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Symantec Privileged Access Manager vs Workspace ONE UEM comparison

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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

Symantec Privileged Access ...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
Privileged Access Management (PAM) (11th)
Workspace ONE UEM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (11th), Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (10th), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (4th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (17th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Identity and Access Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Symantec Privileged Access Manager is designed for Privileged Access Management (PAM) and holds a mindshare of 2.0%, up 1.6% compared to last year.
Workspace ONE UEM, on the other hand, focuses on Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), holds 8.5% mindshare, down 12.3% since last year.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec Privileged Access Manager2.0%
Idira Privileged Access Manager8.5%
Safeguard by One Identity4.4%
Other85.1%
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Workspace ONE UEM8.5%
Microsoft Intune17.8%
IBM MaaS3608.8%
Other64.9%
Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Vishal Bhatia - PeerSpot reviewer
Trainer/Consultant at Koenig Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Effective product tracking and monitoring enhances daily operations despite needing documentation improvement
The documentation part of Workspace ONE UEM can be confusing. The documentation is not comprehensive compared to other VMware solutions or Microsoft documentation. Most people struggle to connect the dots when looking at the documentation. Even the training material and PowerPoint slide decks that trainers use are sometimes too confusing or overwhelming, with too much content but not enough clarity. The support side has recently become weaker compared to what it used to be with VMware. This is another area that needs improvement. Since working with Workspace ONE UEM from when it was AirWatch, it has improved significantly over the last five years. However, there are still some gray areas and scope for improvement, especially in documentation and workflow between different aspects of the solution.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"For me, it is the robust API which is the most valuable feature."
"When we started analyzing different products, CA was really good."
"Used for securing privileged accounts."
"We do not have to authenticate users due to automatic authentication, so this allows us to be much more secure."
"It is the best product for monitoring the recorded session of your IT admins and external consultants."
"It has simplified and unified the access of the users to a single point of access."
"Symantec PAM is easier to deploy compared to its competitors, such as BeyondTrust."
"So all the different roles (such as database admin, Unix admin, network administrator), are now centralized into one system."
"The product has fully automated features that help people do tasks easily."
"We can impose cybersecurity requirements."
"If an outside person tries to track or hack information, it is not possible without us being notified."
"The most valuable feature is the User Experience Designer, which has been very helpful for our project."
"Overall, we've been very happy with VMware."
"It was easy to use."
"Workspace ONE has something like an orchestrator model that allows me to configure a set of steps to onboard new PCs, laptops, or tablets. So, it makes my work easy."
"It's all about centralizing your data and making sure that your data is centralized and secure."
 

Cons

"Reporting is very limited."
"Updates get difficult for the client. It needs to improve."
"They need to improve how it scales."
"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."
"They need to have zero tier and active-active setup ​with zero minimum downtime, which they are working on it. ​"
"The first setup was complex. The implementation, to me, was very bad."
"They should include some assignments in the test environment to explore the product's features."
"I would like it to support more types of integration."
"A room for improvement for this product is its integration with Microsoft. It could be better, though most of it is there."
"AirWatch doesn't seem to empower IT admins to try new things or get creative with implementations."
"The accuracy of the management function has room for improvement. It's important to us because sometimes we send a profile to the machine and it's pending but doesn't reach."
"From an improvement perspective, there is a need for discounts to be offered by the solution since it is something that any organization can expect from the product."
"We have a lot of problems when it comes to integrating with Active Directory."
"When we had some issues, the support did not respond quickly, and they did not provide a solution."
"Windows 10 management is there, but VMware only recently developed that part, and it's not fully mature. Patch management and other integrations are there as well as the application-pushing part, command line, mandatory commands, etc. Some out-of-the-box solutions should be available to better integrate a broader range of applications and handle application push. That's the roadmap we should look at."
"There is room for improvement in customer service and support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing is simple and scalable."
"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 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. ​"
"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."
"They offer per-device, per-user, or monthly and yearly licensing models."
"Appliances are relatively cheap, don’t skimp. Make sure you have redundancy, high availability, and enough appliances to manage the concurrent workload."
"It's a highly affordable solution"
"A person should pay towards the licensing costs of VMware Identity Manager on a yearly or monthly basis, but government and public sector units cannot for a perpetual licensing model."
"Currently, the product is priced at around 50 USD."
"There is a separate cost for technical support and extra premium features. The pricing should be simplified."
"Pricing is an area that could be improved."
"If you purchase it for one year, it is very expensive. If you get it for three years or up to five years, then you can bargain a better price."
"I think that the price is reasonable."
"For the moment, we have a multi-year contract, meaning that we cannot go with a different solution at this time even if the price should prove more favorable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
18%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise30
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business40
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise60
 

Questions from the Community

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, ...
How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?
Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes it easy to control security and manage the usage of mobile apps when you have a ...
How does VMware Workspace One compare with VMware Horizon 7?
VMware Workspace One has a powerful set of helpful features. The solution offers very good documentation, the initial setup is easy, and the product is very stable and reliable. I think the fact th...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Horizon Air?
I don't deal with the pricing side, so I don't have any insight about it. That's what the organization would have already handled in their environment or maybe they are comparing it with products s...
 

Also Known As

CA PAM, Xceedium Xsuite, CA Privileged Access Manager
VMware Workspace ONE, VMware AirWatch, Workspace ONE Assist, VMware Identity Manager, Workspace ONE Access, VMware Horizon Air
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NEOVERA, Telesis, eSoft
Australian Sports Commission, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, Lomond School, Merck, United Bank, Medical College of Wisconsin, Latymer Upper School, 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, Dowling Aaron Inc., Trillium Lakelands District School Board, Harrogate Grammar School, Duke University Football, Delta Air Lines, Adventist Health System, Giochi Preziosi, Cramlington Learning Village, Intermountain Healthcare, Safexpress, TAG Aviation
Find out what your peers are saying about Idira by Palo Alto Networks, One Identity, Okta and others in Privileged Access Management (PAM). Updated: October 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.