# Best Privileged Access Management (PAM) Software - Page 7 *By [Brandon Summers-Miller](https://research.g2.com/insights/author/brandon-summers-miller)* Privileged access management (PAM) software helps companies protect the “keys to their IT kingdom" by ensuring the credentials of their privileged accounts, such as admin accounts on critical company assets, are only accessed by those with proper permissions to do so. PAM software helps prevent external hacking or internal misuse of important company assets by employing “least privilege access" policies, wherein users receive the absolute minimum access needed to perform their duties. PAM software allows companies to secure their privileged credentials in a centralized, secure vault (a password safe). Additionally, these solutions control who has access to, and therefore who can use, the privileged credentials based on access policies (including user permissions and specific timeframes), often recording or logging user activity while using the credentials. When a user checks out a credential, it stops other users from opening a concurrent session; this means only one person can access the privileged account at one time. PAM solutions are used in conjunction with identity and access management (IAM) software, which provides authentication of _general_ user identities; PAM software, however, provides more granular control and visibility of _administrative or privileged user_ identities. While there is some similarity between the secure vaults within both [password managers](https://www.g2.com/categories/password-manager) and PAM tools, the two software types are quite different. Password managers are designed to protect everyday users’ passwords, while PAM software protects a company’s super users, shared company accounts, and service accounts by offering centralized control, visability, and monitoring of the use of those privileged accounts. To qualify for inclusion in the Privileged Access Management category, a product must: - Allow administrators to create and provision privileged access accounts - Offer a secure vault to store privileged credentials or provision users with just-in-time access - Monitor, record, and log user actions while using privileged accounts ## How Many Privileged Access Management (PAM) Software Products Does G2 Track? **Total Products under this Category:** 155 ### Category Stats (May 2026) - **Average Rating**: 4.49/5 - **New Reviews This Quarter**: 46 - **Buyer Segments**: Mid-Market 53% │ Enterprise 32% │ Small-Business 15% - **Top Trending Product**: Apono (+0.119) *Last updated: May 18, 2026* ## How Does G2 Rank Privileged Access Management (PAM) Software Products? **Why You Can Trust G2's Software Rankings:** - 30 Analysts and Data Experts - 11,900+ Authentic Reviews - 155+ Products - Unbiased Rankings G2's software rankings are built on verified user reviews, rigorous moderation, and a consistent research methodology maintained by a team of analysts and data experts. Each product is measured using the same transparent criteria, with no paid placement or vendor influence. While reviews reflect real user experiences, which can be subjective, they offer valuable insight into how software performs in the hands of professionals. Together, these inputs power the G2 Score, a standardized way to compare tools within every category. ## Which Privileged Access Management (PAM) Software Is Best for Your Use Case? - **Leader:** [JumpCloud](https://www.g2.com/products/jumpcloud/reviews) - **Highest Performer:** [Segura 360° Privilege Platform](https://www.g2.com/products/segura-360-privilege-platform/reviews) - **Easiest to Use:** [JumpCloud](https://www.g2.com/products/jumpcloud/reviews) - **Top Trending:** [Foxpass by Splashtop](https://www.g2.com/products/foxpass-by-splashtop/reviews) - **Best Free Software:** [JumpCloud](https://www.g2.com/products/jumpcloud/reviews) --- **Sponsored** ### BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access Privileged Remote Access (PRA) eliminates the risks inherent in remote access solutions dependent on VPNs and RDP. PRA delivers seamless, just-in-time access through encrypted tunnels to IT and OT systems. Each connection is brokered by the BeyondTrust platform, ensuring a zero-trust approach that grants the least amount of privilege necessary. By providing least-privileged access on demand, you can streamline operations, while reducing your attack surface and administrative overhead. Get a Free Trial: https://www.beyondtrust.com/privileged-remote-access-trial Watch a Demo: https://www.beyondtrust.com/demos Learn more about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access: https://www.beyondtrust.com/products/privileged-remote-access [Visit website](https://www.g2.com/external_clickthroughs/record?secure%5Bad_program%5D=paid_promo&secure%5Bad_slot%5D=category_product_list&secure%5Bcategory_id%5D=1252&secure%5Bmedium%5D=sponsored&secure%5Bprioritized%5D=false&secure%5Bproduct_id%5D=15211&secure%5Bresource_id%5D=1252&secure%5Bresource_type%5D=Category&secure%5Bsource_type%5D=category_page&secure%5Bsource_url%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.g2.com%2Fcategories%2Fprivileged-access-management-pam&secure%5Btoken%5D=179830e2454e11279bef2ec374b379df23b8015e13afa9b662f33940d691ac9f&secure%5Burl%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.beyondtrust.com%2Fproducts%2Fprivileged-remote-access&secure%5Burl_type%5D=paid_promos) --- ## What Are the Top-Rated Privileged Access Management (PAM) Software Products in 2026? ### 1. [Xage Security](https://www.g2.com/products/xage-security/reviews) The Xage Security Suite delivers comprehensive security for industrial operations, protecting every element, new or legacy, and every interaction: human-to-machine, machine-to-machine, or edge-to-cloud. **Average Rating:** 4.0/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 1 **Who Is the Company Behind Xage Security?