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

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "privileged access management platform" and as "PAM tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/privileged-access-management/2026-10

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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 37% of first choices; verdict contested. 54 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) | 37% | 5% | 62 |
| 2 | [ManageEngine PAM360](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/manageengine-pam360/index.md) | 24% | 13% | 46 |
| 3 | [KeeperPAM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/keeperpam/index.md) | 9% | 3% | 30 |
| 4 | [BeyondTrust](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/beyondtrust/index.md) | 6% | 35% | 52 |
| 5 | [miniOrange PAM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/miniorange-pam/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 13 |
| 7 | [Securden Unified PAM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/securden-unified-pam/index.md) | 2% | 18% | 17 |
| 8 | [Teleport](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/teleport/index.md) | 2% | 7% | 14 |
| 9 | [HashiCorp Vault](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/hashicorp-vault/index.md) | 2% | 18% | 22 |
| 16 | [Netwrix Privilege Secure](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/netwrix-privilege-secure/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 19 | [One Identity Safeguard](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/one-identity-safeguard/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 12 |
| 72 | [CyberArk Privileged Access Manager](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cyberark-privileged-access-manager/index.md) | 0% | 60% | 57 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 72 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
- GPT-5.4 mini: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives BeyondTrust, CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, ManageEngine PAM360
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: KeeperPAM; alternatives Delinea Secret Server, Securden Unified PAM, StrongDM, Teleport
- Perplexity Sonar: miniOrange PAM; alternatives Delinea Secret Server, ManageEngine PAM360, Netwrix Privilege Secure
- Grok 4.20: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives BeyondTrust, ManageEngine PAM360, Netwrix Privilege Secure, miniOrange PAM
- Mistral Small: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives BeyondTrust, CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, Netwrix Privilege Secure, miniOrange PAM
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives BeyondTrust, ManageEngine PAM360
- Llama 4 Maverick: miniOrange PAM; alternatives Heimdal Privileged Access Management, OneLogin, Securden Unified PAM
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: BeyondTrust; alternatives Delinea Secret Server, ManageEngine PAM360
- Kimi K2: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives ManageEngine PAM360
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Delinea Secret Server, ManageEngine PAM360; alternatives KeeperPAM, Securden Unified PAM
- MiniMax M2.5: Delinea (formerly Thycotic) – Secret Server; alternatives BeyondTrust – PowerBroker, Microsoft Azure AD Privileged Identity Management
- GPT-6 Luna: KeeperPAM; alternatives BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access, Delinea Secret Server, ManageEngine PAM360
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives Britive, ManageEngine PAM360, Netwrix Privilege Secure, Securden Unified PAM

## Sources the answers cite

74 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- startwithidentity.com: 32 answers, 45 citations
- netwrix.com: 31 answers, 40 citations
- aimultiple.com: 29 answers, 33 citations
- heimdalsecurity.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 22 answers, 31 citations
- delinea.com: 21 answers, 31 citations
- expertinsights.com: 21 answers, 21 citations
- thectoclub.com: 21 answers, 21 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://netwrix.com/en/resources/blog/pam-solutions (29 answers)
- https://aimultiple.com/pam-solutions (28 answers)
- https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/privileged-access-management-pam-software-solutions (21 answers)
- https://thectoclub.com/tools/best-privileged-access-management-solutions (21 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/identity-and-access-management/the-top-privileged-access-management-pam-solutions (19 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-pam-software (19 answers)
- https://startwithidentity.com/articles/top-10-pam-solutions-2026 (15 answers)
- https://oneidentity.com/learn/top-5-privileged-access-management-tools-in-2025.aspx (14 answers)
- https://ciopages.com/buyer-guides/privileged-access-management (13 answers)
- https://mitigata.com/blog/best-pam-tools (13 answers)

## Warned against

- CyberArk Privileged Access Manager: 34 of 57 labels negative. "What to Avoid: CyberArk ... overkill (and overpriced) for most mid-sized B2B companies" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, paraphrase prompt)
- BeyondTrust: 18 of 52 labels negative. "Audit any BeyondTrust deployments for the known CVEs and consider alternatives" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- ManageEngine PAM360: 6 of 46 labels negative. "ManageEngine PAM360 may be a better fit for larger requirements, but not a low-budget pick: its published subscription starts at $7,995/year." (GPT-6 Luna, budget prompt)
- HashiCorp Vault: 4 of 22 labels negative. "The main platforms to avoid or scrutinize closely are: - Secrets-only tools such as HashiCorp Vault when you need full PAM" (Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Delinea Secret Server at 35%.

- Securden Unified PAM: 15% to 2%, −13. Cleared the floor by 2 points · rank 3 → 7 of 67.
- Delinea Secret Server: 30% to 35%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 1 of 67, unchanged.
- ManageEngine PAM360: 21% to 25%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 2 of 67, unchanged.
- KeeperPAM: 11% to 8%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 4 → 3 of 67.
- BeyondTrust: 4% to 6%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 4 of 67.
- miniOrange PAM: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 5 of 67.
- Teleport: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 → 8 of 67.
- HashiCorp Vault: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 14 → 9 of 67.
- Netwrix Privilege Secure: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 → 15 of 67.
- StrongDM: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 16 of 67.
- One Identity Safeguard: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 32 → 21 of 67.
- CyberArk Privileged Access Manager: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 66 → 67 of 67.

## Record

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