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One Identity Safeguard vs Symantec Privileged Access Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 6, 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

One Identity Safeguard
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (3rd), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (1st)
Symantec Privileged Access ...
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Privileged Access Management (PAM) category, the mindshare of One Identity Safeguard is 4.4%, up from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Privileged Access Manager is 1.7%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
One Identity Safeguard4.4%
Symantec Privileged Access Manager1.7%
Other93.9%
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
 

Featured Reviews

Mahesh Malve - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Business Development Executive at DigitalTrack Solutions Ind Pvt Ltd
Centralized control has strengthened privileged security and simplified audit investigations
While One Identity Safeguard is a strong and reliable PAM solution, there are a few areas where it can be further improved to enhance user experience and scalability. Regarding the user interface and experience, the UI, while functional, can be a bit complex for new users. A more intuitive and modern dashboard with simplified navigation would improve adoption, especially for non-technical stakeholders. Regarding integration flexibility, although it supports major integrations, expanding out-of-the-box connectors for more cloud-native apps, DevOps tools, and SaaS platforms would be beneficial. Faster and simpler API-based integrations could reduce deployment efforts. Regarding scalability and performance in large enterprise environments, performance tuning and scaling can require additional efforts. Enhancing seamless scalability and high availability configuration would improve enterprise readiness.
Muzi Lubisi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior technical Consultant at CA Africa
Secure management of sensitive servers and seamless applications with direct linking
The credential injection feature is highly valued, particularly for RDP sessions. A majority of customers use it for RDP, and a couple for Linux servers. The broader capabilities, including access to multiple systems, web-based applications, and clustering, have never posed an issue. The threat analytics aspect is also a robust feature that analyzes all pertinent information.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One Identity Safeguard has a noticeable positive impact around security and operational efficiency, providing secure, strong security, real-time monitoring, and full visibility."
"It is generally easy-to-use and install."
"I have seen a clear return on investment with One Identity Safeguard, reducing manual effort for access management by around thirty to forty percent, decreasing audit preparation time by nearly fifty percent, and lowering the risks of costly incidents through improved security controls."
"Overall, we have likely reduced admin effort related to access management by forty percent, and from an operational efficiency standpoint, we no longer need to manage or rotate privileged credentials manually."
"We went from our teams complaining about the old product every day to not hearing one complaint at all and, as a matter of fact, I hear compliments about how much they love Safeguard."
"The transparent mode for privileged sessions is a very good solution."
"From my experience, the features are best for monitoring and the usage of LDAP and SSH."
"Technical support is brilliant."
"I’m very satisfied with the product."
"It's easy to use and easy to configure."
"CA PAM is the least expensive option than most and is easy to deploy."
"Transparent login and cluster synchronization are quite stable compared with other products, and it is easy to manage for the administrator."
"Monitoring privileged users’ actions is valuable because of the high level of trust and wide-ranging access insiders typically enjoy."
"Comprehensive coverage of the required features for the PAM solution."
"The most valuable element is the keystroke tracking feature."
"This solution really makes a big difference."
 

Cons

"One Identity Safeguard works well for us overall, but there are several areas where improvements could be made."
"From a usability perspective, what we are finding out is that our privileged domain admin users, in particular, want functionality for extending a checkout session."
"One Identity Safeguard can be improved by fixing the documentation, which is very convoluted as of now, and addressing versioning, as some major bugs and issues are not documented well enough in the documentation, along with some patches and fixes."
"I have encountered scalability issues. The system needs to be properly analysed before putting it into production."
"We are still in the onboarding phase, and it seems very manual. Ideally, a single interface to integrate all these processes would be useful."
"VMware PCoIP protocol support: Many customers are switching from normal computers/environment to VDI infrastructure and some of them are switching to VMware Horizon that uses PCoIP protocol, which is not supported right now."
"Some of our users find the functionality a bit complex, and it could be made more user-friendly."
"Even though we have two nodes, there's no way to do an upgrade without taking everything completely offline. It would be nice if they could improve that."
"We had some issues with the load balancing feature when configured for clustering."
"Recent releases need improvement in webpage management."
"An improvement for this solution is that it should not be constantly based on user name and password. There should be a condition to edit and update your username."
"Technical support is average. They took a long time to provide good answers, only recommended to upgrade SW version which in some environments is not an option and they don’t even know if that will fix the problem."
"Recent releases need improvement in webpage management. For instance, navigating through a webpage that acts like a wizard, where I proceed to the next page and enter more information, is not handled well by the system."
"The cons are that you are rarely (if ever) able to talk to a technician when calling support."
"It was a challenge for our newer staff members to install."
"They need to have zero tier and active-active setup with zero minimum downtime, which they are working on it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our licensing costs are on a yearly basis."
"We bought their other products, so it was not that expensive. It is one of those where the more you buy, the cheaper it is."
"It is cheaper than CyberArk. Its price is fair."
"The full license is expensive but if you plan to use it in a big organization then it is the best option because it is more flexible."
"The pricing depends on our perspective, our budget, and, of course, the competitors we are taking into account."
"One Identity Safeguard is expensive and the cost goes up as we scale."
"Its subscription cost is too much, and sometimes, it is very difficult to pitch the solution to the management for cost approval. If the cost is reduced a little bit, it would be easier. If its cost was less, many other organizations that currently cannot afford it would be able to use this technology. I'm sure many organizations around the globe are having issues with identity management, and it is a very difficult task for IT to manage privileged accounts."
"They have comparable pricing. All identity products are essentially priced in a similar way. It's a per-user base."
"Don’t go with an agent model. Don’t go with a model that has you buying a thousand different parts. Go with PAM that gives you everything, or you’ll just be paying costs of implementing another tool that PAM would have just given you up front."
"Cost-wise, CA was better compared to others in the market. ​"
"The licensing is simple and scalable."
"The version we are using is affordable compared to BeyondTrust, which is maybe three to four times as expensive, but it depends on the features."
"They offer per-device, per-user, or monthly and yearly licensing models."
"It is reasonably priced."
"Pricing is fair compared to other top vendors."
"The prices are not low, but one can ask for a discount. It’s not the cheapest PAM solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business65
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise30
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for One Identity Safeguard?
One Identity Safeguard is priced at a premium level, typical for enterprise-grade privilege access management solutions. The licensing is generally based on the number of privileged accounts, users...
What needs improvement with One Identity Safeguard?
While One Identity Safeguard is a strong privilege access management solution, there are some areas where improvements can be made. The initial deployment and configuration can be complex, especial...
What is your primary use case for One Identity Safeguard?
In my daily operations, I rely on One Identity Safeguard for administrator requests for access through One Identity Safeguard, which are approved via workflows. Once approved, sessions are launched...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Privileged Access Manager?
Due to the nature of the solution, it is hard to gauge, but compared to competitors, the pricing is very good. I would rate it as an eight and a half out of ten.
What needs improvement with Symantec Privileged Access Manager?
Recent releases need improvement in webpage management. For instance, navigating through a webpage that acts like a wizard, where I proceed to the next page and enter more information, is not handl...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Privileged Access Manager?
With the customers that I have so far, I help them broker RDP sessions to sensitive servers, particularly those that manage aspects like physical access. I have also done it for backend databases, ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
CA PAM, Xceedium Xsuite, CA Privileged Access Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cavium
NEOVERA, Telesis, eSoft
Find out what your peers are saying about One Identity Safeguard vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.