# Privileged access management for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 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 small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/privileged-access-management/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** KeeperPAM leads with 39% of first choices; verdict contested. 57 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [KeeperPAM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/keeperpam/index.md) | 39% | 0% | 59 |
| 2 | [ManageEngine PAM360](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/manageengine-pam360/index.md) | 11% | 11% | 46 |
| 3 | [Securden Unified PAM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/securden-unified-pam/index.md) | 7% | 0% | 27 |
| 5 | [StrongDM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/strongdm/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 28 |
| 6 | [Delinea Secret Server](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/delinea-secret-server/index.md) | 5% | 23% | 47 |
| 7 | [JumpCloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/jumpcloud/index.md) | 5% | 5% | 20 |
| 8 | [Teleport](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/teleport/index.md) | 4% | 4% | 26 |
| 10 | [Devolutions Server](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/devolutions-server/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 13 |
| 83 | [One Identity Safeguard](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/one-identity-safeguard/index.md) | 0% | 80% | 10 |
| 84 | [BeyondTrust](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/beyondtrust/index.md) | 0% | 88% | 33 |
| 85 | [CyberArk Privileged Access Manager](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cyberark-privileged-access-manager/index.md) | 0% | 91% | 43 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 85 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: KeeperPAM; alternatives Delinea Secret Server, ManageEngine PAM360
- GPT-5.4 mini: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives BeyondTrust, Okta Privileged Access
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: KeeperPAM; alternatives Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management, Securden Unified PAM, Teleport
- Perplexity Sonar: KeeperPAM; alternatives JumpCloud, ManageEngine PAM360, StrongDM
- Grok 4.20: KeeperPAM; alternatives Delinea Secret Server, JumpCloud, ManageEngine PAM360
- Mistral Small: JumpCloud, KeeperPAM; alternatives ManageEngine PAM360, Secureframe
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: KeeperPAM; alternatives Delinea Secret Server, ManageEngine PAM360
- Llama 4 Maverick: KeeperPAM; alternatives ManageEngine PAM360, SYM, Secureframe
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: JumpCloud; alternatives Bitwarden, KeeperPAM, ManageEngine PAM360, StrongDM
- Kimi K2: Delinea Secret Server; alternatives ManageEngine PAM360, Securden Unified PAM, StrongDM, Teleport
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: KeeperPAM; alternatives Delinea Secret Server, Heimdal Privileged Access Management, JumpCloud, ManageEngine PAM360
- MiniMax M2.5: CyberFOX AutoElevate, StrongDM; alternatives KeeperPAM
- GPT-6 Luna: KeeperPAM; alternatives Delinea Secret Server, StrongDM
- Muse Glimmer 30B: ManageEngine PAM360; alternatives KeeperPAM, SYM, Smallstep SSH, StrongDM

## Sources the answers cite

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

- spotsaas.com: 42 answers, 66 citations
- startwithidentity.com: 38 answers, 46 citations
- keepersecurity.com: 32 answers, 46 citations
- securden.com: 32 answers, 35 citations
- aimultiple.com: 30 answers, 31 citations
- g2.com: 27 answers, 35 citations
- softwareadvice.com: 27 answers, 30 citations
- getapp.com: 20 answers, 23 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://spotsaas.com/list/privileged-access-management--pam--software/for-small-business (36 answers)
- https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-pam-for-smb (35 answers)
- https://aimultiple.com/pam-solutions (30 answers)
- https://securden.com/blog/cost-effective-pam-for-sme.html (27 answers)
- https://softwareadvice.com/privileged-access-management/small-business (24 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/privileged-access-management-pam/small-business (22 answers)
- https://getapp.com/security-software/privileged-access-management/org/small-business (19 answers)
- https://consilien.com/news/best-pam-solutions-2026 (16 answers)
- https://thectoclub.com/tools/best-privileged-access-management-solutions (16 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/identity/privileged-access-management/smb (15 answers)

## Warned against

- CyberArk Privileged Access Manager: 39 of 43 labels negative. "Legacy Enterprise PAM Suites (e.g., CyberArk Core PAS / On-Prem) ... Why to avoid/be cautious: CyberArk and One Identity are gold standards for Fortune 500 companies, but they are notoriously complex and resource-intensive." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- BeyondTrust: 29 of 33 labels negative. "Pricing is not public and is often prohibitive for smaller organizations. The extensive feature set can overwhelm teams with limited resources." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Delinea Secret Server: 11 of 47 labels negative. "It can be pricey and may require significant customization; small businesses report it as potentially over-engineered" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- One Identity Safeguard: 8 of 10 labels negative. "CyberArk and One Identity are gold standards for Fortune 500 companies, but they are notoriously complex and resource-intensive." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
New leader: ManageEngine PAM360 (33%) to KeeperPAM (39%). Margin 28 points, beyond the floor.

- ManageEngine PAM360: 33% to 11%, −22. Cleared the floor by 11 points · rank 1 → 2 of 85.
- KeeperPAM: 29% to 39%, +10. Inside the floor by 1 point · rank 2 → 1 of 85.
- StrongDM: 0% to 5%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 18 → 5 of 85.
- Securden Unified PAM: 4% to 7%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 5 → 3 of 85.
- Teleport: 6% to 4%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 8 of 85.
- Devolutions Server: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 22 → 10 of 85.
- Delinea Secret Server: 6% to 5%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 3 → 6 of 85.
- JumpCloud: 4% to 5%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 6 → 7 of 85.
- miniOrange PAM: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 17 → 20 of 85.
- Okta Privileged Access: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 43 → 33 of 85.
- One Identity Safeguard: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 72 → 83 of 85.
- BeyondTrust: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 74 → 84 of 85.

## Record

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