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SWOT PAM vs CyberArk: an evaluation guide

If CyberArk is on your shortlist, use this guide to compare it with SWOT PAM on the questions that decide a privileged access project. For each one we give SWOT PAM’s answer from its documentation, and the question to put to CyberArk.

These guides compare documented capabilities; they are not benchmarks, and say nothing about another vendor that its own material does not. Product names are trademarks of their owners.

The evaluation guide

  1. Agents on targets

    SWOT PAM

    None. All inspection happens at the proxy for SSH, RDP, PostgreSQL and Oracle Net.

    Ask CyberArk

    Which components or agents must be installed on servers, desktops or endpoints for the features we need?

  2. Just-in-time access

    SWOT PAM

    Time-bound grants with ticket, justification and auto-expiry; approvals in Slack, Teams or email.

    Ask CyberArk

    How are temporary privileges requested, approved and removed, and is removal automatic?

  3. Live enforcement

    SWOT PAM

    PAMGuard scores the session: 40 watched, 70 input frozen until an admin decides, 150 ended; blocking rules drop commands before they run.

    Ask CyberArk

    Can a risky session be frozen or ended automatically while it is live, or only reviewed afterwards?

  4. Windows desktop actions

    SWOT PAM

    Agentless analysis of RDP keystrokes, clipboard, mouse-driven actions and window titles.

    Ask CyberArk

    What is captured from a graphical desktop session, and does it need an agent on the target?

  5. Credential vault and rotation

    SWOT PAM

    AES-256-GCM vault with check-out and check-in, scheduled rotation, rotation after use and dual approval.

    Ask CyberArk

    How are shared credentials stored, checked out and rotated?

  6. Tamper-evident audit

    SWOT PAM

    SHA-256 hash chain over events, insert-only audit tables, a hash per recording, Object Lock storage.

    Ask CyberArk

    How can an auditor verify that recordings and logs have not been changed?

  7. Plain-language requests

    SWOT PAM

    An AI access assistant raises requests from plain English, checked against policy.

    Ask CyberArk

    Can users request access in natural language, and how is the request validated?

  8. Deployment

    SWOT PAM

    Self-hosted: cloud, on-premises or hybrid, on Docker Compose or Kubernetes, including air-gapped sites.

    Ask CyberArk

    Which deployment options are available, and what infrastructure does each need?

  9. Identity providers

    SWOT PAM

    SAML 2.0 and OIDC with Entra ID, Okta, Google, OneLogin and PingFederate; TOTP MFA; LDAP and AD sync.

    Ask CyberArk

    Which identity providers and MFA methods are supported in the edition we would buy?

Questions

Is SWOT PAM an alternative to CyberArk?
SWOT PAM covers the same core privileged access management needs: a credential vault with rotation, just-in-time access and recorded privileged sessions. It also enforces policy inside live SSH, RDP and database sessions without agents on the targets. Compare both against your own requirements.
Does this page benchmark the two products?
No. Rudratic has not published a tested benchmark, so this guide compares documented capabilities and gives you the questions to settle the rest in a proof of concept.
How do we run a fair comparison?
Choose the systems, identity provider and workflows that matter most, then test both products against the same scenarios: a just-in-time request, a risky command, a Windows desktop action and an audit export.

Put SWOT PAM to the test

Bring your checklist. We will run the same scenarios on your systems in a proof of concept.

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