged Session Manager (PSM) are the most valuable features. With Privileged Session Manager, you can control the password management in a centralized way. You can activate these features in a session; the session isolation and recording. You apply the full intermediation principle. So, you must pass through CyberArk PAM to get access to the target system. You don't need to know the password, and everything that you do is registered and auditable. In this case, no one gets to touch the password directly. Also, you can implement detection and response behavior in case of a breach."
"CyberArk makes our environment more secure and prevents possible attacks by compromised accounts."
"Every aspect of the solution is very well integrated, and that gives comfort because it is a fail-safe kind of environment."
"It centralizes all the user security on a single tool, which has truly been the best part for us."
"Customer service is excellent, as any issue that we have had in working with the product received the best response that we could have hoped for, with technicians who have great knowledge of how the product works and who promptly responded with solutions to any problems that we have had over the years."
"It protects our enterprise by providing an access monitor authentication protocol."
"When selecting a vendor, the most important thing is support."
"The stability of the product is wonderful."
"It's an integral part of all of our mainframe security functions and helps ensure that we are compliant with all of the various banking regulations, security regulations and requirements."
"In banking, security is a priority, and we constantly get updates that meet our needs."
"We have implemented two-factor authentication, which is a new piece of CA Top Secret."
 

Cons

"When I was a component owner for PAM's Privileged Threat Analytics (PTA) component, what I wanted was a clear mapping to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, a framework which has a comprehensive list of use cases. We reached out to the vendor and asked them how much coverage they have of the uses cases found on MITRE, which would have given us a better view of things while I was the product owner. Unfortunately they did not have the capability of mapping onto MITRE's framework at that time."
"We found the initial setup quite difficult. There were a lot of errors and we found the process to be a bit complex."
"There was a situation when one of our presidents had an issue, but I can't recall the specifics."
"Earlier in 9.0 version I faced some stability issues, yes there are some stability issues with CyberArk such as memory leakage, password unsync etc. These are some common problems but frustrating."
"The installation process should be easier and more user-friendly so that you don't need to hire a third party to deploy it."
"Technical support from the vendor is the worst and that is one reason I stopped using CyberArk."
"Make it easier to deploy."
"They are sometimes not flexible with things. For instance, from one day to another, there might be something that had been done years ago by CyberArk, then they say, "We do not support that." You then have to initiate a complaint and start working with them. Things might become complicated and months pass while you are working with them. Usually, they are good and fast, but sometimes they seem to be blocked with problems, e.g., you will suddenly be working with another team instead of the team that you were working with the day before."
"I'd like to see that more granular, see where you could get the passwords that are being enforced, but you can enforce it at different hierarchical layers between the product."
"In new releases, installation is not easy and can take about four months to roll out."
"Make sure that there is a post-sale department in your country. We have experienced some post-sale problems to do with integration of CA products into our systems."
"I would like to see better reporting, more emphasis on audit reporting, and better scrubbing of the canned reports."
"It would be helpful if they removed limitations on user record sizes."
"The user interface could be improved. Sometimes, it is not simple to understand where a certain definition should be defined, and I go through a number of screens until I find where to do some of them."
"I'd like to see integration with LDAP's services, because today we have the mainframe and Windows AD separated."
"That is an area where I have a concern, because I don't see them keeping pace with what we're doing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's expensive, certainly. But CyberArk is the leader in the market with regards to privileged access management. You pay a lot, but you are paying for the value that is being delivered."
"I would rate the cost of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager seven out of ten with ten being the most expensive."
"No, I do not have any advice on the price of the product."
"The pricing for CyberArk is on the higher side compared to other Privileged Access Management products. Something should be done regarding enterprise licensing for long-standing customers."
"It can be an expensive product."
"I'm a technician so I don't handle the licensing for CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, but I know that the price for the core license is about €140 per year. There's another type of license, the external vendor license, and that's about €600 and you can manage twenty devices. From what I know, the price for one device in a subscription is about €65 per year. You can buy the CyberArk Endpoint Privilege Manager too, or you can buy some other application or application license with CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, but all other features, such as the Analytics Server is included in the basic CyberArk license. With WALLIX, you need to buy separate licenses for the features."
"Its price is high. I have also worked with Delinea. CyberArk is comparatively expensive compared to other PAM solutions, such as Delinea, especially during renewal."
"I would rate the tool’s pricing a six out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise42
Large Enterprise174
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
My thoughts on the pricing of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager depend entirely on the vendors' requirements. If they want their things to be secure, they have to spend accordingly. We have four t...
What needs improvement with CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
I believe account discovery and rolling support need to be improved. Account discovery is important when integrating with other systems, as other PAM solutions can perform account discovery and onb...
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Also Known As

CyberArk Privileged Access Security, CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault
CA Top Secret
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Rockwell Automation
First Tennessee Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Idira Privileged Access Manager vs. Top Secret and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
896,942 professionals have used our research since 2012.