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Safeguard by One Identity vs Symantec Privileged Access Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 20, 2026

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

Safeguard by One Identity
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (2nd), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (2nd)
Symantec Privileged Access ...
Ranking in Privileged Access Management (PAM)
16th
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 July 2026, in the Privileged Access Management (PAM) category, the mindshare of Safeguard by One Identity is 4.4%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Privileged Access Manager is 1.8%, 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 Manager1.8%
Other93.8%
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
 

Featured Reviews

Mahesh Malve - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Business Development Associate 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 is powerful because it provides beneficial features that support clean integration with different tools, significantly improving security and automation processes."
"One Identity Safeguard has saved us security time, improved security, better compliance, increased trust in employees, and reduced risk since the tools provided by the company are now in safer hands."
"Regarding the usability and functionality, the UI is quite intuitive and simple to handle for new users."
"One Identity Safeguard has improved security a lot by controlling privileged access, and it also reduced risks since all sensitive activities are monitored and logged."
"We are very pleased with the Safeguard platform feature."
"The monitoring system is very good."
"The incidents of password theft have reduced by around forty percent, which has been a very good result from using One Identity Safeguard for our organization and is a great benefit for us."
"This solution gives them real confidence that they can keep their customers safe and their data protected."
"The solution has the capability to address hybrid eco-systems, both on-premises and cloud services, and integration with the AD RBAC model is also a great feature, as we can tie it to the central repository."
"The best features are the comprehensive coverage of the required features for the PAM solution like a credential vault, a session recording, an endpoint agent, security analytics."
"The technical support has be an essential part of our deployment."
"The reason we chose CA PAM is it worked in the scenarios that we wanted it to, and it just worked without problems."
"For me, it is the robust API which is the most valuable feature. This allows for low maintenance costs and allows applications to automatically connect. This is great to automate security of the DevOps pipeline for shared secrets across environments. Also, being on Linux and a virtual appliance is great."
"It gives you list of servers, so you can see which users have access to which servers. This is really useful, so we can make sure nobody is getting extra access than what is needed."
"CA PAM has session recording, which is a very valuable feature."
"The most important feature is that we do not need to know the passwords any more; just having access to the end point; and that it’s easy to manage users and the account."
 

Cons

"I rated One Identity Safeguard nine out of 10 because the stability and control could be better, as there are some problems with stability and errors when we use it."
"I would like to see an adjustment with more enterprise architecture."
"Some of our users find the functionality a bit complex, and it could be made more user-friendly."
"The automated change of the passwords, which is now integrated, could be improved to be more flexible regarding different systems."
"The SPS could be a lot easier to administrate and the parts should be unified, from a design perspective, so that I can recognize the systems as being part of the same package. They feel like they have been forced together."
"We have issues using Safeguard to record http/https connection in a video format. Currently, they don't have a mechanism to record this type of connection."
"There is room for improvement in One Identity Safeguard in several areas."
"The user interface can be improved for better searching of user accounts, and if One Identity enhances its support in that area, it would be very helpful."
"The OOTB reporting functionality is lacking."
"It'd be great if you just stuck in your PIV card and Windows popped up, asked you for your password. You typed it in, then it remembered your credentials."
"Instead of just giving passwords to the user based on job function, from auditing perspective, turn that cycle around. That would really help from an auditing standpoint."
"The setup was complex."
"I wish it could create local accounts on desktops."
"The demonstration and consideration portion does not work the best. It's not that intuitive."
"There are currently other tools on the market which are much cheaper than PAM. They can do almost all of what PAM does, and even do it better."
"The cons are that you are rarely (if ever) able to talk to a technician when calling support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"It is more expensive than Secret Server but way less expensive than CyberArk. As a customer, I would like the pricing to be lower, but it has a good price point."
"The license is very expensive for us, partly due to inflation and partly because of the exchange rate between the Dollar and the Iranian Rial. We purchased a perpetual license that we've been using up until now, but I believe that we are not going to update it in the future. Instead, we plan to find another third-party to support us with the license, in the sense that we would have access to their license as a shared agreement."
"The pricing is about $80,000 per 100 servers. There are few elective costs."
"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 license is around $3,000 per month."
"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."
"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."
"I would prefer better licensing options for the 20-100 users we have at a given time."
"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."
"It is more expensive than other solutions on the market."
"It is reasonably priced."
"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."
"The prices are not low, but one can ask for a discount. It’s not the cheapest PAM solution."
"The licensing is simple and scalable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Retailer
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Construction Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business90
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise37
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 overall positive. One Identity Safeguard is positioned as an enterprise product, so the licensing cost is not inexpensive, but I felt ...
What needs improvement with One Identity Safeguard?
One Identity Safeguard is a strong privileged access management solution, though there are a few areas in which it could be improved. The initial deployment and configuration can be complex, especi...
What is your primary use case for One Identity Safeguard?
One Identity Safeguard is used to securely manage privileged accounts and protect administrative credentials sessions across our IT environment. It helps control access to critical systems and enfo...
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 Safeguard by One Identity vs. Symantec Privileged Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
906,852 professionals have used our research since 2012.