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NetIQ Access Manager vs Symantec Siteminder comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 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

NetIQ Access Manager
Ranking in Web Access Management
4th
Ranking in Access Management
21st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Symantec Siteminder
Ranking in Web Access Management
1st
Ranking in Access Management
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Web Access Management category, the mindshare of NetIQ Access Manager is 15.8%, down from 16.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 28.9%, up from 27.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Web Access Management
 

Featured Reviews

Cassio-Silva - PeerSpot reviewer
Multi-Factor Authentication, stable, and extremely scalable
I use NetIQ Access Manager to protect one single application with Multi-Factor Authentication. The solution is deployed on both cloud and on-prem The Multi-Factor Authentication of NetIQ Access Manager has helped protect our organization. The most valuable features of NetIQ Access Manager are…
Muzi Lubisi - PeerSpot reviewer
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

"It's very easy to integrate with applications."
"There are lots of options to customize the solution to your needs."
"The features that we have found most valuable with NetIQ Access Manager are its single sign-on and two factor two second factor database."
"The single sign-on feature is excellent."
"The most valuable features of NetIQ Access Manager are SSO and Multi-Factor Authentication."
"The solution has features that allow you to easily distinguish between protected and unprotected resources."
"I liked the debugging part. There are only two files (trace file and log file) that you need to look into while performing debugging, and the logs give you the exact info on where and what needs to be fixed."
"The authentication and single sign-on features of Symantec Siteminder are valuable."
"It provides the breadth and the width to provide solutions for the different kinds of technologies which we have."
"It is very scalable. We have a very large customer base: 75 million customers."
"Federation is valuable, for sure, because we have a lot of third-party vendors that we need to integrate with, and this is a turnkey solution in some ways."
"The Directory is secure. It's our user store, and it's important to keep our members safe. The product does well with that."
"Authentication & Authorization are important because all the sites need authentication for security purposes. That has been handled pretty well all these years with SSO."
 

Cons

"Classification of junctions and new versions of applications, such as APIs, can be added to enable the use of more devices that utilize biometrics for Multi-Factor Authentication to improve the solution."
"Having the ability to easily extract and view and compare and version control configurations would be ideal."
"In terms of what could be improved, I would say the security of the infrastructure and the server and the working networking device."
"I would love to see the upgrade procedure handled more effectively. I would prefer to have OVS installation possibilities, although the upgrade procedures should include the OS as well. You should be able to use the whole application as an appliance."
"The application portal could be improved with more options and easier customization."
"I would prefer to see their SAML integration be a more streamlined and easier interface."
"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."
"We're currently unable to find information about if the solution can do a full implementation with SQL. Some better and more accessible documentation for new users or those curious about the product would be helpful."
"The maintenance cost has increased significantly, and we are concerned about this."
"Symantec SiteMinder is not easy to set up and maintain at an infrastructure level."
"The GUIs are not very clear, especially when integrating with other products from CA."
"They need to make configurations easier, and not have the engineer having to guess what will happen when he changes a particular setting."
"An area Siteminder could improve on is that there are a few limitations, in terms of new protocols for OpenID. If I want to have different scopes, the features are limited. They also do not have APIs exposed, which is a major drawback. API is a feature I would like to see included in the next release."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is average."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"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 price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."
"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."
"The pricing is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Government
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
34%
Insurance Company
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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

Bancomext, Bouwend Nederland, Camera dei Deputati, CGT, Coopservice Group, Court of Appeals of Georgia, Etnic, European Automotive Manufacturer, FDM Document Dynamics, Hainan Province Information Center, Highland Community College, Huntington Bank, Johnsonville Sausage, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Mazars, Mexico's Tax Administration Service, Owens Community College, Pasco Risk, RDC, School District of Hartford, Senckenberg Nature Research Society, Sheetz, Spanish Public Employment Service, SUNY Orange County Community College, Swisscard, The Municipality of Siena, The University of Westminster, UMB Financial Corporation Invests in Identity Management, University of Dayton, University of Groningen, Vodacom, World Wide Technology
British Telecom, CoreBlox, DBS, HMS, Itera ASA and Simeo
Find out what your peers are saying about NetIQ Access Manager vs. Symantec Siteminder and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.