** - **Seller:** [Xage Security](https://www.g2.com/sellers/xage-security) - **Year Founded:** 2017 - **HQ Location:** Palo Alto, California, United States - **Twitter:** @xageinc (1,979 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/xage-security/ (100 employees on LinkedIn®) **Who Uses This Product?** - **Company Size:** 100% Enterprise ### 2. [Xton Access Manager](https://www.g2.com/products/xton-technologies-xton-access-manager/reviews) XTAM is a privileged account management software which includes Web based password vault with password rotation, discovery, workflow controlled access, high trust login, session and keystroke recording with instant playback, full audit trail, elevated script automation, alerting and extensive analytics. XTAM integrates with AD/LDAP, SIEM, multi factor authentication providers and ticketing systems. XTAM is an agentless, scalable solution for on premises, hybrid and cloud deployments. Free download and Free Test Drive online. https://www.xtontech.com/try-it-now/ **Who Is the Company Behind Xton Access Manager?** - **Seller:** [Xton Technologies](https://www.g2.com/sellers/xton-technologies) - **HQ Location:** Waltham, US - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/imprivata/ (1,207 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 3. [Zecurion PAM](https://www.g2.com/products/zecurion-pam/reviews) Zecurion PAM records sessions of privileged users as video. Sessions can be watched right in the console **Who Is the Company Behind Zecurion PAM?** - **Seller:** [Zecurion](https://www.g2.com/sellers/zecurion) - **Year Founded:** 2001 - **HQ Location:** New York, US - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/zecurion-inc-the-data-protection-company (42 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 4. [Zero Networks Identity Segment](https://www.g2.com/products/zero-networks-identity-segment/reviews) Zero Identity Segment - Automated, agentless, and MFA-powered, Zero Identity Segment revokes logon rights for all admin and service accounts and then provisions them based on least privilege. Admin accounts are restricted to pre-approved assets and access is granted only after MFA. Service accounts are automatically restricted to necessary assets and logon types. This prevents identity attacks and lateral movement even if credentials are stolen. **Who Is the Company Behind Zero Networks Identity Segment?** - **Seller:** [Zero Networks](https://www.g2.com/sellers/zero-networks) - **Year Founded:** 2019 - **HQ Location:** N/A - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/zeronetworks (141 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 5. [Zscaler Privileged Remote Access](https://www.g2.com/products/zscaler-privileged-remote-access/reviews) Zscaler Privileged Remote Access enables fast, direct, and secure access to operational technology (OT), Information Technology (IT), and industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) assets in field locations, the factory floor, or anywhere without relying on VPNs or agents. Using the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ platform, plant operators can enable remote employees, contractors, and third-party technicians to remotely maintain critical OT systems with role-based, just-in-time access. PRA enables clientless browser-based access for employees, vendors and contractors with complete governance controls and sandboxed file transfers, eliminating the risk of malware infections from unmanaged endpoints. Key Benefits: • Boost uptime and productivity: Minimize downtime with secure, fast, reliable access for technicians and vendors, with governance controls. • Ensure people and plant safety: Isolate OT systems, making them invisible to attackers, and preventing threats from moving laterally from IT assets. • Reduce complexity: Quickly and easily provision or remove access without firewalls, VPNs, or software agents, avoiding costly downtime. **Who Is the Company Behind Zscaler Privileged Remote Access?** - **Seller:** [Zscaler](https://www.g2.com/sellers/zscaler) - **Year Founded:** 2008 - **HQ Location:** San Jose, California - **Twitter:** @zscaler (17,556 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/234625/ (8,743 employees on LinkedIn®) - **Ownership:** NASDAQ:ZS ## What Is Privileged Access Management (PAM) Software? [Identity Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/identity-management) ## What Software Categories Are Similar to Privileged Access Management (PAM) Software? - [User Provisioning and Governance Tools](https://www.g2.com/categories/user-provisioning-and-governance-tools) - [Identity and Access Management (IAM) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/identity-and-access-management-iam) - [Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/multi-factor-authentication-mfa) --- ## How Do You Choose the Right Privileged Access Management (PAM) Software? ### What You Should Know About Privileged Access Management Software ### What is Privileged Access Management Software? When managing user accounts, companies