12 Best Privileged Access Management (PAM) Solutions for 2027

A PAM solution (privileged access management) secures, controls and monitors the accounts that can do the most damage: domain administrators, root accounts, database administrators, service accounts, cloud consoles and the credentials used by scripts and AI agents. PAM tools vault and rotate these credentials, grant access only when needed (just-in-time), record privileged sessions and alert on risky activity.

Privileged credentials are involved in most serious breaches, so auditors and cyber insurers increasingly expect PAM as standard. The market is consolidating fast: Palo Alto Networks completed its acquisition of CyberArk in February 2026, and Delinea completed its acquisition of StrongDM in March 2026. Below we compare 12 PAM solutions, including free and open-source options and tools suited to on-premise and air-gapped networks.

PAM vs IAM vs PIM

How we evaluated these tools

PAM solutions at a glance

12 best PAM solutions reviewed

1. CyberArk (Palo Alto Networks)

Best for: large enterprises with mature, high-assurance PAM programmes.

CyberArk is the best-known PAM vendor, covering credential vaulting and rotation, session isolation and recording, endpoint privilege management, secrets management and cloud entitlements. Palo Alto Networks completed its roughly $25 billion acquisition of CyberArk in February 2026 and has said CyberArk will remain available as a standalone offering.

Key features

• Privileged credential vault and rotation
• Session isolation and recording
• Endpoint privilege management
• Secrets management for applications

Deployment: self-hosted or SaaS.
Pricing: on request.

Pros

• Deepest feature set
• Proven in high-security environments

Cons

• Complex and costly
• Roadmap changing after the acquisition

Not for: small organisations.

2. BeyondTrust

Best for: organisations that want PAM, endpoint privilege and secure remote access together.

Yes, BeyondTrust is a PAM solution, and a leading one. Its platform includes Password Safe for vaulting and sessions, Endpoint Privilege Management for removing local admin rights, and Privileged Remote Access for vendors and remote staff, with identity threat detection on top.

Key features

• Password and session management
• Endpoint privilege management
• Privileged remote access for vendors
• Identity security insights

Deployment: on-premise, appliance or cloud.
Pricing: on request.

Pros

• Broad coverage
• Strong remote access

Cons

• Multiple products to integrate
• Pricing not published

Not for: teams that only need a simple vault.

3. Delinea

Best for: organisations that want capable PAM that is quick to deploy.

Delinea (formed from Thycotic and Centrify) offers Secret Server for vaulting, privilege elevation for servers and endpoints, and a cloud-native platform. Its March 2026 acquisition of StrongDM adds just-in-time, runtime authorisation for infrastructure and AI agents.

Key features

• Secret Server vault
• Server and endpoint privilege elevation
• Cloud-native platform
• Just-in-time access through StrongDM

Deployment: on-premise or cloud.
Pricing: on request.

Pros

• Faster deployment than many rivals
• On-premise and cloud

Cons

• Platform integration ongoing
• Pricing not published

Not for: buyers who want a single-product vendor.

4. One Identity Safeguard

Best for: organisations that prefer appliance-based PAM.

One Identity Safeguard combines a hardened password vault and session management in physical or virtual appliances, with behaviour analytics. It integrates with One Identity’s governance and OneLogin access products.

Key features

• Hardened appliance vault
• Session recording and monitoring
• Behaviour analytics
• Integration with One Identity governance

Deployment: hardware or virtual appliance, or cloud.
Pricing: on request.

Pros

• Appliance model suits regulated sites
• Good analytics

Cons

• Smaller ecosystem than leaders
• Pricing not published

Not for: cloud-only organisations.

5. Keeper PAM

Best for: mid-size organisations that want PAM built on a password manager.

Keeper extends its enterprise password manager into PAM with a zero-knowledge vault, connection management for remote sessions, secrets management and just-in-time access, using gateways deployed in your network.

Key features

• Zero-knowledge vault
• Session connection management and recording
• Secrets manager
• Just-in-time access

Deployment: cloud, with gateways in your network.
Pricing: published as an add-on to Keeper Enterprise [VERIFY].

