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Microsoft Active Directory vs Symantec Siteminder comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

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

Microsoft Active Directory
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
Active Directory Management (2nd)
Symantec Siteminder
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Web Access Management (1st), Access Management (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Active Directory is 3.3%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 2.6%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Active Directory3.3%
Symantec Siteminder2.6%
Other94.1%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

Eko Kurniawan - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Operations & Security at veris
Has simplified credential management and improved secure access control across departments
The features I find most useful in Microsoft Active Directory are especially for the Single Sign-On. This is very useful for users, particularly if they have plenty of applications, such as tablet applications. When they log in to their computer, the application will automatically log in with their credentials. They don't need to remember another user and password to log in to the application because it's already maintained with Microsoft Active Directory using Single Sign-On. To assess the impact of Microsoft Active Directory's centralized domain management on security protocols and access permissions, Microsoft Active Directory itself has constraints with security because when we have a solution such as SSO or Single Sign-On, which makes it easier for users to log in, some parts have security openings. When their computer is compromised with a threat, malware, or other cyber threats, it becomes easier to enter the application without login permission.
Muzi Lubisi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior technical Consultant at CA Africa
Improved user experience with seamless integration and easy installation
The feature that I mostly valued is the ease of installation on different systems, especially on Windows. Additionally, it is very beneficial for deploying single sign-on sessions between different windows on a web browser, provided I am connected to the right identity provider. That seamless integration significantly improves user experience and efficiency.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are it is easy to use, manage, create a repository, and create the OM."
"Active Directory is more flexible and feature-rich than Apache."
"Stability and performance are good. So far, we have not observed any major downtime or performance issues since we deployed it."
"I advise consideration of this solution. The overall product rating is ten out of ten."
"I've been working with Microsoft Active Directory for over 3 years, and we've had no problems."
"One noteworthy aspect we discovered is the ability to exercise tight control over systems, specifically Windows PCs. This pertains to the management of policies, usage patterns, and user access on these devices, particularly within the framework of Active Directory which is extremely well thought. This actually works better with on-premises solutions. However, as the global trend shifts towards cloud and hybrid environments, Active Directory and its use is diminishing. Yet, it hasn't entirely lost its relevance and remains a presence that cannot be entirely disregarded."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Active Directory are the management of user and group policies."
"It is a stable solution."
"If you look at our organization, and really all financial institutions, we have a lot of legacy apps. So it really helps to get Single Sign-On."
"You can quickly deploy the entire product with a basic config within couple of hours."
"It has the ability to authenticate and authorize users. It is the main feature for our security."
"The solution has features that allow you to easily distinguish between protected and unprotected resources."
"A valuable feature of Siteminder is the way it handles bulk traffic. The features it has, in terms of routing the traffic and load balancing, are good."
"The feature that I mostly valued is the ease of installation on different systems, especially on Windows."
"Right now, federation that comes out-of-the-box with single sign-on is the most valuable feature that we have, and also scalability."
"We almost never have outages nor see slowdowns."
 

Cons

"The DNS services could improve in Microsoft Active Directory."
"I would like to see improvements in the solution’s security filtering feature. It can include machines and filter some users. There is no option to exclude a particular user or system."
"Microsoft Active Directory could improve by having better integration with other solutions."
"If you are using the Active Directory, the main concern is that the policy is restricted to the specific local area network."
"The solution's price could be better."
"Sometimes, it can be overly complicated, and when you apply Group Policy in an Active Directory environment, sometimes those settings apply and sometimes they don't."
"The security features could be improved."
"There is room for improvement in the support."
"Better documentation. I went through some sessions on single sign-on for version 12.7."
"While I have some integration with a few major providers, support for more would be advantageous."
"CA has reporting at the moment. With the reporting, every particular segmented product has a reporting engine. I would like to see centralized reporting for all of them together."
"All the problems that we reported actually have never been resolved. We could not capture enough information for CA to be able to debug the problem."
"Some of the new protocols, like OAuth 2.0, could be improved."
"The support could be faster."
"I would like to see a move towards the newer technologies, which is what we are doing right now. I think that's in the roadmap that's coming, in the 12.8 and 14 releases, but we would like to have it sooner than later."
"As we are moving in to the mobility space, this is where we really see SiteMinder and their other product really come together to provide a solution base to a different area where the IoT is coming, the different business communications are happening. All of those things require authentication and we really want to see this product grow into that role."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The version of Microsoft Active Directory I was using was expensive because it was used for large companies."
"The pricing is not very expensive. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"Active Directory is an expensive solution, primarily due to Microsoft's licensing model. This licensing approach includes paying for server licenses as well as for each computer that connects to it. However, when working with the Azure cloud, there is no cost for the server. This is profitable and one of the main reasons why Azure Cloud and other cloud-based solutions are being used more."
"I'm unsure about the cost of the solution, as I was never involved in that aspect. However, I don't think it would be expensive. It might be average, around four or five out of ten."
"We purchase the license for the solution on a yearly basis."
"Its price is reasonable."
"The price of Microsoft Active Directory could improve. We pay annually for the solution."
"The license per user can probably be reduced."
"The price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
"CA solutions are generally expensive but for the customer the ROI is big."
"I recommend conducting a PoC on every available product before choose one."
"Siteminder is a little costly. You pay for licensing, and they offer packages, so if you have less users, then you have to buy different products at different prices. If you have more of a user base, then the package is different. They also include other features—for example, if you have a database and you're using Siteminder, then it's good to use a Semantic-specific database, but if you are using less, then you have to purchase the database separately. Whereas if you are going for a bigger license, then it comes within the package. It depends on which plan you are using."
"Symantec Siteminder is expensive; they could definitely do better on the price."
"The pricing is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Insurance Company
9%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Active Directory?
The solution is easy to install and has good reliability.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Active Directory?
The best way to protect this is to use Microsoft Defender. For Microsoft support for Microsoft Active Directory, I would rate it as eight. If I give it 10, it would be too perfect. Eight is fair. M...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Active Directory?
My main use cases for Microsoft Active Directory are to manage user access and credentials.
What do you like most about Symantec Siteminder?
It's agent-based. It's convenient to deploy and integrate.
What needs improvement with Symantec Siteminder?
Symantec Siteminder needs to have adaptive authentication and multi-factor authentication as integrated features. Currently, multi-factor authentication is available as a separate solution, and it ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SiteMinder, CA SSO, Layer7 SiteMinder
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
British Telecom, CoreBlox, DBS, HMS, Itera ASA and Simeo
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Active Directory vs. Symantec Siteminder and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,665 professionals have used our research since 2012.