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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
6.9
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (6th), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (3rd)
Symantec Privileged Access ...
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
17th
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 February 2026, in the Privileged Access Management (PAM) category, the mindshare of One Identity Safeguard is 3.9%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Privileged Access Manager is 1.7%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
One Identity Safeguard3.9%
Symantec Privileged Access Manager1.7%
Other94.4%
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
 

Featured Reviews

SV
Automation tester at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Centralized controls have improved privileged access and simplified compliant audit workflows
We use One Identity Safeguard as a central control point for all our privileged access, which helps standardize the access policies across teams and platforms. We also use it for the approval workflows, which are enforced for high-risk systems and add an extra security layer for production access. I have been using it for one and a half years. The best feature I appreciate is the session proxying and recording. It provides transparent session access for admins without exposing the real passwords. Another valuable feature is automated password rotation, which changes the credentials automatically after each use or on a schedule. It reduces the risk of leakage and reuse of passwords. Additionally, the approval workflow and the access request feature add governance with multi-level approvals for sensitive systems. These are the features that I appreciate the most. When we started using the session proxying and recording features, overall, it was a manageable and fairly smooth process for us. However, like most security platform deployments, it had a few learning curves. Session proxying and recording worked with our major systems including Windows, Linux, and network devices with minimal configuration. Some devices and services required slight changes to firewall rules and configuration to ensure the proxy could connect cleanly. Additionally, our admins needed orientation so they understood they were joining a recorded session, particularly for remote or support use. We spent considerable time adjusting the session filtering, retention settings, and naming conventions so recordings were useful and not overwhelming. These are some areas where we encountered challenges.
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

"We are able to log and get reporting on all privileged activity that is being performed. We like the fact that we can leverage the session recording feature, which is especially valuable when we're dealing with third-party vendors that have to remote into our our boxes and servers to do any work on behalf of the bank. Now, we can record everything they are doing to ensure that they're only doing the changes that were needed. In addition, we use it to leverage knowledge transfer with our internal staff."
"I like the discovery functionality and the change password feature through the check-in. I also like the bulk import with the help of templates that come with it out of the box. With the help of these few features, my tasks are made easier."
"We use the solution’s “transparent mode” feature for privileged sessions. It is very easy because it is only a simple configuration for our users. We don't have to modify our network. We install it, configure it, and it works. So, it is super easy. The rollout for our users is seamless."
"We have limited the possibilities for malicious actions and have made it safer for our users when they are using privileged accounts."
"One Identity Safeguard is a mature, reliable, and secure PAM solution that has significantly improved our privileged access management, compliance, and operational efficiency."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"It has greatly helped improve our security posture. Safeguard has an option where it will reset passwords on service accounts, then go out to those servers where that service account is running as a service and update the password on it. That makes password changes very easy. We can regularly change passwords now and are planning on making it an annual activity, where all the people who own service accounts will go in and make sure all their passwords get changed, updated, and reset."
"The whole product solves the privileged access management challenge for our company. We have a secure tunnel, a secure session manager, and automatic logging of sessions, which is good for forensic purposes. We have a rich level of logs and can trace what happened on which machine and see who did what."
"It will provide us with more security."
"The agent-based credential management solution allows clients to programmatically use the agent to collect passwords during runtime from Symantec Privileged Access Manager."
"The key benefits are we improve our governance. We ensure we can build more trust in the way we run and operate our environment, and most of all is the accountability."
"The product is very scalable in terms of concurrent sessions that it can handle at a time, number of device it can support, accounts that it can manage, or number of nodes that you can deploy in a cluster."
"Symantec PAM is easier to deploy compared to its competitors, such as BeyondTrust."
"It is simple to implement and is suitable for medium to large-scale enterprises."
"We have received good support from the tech support team."
"Stability is solid as a rock."
 

Cons

"On a scale of one to ten, the stability is an eight."
"I would like to see support for RDP over HTTPS so this product can be used in conjunction with the Microsoft terminal."
"There is room for improvement in the launch module. They built in a launch button but they don't have effective instructions for configuring it to allow it to launch an RDP session. They're working on that, but the button is in the live product. If they were going to install something that wasn't useful, they should have just disabled it and not rolled it out with the product."
"We can't review or audit HTTP and HTTPS. This functionality should be added so that we can review and audit HTTP and HTTPS."
"Reporting and dashboards can be made more customized, especially for client-specific views."
"The areas for improvement in One Identity Safeguard would be the UI and UX, meaning the admin console can be more intuitive for complex policy and workflow configuration."
"I would like to see an adjustment with more enterprise architecture. You can buy multiple appliances but you can not fully separate different functions, so scaling might be a bit more complicated."
"Some of the out-of-the-box reporting isn't that rich. We spoke to our Safeguard reps who have acknowledged that some of the reporting features can certainly be improved and that we're not the only customer who has cited this. There are very little out-of-the-box reporting capabilities. You have to build the queries and the report. I believe in the next release they're going to be addressing this."
"I’m no fan of Java as an application front-end, as it tends to have issues depending on what browser one’s using."
"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."
"I wish it could create local accounts on desktops."
"The response time for support could be faster. Some features should be added: cloud-based, VPN-less, more secure, and it should be adjusted in a hybrid environment."
"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 support for other remote assistance tools would be excellent. Free included tools in Windows (Remote Assist) and Microsoft SCCM Configuration Manager (ConMgr Remote Control) allow companies to reduce the amount of RDP connections and expand the usage of the tools are frequently used by companies to provide technical support for remote assistance."
"Bring more technology into the portfolio and being able to collapse those products into a much more integrated way."
"Broadcom has neglected product development since acquiring Symantec, and nothing major has been added to PAM."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is about $80,000 per 100 servers. There are few elective costs."
"They have comparable pricing. All identity products are essentially priced in a similar way. It's a per-user base."
"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 offer a fair price for a robust solution."
"It is cheaper than CyberArk. Its price is fair."
"We have a yearly license. The cost depends on how much a company wants to invest in technology. In our organization, we believe in modern digitization and automation processes so we found it affordable. One Identity was not that much less than other solutions and it is not a cheap solution. There were number of cheaper solutions. However, it's the most effective, according to our evaluation."
"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."
"It is a bit on the pricey side, but you get what you pay for. You don't want to get anything too cheap because then you get cheap stuff and cheap support. That really never helps anybody."
"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."
"Cost-wise, CA was better compared to others in the market. ​"
"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."
"It is more expensive than other solutions on the market."
"Appliances are relatively cheap, don’t skimp. Make sure you have redundancy, high availability, and enough appliances to manage the concurrent workload."
"I would prefer better licensing options for the 20-100 users we have at a given time."
"The prices are not low, but one can ask for a discount. It’s not the cheapest PAM solution."
"They offer per-device, per-user, or monthly and yearly licensing models."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
University
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise19
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?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been a good experience overall, as the back and forth with One Identity is something that is acceptable; other tools have options to do thi...
What needs improvement with One Identity Safeguard?
One Identity Safeguard could be improved with a password manager and an identity manager as one big access management system. I believe improvements could be made around integrating with other tools.
What is your primary use case for One Identity Safeguard?
My main use case for One Identity Safeguard is using only one module for privileged session, which we use for admins and contractors. A quick specific example of how my team uses One Identity Safeg...
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: February 2026.
881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.