Pros

• Easy for users
• Combines passwords and PAM

Cons

• Less depth than enterprise PAM leaders
• Cloud control plane

Not for: air-gapped networks.

6. WALLIX

Best for: European organisations and operational technology (OT) environments.

WALLIX, a French company, offers PAM with session management, password management and access management, and has a strong presence in industrial and OT environments. It is often chosen for European data sovereignty.

Key features

• Session management and recording
• Password vaulting
• OT and industrial access
• On-premise deployment

Deployment: on-premise or cloud.
Pricing: on request.

Pros

• Strong in OT
• European vendor

Cons

• Smaller presence outside Europe
• Pricing not published

Not for: buyers seeking a large US-based ecosystem.

7. Segura (formerly senhasegura)

Best for: organisations that want full-lifecycle PAM at a mid-market price.

Segura, renamed from senhasegura, covers credential vaulting, session management, privilege elevation, secrets management for DevOps and certificate management in one platform.

Key features

• Credential and session management
• Privilege elevation
• DevOps secrets
• Certificate management

Deployment: on-premise or cloud.
Pricing: on request.

Pros

• Broad scope
• Competitive value

Cons

• Smaller brand recognition
• Pricing not published

Not for: buyers who want only a lightweight vault.

8. ManageEngine PAM360

Best for: enterprises that want broad PAM at a lower cost.

PAM360 provides vaulting, session recording, just-in-time privilege elevation, certificate and SSH key management, and integration with the wider ManageEngine suite, deployable on-premise.

Key features

• Credential vault and rotation
• Session recording
• Just-in-time elevation
• SSH key and certificate management

Deployment: on-premise or cloud.
Pricing: published on the ManageEngine website [VERIFY].

Pros

• Strong value
• On-premise option

Cons

• Interface is busy
• Less advanced analytics

Not for: buyers needing the most mature threat analytics.

9. Teleport

Best for: engineering teams that need secure access to servers, Kubernetes and databases.

Teleport provides certificate-based, identity-aware access to SSH servers, Kubernetes, databases and internal applications, with session recording and just-in-time access requests. A community edition is available alongside enterprise plans.

Key features

• Short-lived certificates instead of static keys
• Session recording
• Just-in-time access requests
• Kubernetes and database access

Deployment: self-hosted or cloud.
Pricing: community edition free; enterprise on request.

Pros

• Eliminates long-lived credentials
• Loved by engineers

Cons

• Infrastructure-focused, not full PAM
• Requires engineering adoption

Not for: traditional Windows-centric admin teams.

10. StrongDM (Delinea)

Best for: DevOps teams that need managed access to cloud infrastructure and databases.

StrongDM brokers access to databases, servers, Kubernetes and cloud resources through gateways, with fine-grained, continuous authorisation and full audit logs. Delinea completed its acquisition of StrongDM in March 2026.

Key features

• Proxy-based infrastructure access
• Continuous authorisation
• Query and session logging
• Just-in-time access

Deployment: cloud control plane with gateways in your network.
Pricing: on request [VERIFY standalone availability].

Pros

• Fine-grained control
• Strong audit trail

Cons

• Product future tied to Delinea
• Cloud control plane

Not for: air-gapped environments.

11. HashiCorp Boundary (IBM)

Best for: organisations that want identity-based access to dynamic infrastructure.

Boundary, now part of IBM after its HashiCorp acquisition, provides identity-based access to hosts and services without exposing networks, often paired with HashiCorp Vault for dynamic credentials. Enterprise editions add session recording.

Key features

• Identity-based access without VPNs
• Integration with Vault for dynamic credentials
• Session recording (enterprise)
• Self-managed or managed service

Deployment: self-managed or managed cloud.
Pricing: community and enterprise editions [VERIFY licensing].

Pros

• Strong for dynamic cloud environments
• Pairs with Vault

Cons

• Not a full PAM suite
• Licensing has changed over time

Not for: teams that want an all-in-one PAM platform.

12. Fudo Security

Best for: organisations that want agentless session monitoring with AI analytics.

