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Ping Identity Platform vs Symantec Advanced Authentication comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Ping Identity Platform
Ranking in Authentication Systems
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (6th), Data Governance (11th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (5th), Access Management (6th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (3rd), Directory Servers (1st)
Symantec Advanced Authentic...
Ranking in Authentication Systems
23rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.7
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Ping Identity Platform is 3.2%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Advanced Authentication is 1.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Ping Identity Platform3.2%
Symantec Advanced Authentication1.5%
Other95.3%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

AmitRathod - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Analyst at Toll Holdings Limited
Single sign-on has simplified access while adaptive authentication protects complex user journeys
Regarding areas for improvement in Ping Identity Platform, there is not much. In terms of licensing and implementation costs, it has premium pricing, and it has a very complex implementation. It provides greater feasibility, but it takes a very long time in terms of complete building. There is a very limited number of legacy support, which can pose potential difficulties in integrating with certain older or legacy systems. Additionally, issue troubleshooting can be difficult at times. Sometimes issues can be difficult to diagnose and require extensive technical expertise. There is also a very steep learning curve for administrative purposes and potential difficulties with offline authentication scenarios.
Umair (Abu Mohaymin) Akhlaque - PeerSpot reviewer
Group CEO at Flexsolutions
Ensures robust security features and ease of deployment, although it may lack some of the more modern authentication options
There has been a need for aggressive development to modernize the product and align it with contemporary security requirements. While the rebranding has been a step forward, further enhancements are essential to meet the evolving demands of the market. It lacks features such as ActiveSync Exchange security, and it doesn't offer alternatives like password-less authentication via biometrics or patches. While Symantec mainly relies on traditional token-based or password-based methods, newer authentication methods are missing from its repertoire. Support services often lack promptness and depth of knowledge, leaving customers waiting for weeks to resolve issues. In the realm of multifactor authentication, swift resolution of problems is critical, as any slowdown or interruption can significantly impact operations. Urgent improvement is necessary to ensure that support responses are faster and more effective, aligning with the demands of MFA implementation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I work on the application onboarding process because we have multiple customers and get data from different sources."
"I would recommend PingFederate as an IAM solution for its no-code environment, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, bidirectional services, and advanced features."
"It gets a mobility portal in place in conjunction with Office 365. It provides very good possibilities and it's much better than other technology that we have used before which was unstable and slower."
"From a security perspective, I highly value the product's biometric authentication methods such as FIDO, FaceID, YubiKey, and the mobile app."
"Ping Identity Platform can provide a solution for both workforce identity and access management and also for consumer identity and access management, which is CIAM."
"People use the solution to secure their applications and authenticate particular processes."
"It is a scalable solution...It is a stable solution."
"It's convenient for users to log in through Ping using the Kerberos adapter because it doesn't require them to authenticate again."
"One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability."
"Ease of deployment: no need to keep up with physical devices for multi-factor authentication; no software to deploy on end-user computers requiring administrative rights."
"Rules on Risk Authentication are very good."
"It tells us exactly what we want in terms of authentication to various applications and provides protection for users who access them."
"Symantec Advanced Authentication can be useful for wherever you require a strong authentication."
"It actually increases our revenue and the customer base."
"The most valuable feature is that we get a wide range of authentication methods and authentication integrators, so different platforms can get service authentication with transparency to the final user while providing strong authentication forms and connectors."
"CA products are the best fit with our backend systems."
 

Cons

"PingID should put a little more effort into making a pretty self-explanatory deck about their tech features and the services they offer."
"PingID would benefit from a better user interface for integration."
"I think that the connection with like Microsoft Word, especially for Office 365, is a weak point that could be improved."
"For external customers, they do have challenges, although there are solutions for that available, as well."
"In terms of licensing and implementation costs, it has premium pricing, and it has a very complex implementation."
"The product is not customizable."
"Ping Identity Platform must improve its UI since its management console is complicated."
"They could enhance the product's device tracking for better zero-trust security would be beneficial. Currently, it tracks IPs well but lacks detailed device information, which is crucial from a security standpoint."
"Sometimes getting this set up does take a bit longer. It's not always install, next, next, next, finish."
"Symantec has very bad support, so I have no words for it. It's one of the worst support experiences I've ever had."
"We have seen quite a few issues with bugginess. It is indeed pretty buggy and we have had to install some fixes."
"This solution could be improved with risk-based authentication. I think that this product has everything that most customers are looking for, but modern technology has people looking for security tools with risk-based authentication, which they have a separate tool for. If they could integrate this, it would improve Symantec Advanced Authentication. They have to look at what's newly trending and how things are moving forward, and then adapt and adopt those features. Symantec's technical support should also be improved, in terms of response time."
"Advanced Authentication talks about the Device ID. But how the device ID is captured, I want to know more about that."
"The initial setup of the tenant is a big cost element of the service and we were doing multiple tenants for our customer."
"It needs faster implementation on the cloud for our customers."
"We have seen quite a few issues with bugginess. It is indeed pretty buggy and we have had to install some fixes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Ping Identity Platform is not an expensive solution."
"Ping Identity Platform is not very expensive."
"Compared to some SaaS-based solutions, the platform is relatively cost-effective."
"PingID pricing is a ten out of ten because it's a little bit cheaper than other tools, such as Okta and ForgeRock, and supports multiple tools."
"PingID's pricing is pretty competitive."
"The product is costly."
"The pricing is neither too expensive nor too cheap."
"The platform's value justifies the pricing, especially considering its security features and scalability."
"There are eventually going to be implementation costs. Sometimes you're required to have custom code developments there, so that has to be part of the implementation price."
"The price is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Retailer
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Construction Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PingFederate?
The product is affordable and starts at 20,000 dollars/year, depending upon the license and maintenance requirement. It makes our work easier and saves a lot of time.
What do you like most about PingAccess?
PingFederate is very flexible. We can do many customizations, and it also provides an SDK to tailor it to our specific requirements. There are also numerous plugins available. I've worked with tool...
What needs improvement with PingAccess?
From the improvement perspective, they could bring IGA capability, which right now they only have in their SaaS offering. Other than that, Ping Identity Platform has multiple products for access ma...
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Also Known As

Ping Identity (ID), PingFederate, PingAccess, PingOne, PingDataGovernance, PingDirectory, OpenDJ
CA Advanced Authentication, CA Strong Authentication, CA Risk Authentication, Arcot WebFort, Arcot RiskFort
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Equinix, Land O'Lakes, CDPHP, Box, International SOS, Opower, VSP, Chevron, Truist, Academy of Art University, Northern Air Cargo, Repsol
Global bank, Large Filipino Bank and SK Infosec
Find out what your peers are saying about Ping Identity Platform vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.