should set a clear divide between customer-generated accounts and internal ones. The benefit of doing this is twofold. First, customer accounts and internal users have vastly different needs and requirements for your business. Second, compartmentalization helps prevent cross-contamination. More simply, if something goes wrong in your customer account management system, it won’t affect your internal account management system or vice versa. Thankfully, different management systems exist specifically to focus on customer account management and internal accounts. While [customer identity and access management (CIAM) software](http://g2.com/categories/customer-identity-and-access-management) is built for handling your business’ customer-facing accounts and account security, privileged access management (PAM) software focuses on managing and securing your business’ own internal user accounts. PAM solutions also differ in a drastic way from CIAM solutions by dealing with access to critical systems (e.g., databases, servers, domains, and networks) as well as handling IT admin accounts. Key Benefits of Privileged Access Management Software - Manage employee access privileges to key business systems - Centralize storage of employee information - Monitor employee behavior, web-based threats, and unapproved internal actors - Customize access privileges for users - Monitor employee account behavior ### Why Use Privileged Access Management Software? There are many security benefits to PAM solutions. Older methods of key sharing and word-of-mouth communication are not sufficient in protecting information and business-critical systems. These tools will help security professionals and administrative personnel better track who in their organization has access to what and may document their actions or behaviors within privileged systems or applications. **Security —** Privileged access management tools centralize the storage credentials and administration of access. Without IAM tools, this data can be more vulnerable to threats if it is not properly safeguarded. IAM tools are fortified with authentication features to limit viewing to only those administrators with granted access. These tools will also provide alerts for potential threats or users who have accessed sensitive data without permission. **Administration —** Administrators can create databases, document user account histories, and view approved privileges, all of which helps to simplify the onboarding process. Administrators can quickly create new accounts and approve applications for new users to access. Some products even offer templates to have ready when adding employees to specific roles. The same goes for those no longer employed; administrators can quickly restrict their privileges or delete their account. **Cloud application management —** Many cloud applications have the ability to connect dozens of applications, user credentials, and access privileges. Large, enterprise-sized companies will benefit greatly from having a cloud-based database that securely contains this sensitive data. Many products come with prebuilt integrations for hundreds of applications, while others may require customization or simply offer a limited variety of applications. ### Who Uses Privileged Access Management Software? **Administrative professionals —** Administrators—typically security administrators—will most often be the ones using privileged access management solutions. Other system admins may find use in PAM solutions as well, since certain roles may need more or less access to different business systems, pending their role. **Service providers —** Third-party service providers will often manage cloud services directly and may need to integrate with other business systems or networks. Privileged access management tools allow for role-based access control to limit what information and systems can be accessed by third-party services providers or other external entities requiring access to sensitive information or business-critical systems. **Human resources —** HR professionals may use privileged access management solutions to delegate access to internal employees or new hires during the onboarding process. Many PAM tools integrate with directory services and identity servers and other identity management solutions to integrate identity information and simplify privileged account management. These accounts may be set up for access to applications, cloud services, databases, or any other IT system requiring privileged access. **Internal employees —** These are the end users accessing applications and networks by the allowance of administrative or security staff. These individuals may only interact with the PAM solution in that they use the credentials to access information. But some tools may provide a dashboard or access portal with information about what applications, networks, services, and databases they have been approved to access. ### Privileged Access Management Software Features These are a few common features of privileged access management software. **Local access —** Local access functionality facilitates administrative access to on-premises systems, legacy applications, web-based applications, network resources, and servers. **Multi-factor authentication (MFA) —** MFA or 2FA functionality adds a supplementary level of security for systems by requiring SMS codes, security questions, or other verification methods before granting access. **Bulk changes —** Bulk change functionality can