Fudo provides privileged session monitoring and recording across protocols without agents, plus password management and AI-based behavioural analysis that can flag anomalous sessions.

Key features

• Agentless session monitoring
• AI behavioural analysis
• Password management
• On-premise appliance

Deployment: on-premise appliance or cloud.
Pricing: on request.

Pros

• Fast, agentless deployment
• Useful AI analytics

Cons

• Smaller vendor
• Pricing not published

Not for: organisations seeking a broad identity platform.

Free and open-source PAM tools

There is no fully featured free PAM suite, but several tools cover parts of the job:

Open-source tools can work well for engineering-led teams. Most regulated organisations still choose a commercial PAM product for support, compliance reporting and broad coverage.

PAM for on-premise, OT and air-gapped environments

Industrial networks, classified systems and critical infrastructure need PAM that runs entirely inside the perimeter, works with legacy protocols, and does not depend on a cloud control plane. Strong candidates are CyberArk (self-hosted), BeyondTrust (on-premise or appliance), One Identity Safeguard (appliances), WALLIX (strong in OT), Segura, ManageEngine PAM360 and Fudo. Plan how updates will be delivered offline, and make sure the vault itself has high availability, because losing it can lock administrators out.

Privileged access to collaboration servers: admin controls and audit trails

Administrators of collaboration platforms are privileged users. Depending on the platform, they can export conversations, reset accounts, change retention or read audit data. Yet collaboration admin accounts are often left outside PAM programmes.

Apply the same controls you use for servers:

• Vault the admin credentials and require check-out with approval.
• Record admin sessions on the collaboration servers.
• Separate duties so no single admin can change settings and delete the audit log.
• Review admin activity regularly.

This is easier when the collaboration platform runs on infrastructure you control. With Troop Messenger deployed on-premise, the servers can sit behind your PAM solution like any other critical system, and the platform’s own admin controls and audit trails give a second layer of evidence. Intelligence and defence teams often treat this as a baseline requirement; see our page for intelligence agencies.

How to choose a PAM solution

• Inventory privileged accounts: human admins, service accounts, keys, secrets and AI agents.
• Decide on deployment: self-hosted, appliance, SaaS or hybrid.
• Prioritise use cases: vaulting, session recording, endpoint privilege or infrastructure access.
• Check protocol coverage, including legacy and OT systems.
• Test user friction. If admins work around PAM, it fails.
• Confirm integrations with your directory, SIEM and ITSM.
• Consider vendor stability given recent acquisitions.
• Compare three-year cost, including implementation services.

Frequently asked questions

1. What is a PAM solution?

A PAM (privileged access management) solution secures and monitors accounts with elevated access, such as administrators, root accounts and service accounts. It stores and rotates their credentials in a vault, grants access only when needed, records privileged sessions and alerts on risky behaviour, reducing the impact of stolen credentials.

2. What are the top 5 PAM solutions?

Widely recognised leaders include CyberArk (now part of Palo Alto Networks), BeyondTrust, Delinea, One Identity Safeguard and WALLIX. Keeper PAM, Segura and ManageEngine PAM360 are strong mid-market options, while Teleport and StrongDM focus on infrastructure access for engineering teams.

3. Is BeyondTrust a PAM solution?

Yes. BeyondTrust is one of the leading PAM vendors. Its platform includes Password Safe for credential vaulting and session management, Endpoint Privilege Management for removing local admin rights, and Privileged Remote Access for secure vendor and remote access.

4. Which companies offer PAM solutions?

PAM vendors include CyberArk, BeyondTrust, Delinea, One Identity, Keeper Security, WALLIX, Segura, ManageEngine, Teleport, StrongDM (now Delinea), HashiCorp (now IBM) and Fudo Security. Microsoft offers privileged identity management for Entra roles, which covers part of the problem.

5. Is there a free PAM tool?

There is no free, fully featured PAM suite, but some tools cover parts of PAM at no cost. Teleport Community Edition, Apache Guacamole and JumpServer provide access gateways with session recording, and community editions of HashiCorp tools offer secrets management. Most regulated organisations still buy a commercial product.