# Privileged access management: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "privileged access management platform" and as "PAM tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/privileged-access-management/2026-09

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/privileged-access-management/index.md

**Standing:** Delinea Secret Server leads with 30% of first choices; verdict contested. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Delinea Secret Server](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/delinea-secret-server/index.md) | 30% | 17% | 53 |
| 2 | [ManageEngine PAM360](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/manageengine-pam360/index.md) | 21% | 13% | 38 |
| 3 | [Securden Unified PAM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/securden-unified-pam/index.md) | 15% | 11% | 18 |
| 4 | [KeeperPAM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/keeperpam/index.md) | 11% | 9% | 23 |
| 6 | [Teleport](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/teleport/index.md) | 4% | 9% | 22 |
| 7 | [BeyondTrust](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/beyondtrust/index.md) | 4% | 41% | 44 |
| 8 | [miniOrange PAM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/miniorange-pam/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 15 |
| 12 | [Netwrix Privilege Secure](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/netwrix-privilege-secure/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 13 |
| 13 | [StrongDM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/strongdm/index.md) | 0% | 6% | 17 |
| 14 | [HashiCorp Vault](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/hashicorp-vault/index.md) | 0% | 18% | 11 |
| 32 | [One Identity Safeguard](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/one-identity-safeguard/index.md) | 0% | 38% | 13 |
| 66 | [CyberArk Privileged Access Manager](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cyberark-privileged-access-manager/index.md) | 0% | 64% | 53 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 66 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives BeyondTrust, ManageEngine PAM360, miniOrange PAM
- GPT-5.4 mini: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives BeyondTrust, ManageEngine PAM360
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Securden Unified PAM; alternatives Delinea Secret Server, KeeperPAM, StrongDM
- Perplexity Sonar: Securden Unified PAM; alternatives ManageEngine PAM360
- Grok 4.20: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives ManageEngine PAM360, Netwrix Privilege Secure, Securden Unified PAM, miniOrange PAM
- Mistral Small: ManageEngine PAM360, Securden Unified PAM; alternatives JumpCloud, miniOrange PAM
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives Britive, ManageEngine PAM360, Securden Unified PAM
- Llama 4 Maverick: Securden Unified PAM
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Securden Unified PAM; alternatives Delinea Secret Server, ManageEngine PAM360, Netwrix Privilege Secure
- Kimi K2: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives ManageEngine PAM360, Netwrix Privilege Secure
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives BeyondTrust, ManageEngine PAM360, miniOrange PAM
- MiniMax M2.5: Securden Unified PAM; alternatives ManageEngine PAM360, Netwrix Privilege Secure, Thycotic+Centrify, miniOrange PAM

## Sources the answers cite

64 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- netwrix.com: 32 answers, 38 citations
- oneidentity.com: 27 answers, 27 citations
- startwithidentity.com: 26 answers, 36 citations
- aimultiple.com: 23 answers, 26 citations
- heimdalsecurity.com: 21 answers, 24 citations
- expertinsights.com: 21 answers, 21 citations
- gartner.com: 19 answers, 31 citations
- delinea.com: 16 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://netwrix.com/en/resources/blog/pam-solutions (31 answers)
- https://oneidentity.com/learn/top-5-privileged-access-management-tools-in-2025.aspx (25 answers)
- https://aimultiple.com/pam-solutions (23 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/identity-and-access-management/the-top-privileged-access-management-pam-solutions (19 answers)
- https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/privileged-access-management-pam-software-solutions (19 answers)
- https://cybervendorguide.com/guides/privileged-access-management (15 answers)
- https://mitigata.com/blog/best-pam-tools (15 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/privileged-access-management (13 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-pam-software (13 answers)
- https://ecommercefastlane.com/best-privileged-access-management-platform (12 answers)

## Warned against

- CyberArk Privileged Access Manager: 34 of 53 labels negative. "What to Avoid ... CyberArk | Highest cost, requires dedicated PAM team, lengthy implementation" (Kimi K2, paraphrase prompt)
- BeyondTrust: 18 of 44 labels negative. "High-Risk Platforms to Avoid or Be Extremely Cautious About ... BeyondTrust (Critical Concern - February 2026)" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- Delinea Secret Server: 9 of 53 labels negative. "Avoid pricier ones like Delinea/StrongDM ($70+/user/mo) unless scaling fast." (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- ManageEngine PAM360: 5 of 38 labels negative. "Do not adopt Broadcom/Symantec or ManageEngine PAM360 without a patching SLA and network isolation." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, September 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.