simplify the administration, federation, and identity governance of individuals in large amounts through batch update capabilities. **Self-service access requests —** Self-service features allow users to request access to applications, networks, or databases, automatically provisioning individuals if they meet policy requirements. **Partner access —** Local access functionality facilitates administrative access to users who are not company employees but are either within the company’s local area network or outside the network. **BYOD support —** Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) features enable users to use their own device(s) to access company applications. **Bidirectional profile synchronization —** Synchronization keeps all profile attributes consistent across applications whether the change is made in the provisioning system or the application. **Policy management —** This feature enables administrators to create access requirements and standards while applying policy controls throughout request and provisioning processes. **Role management —** Role management features help administrators establish roles that provide authentication and access rights for each user in the role. **Approval workflows —** Process and approval workflows allow business stakeholders and administrators to approve or reject requested changes to access via a defined workflow. **Compliance audits —** Auditing features allow for standards and policies to be established while proactively auditing access rights against predefined requirements. **Smart provisioning —** Self-learning or automated provisioning helps to reduce the amount of manual work associated with creating access rights, as well as managing changes and removals for on-premises and cloud-based applications. ### Trends Related to Privileged Access Management Software **Zero trust security —** [Zero trust networking](https://www.g2.com/categories/zero-trust-networking) is a method of network security and identity management which goes against traditional network security processes. Instead of allowing access to users who provide the proper credentials, access is always restricted to anyone accessing the network unless they have been thoroughly verified. This means individuals who work within the network may be prompted for verification multiple times, depending on their location, behaviors, or hardware devices. The network perimeter is outlined while every individual working within it is analyzed on a number of levels. These variables typically include historical behaviors, locations, devices, and privileges. Those documented factors or actions are compared against the current behavior, location, and individual using the network. If risk surpasses a designated threshold, network access is cut off until the individual validates their identity and does not violate permissions or standards set by the administrators. **Compliance —** Privacy regulations and international compliance requirements and standards are becoming more common across every industry. The most well known of which is the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Compliance audit functionality is an increasingly standard feature for PAM tools as a result of new regulations. These standards require companies to abide by a number of security standards in order to ensure sensitive information of customers and visitors remains protected from public visibility and access. These regulations have forced businesses to adapt by changing their existing data management, storage, and governance processes. This continued trend has impacted the identity management world as much as any other industry because of the amount of sensitive information stored in identity management systems and the role identity management plays in granting individuals access to sensitive information. ### Potential Issues with Privileged Access Management Software **Security —** Security is always a concern, especially with technologies specialized in protecting sensitive information. Individuals should be sure the administration of PAM software is controlled only by trusted individuals. Integrations with cloud services should be secure, and businesses should read the fine print on service provider contracts to ensure their security standards are sufficient. Without proper security protocols in place, systems may be vulnerable to data breaches, privilege escalation, and dozens of other web-based threats from both internal and external actors. **Compliance requirements —** New compliance requirements are emerging across the globe. As this occurs, it’s important to remain adaptable in planning to secure, store, and deliver sensitive information in compliance with international regulations. Compliance management features will help to audit identity stores and servers to ensure each person is properly documented and their sensitive data is stored securely. Compliance auditing tools are also great add-ons for ad-hoc compliance checks and can be helpful in general to ensure a well-rounded security system is in place. **Device compatibility —** End-user devices pose potential security risks if they are not compatible with identity management tools. They also pose a threat if they are not properly updated, patched, and protected in general. Device compatibility, support for servers, virtual environments and any other system requiring privileged access should be documented and integrated with systems to ensure every device is properly protected.