Is CyberArk still an independent company?

No. Palo Alto Networks completed its acquisition of CyberArk on 11 February 2026. CyberArk continues as a standalone platform inside Palo Alto Networks, and existing contracts and roadmaps carry forward, but buyers should factor in platform consolidation pressure and ask directly how the product is positioned against Palo Alto's wider security portfolio over the term of any multi-year agreement.

Is Delinea good enough to replace CyberArk?

For most mid-market privileged estates, yes. Delinea covers credential vaulting, session brokering and recording, and cloud privilege with materially less operational overhead. Where CyberArk still pulls ahead is the largest and most complex environments: very deep vaulting requirements, extensive legacy and OT coverage, and regulatory settings where its certification breadth and auditor familiarity carry weight.

Which is cheaper, CyberArk or Delinea?

Both are quote-based, so neither publishes a comparable number, but Delinea is generally positioned as better value with lower operational cost. The larger cost difference is usually not licensing: CyberArk deployments typically carry a significant implementation services line and ongoing administration effort that mid-market teams underestimate.

What should we do first in a PAM program?

Reduce standing privilege before you buy anything. Counting the accounts that hold permanent elevated rights, and moving the reducible ones to just-in-time elevation, changes what you need from either product and shrinks the deployment. A vault protecting 400 permanent admin accounts is a smaller win than removing 300 of them.

CyberArk vs Delinea

CapabilityCyberArkDelinea

Overall

4.7

4.3

Authentication: 4.5; 4.0
SSO & Federation: 4.0; 3.5
Authorization: 4.5; 4.0
Lifecycle & Provisioning: 4.0; 3.5
MFA & Passwordless: 4.0; 3.5
Governance & Audit: 5.0; 4.0
Developer Experience: 3.0; 3.0
Deployment Flexibility: 4.5; 4.0
Pricing Transparency: 2.5; 3.0
Support & Ecosystem: 4.5; 4.0

Scored 0–5 against a published rubric. Bold marks the higher score. Independent analysis, no vendor sponsorship.

The honest comparison

CyberArk is the reference implementation of enterprise privileged access management, scoring 4.7 in our rubric, and it is no longer independent: Palo Alto Networks closed its acquisition on 11 February 2026 and CyberArk continues as a standalone platform inside that portfolio. Delinea, formed in 2021 from the Thycotic and Centrify merger and owned by TPG, scores 4.3 and competes by covering most of the same ground with less weight.

The feature gap is real but narrower than the price and effort gap. Both vault credentials, broker and record sessions, and manage cloud privilege. CyberArk goes deeper on the hardest cases: sprawling legacy estates, operational technology, and regulatory environments where its certification breadth and auditor familiarity are worth something on their own. Delinea is quicker to stand up and cheaper to run, and it pairs privileged access with workforce password management in a way that suits organizations without a separate password manager.

The decision that actually matters is upstream of both. A PAM program that vaults hundreds of permanent admin accounts is protecting a problem it could have removed. Sizing zero standing privilege first changes which product you need.

When CyberArk wins

Fortune 1000 estates with a global privileged footprint across cloud, on-premises, and OT
Deepest coverage across vaulting, session management, endpoint privilege, and secrets
Regulatory environments where CyberArk's certifications and auditor recognition reduce friction
You are already a Palo Alto Networks estate and platform consolidation is the strategy

When Delinea wins

Mid-market privileged access where CyberArk is oversized for the estate
Faster time to value with materially lower operational overhead
Workforce password management unified with privileged access, avoiding a second vendor
Cost-sensitive programs where the implementation services line is the deciding factor

Pricing

Both are quote-based and modular, so list comparisons are not available. CyberArk prices across vaulting, session management, secrets, and cloud privilege, with Privilege Cloud lowering operational cost against self-hosting; budget for implementation services as a real line item, not a rounding error. Delinea prices the same modules across SaaS and self-hosted and is generally positioned as better value with lower running cost.

Model total cost including administrator time, not just licences, with the TCO calculator. For most mid-market buyers the operational difference outweighs the licence difference.

Verdict

For the largest and most regulated privileged estates, CyberArk, with the caveat that you are now buying into Palo Alto Networks' portfolio strategy and should ask how that plays out over your contract term. For mid-market organizations that want privileged access done properly without enterprise overhead, Delinea. Compare against the rest of the field in best PAM tools and best PAM for SMB, and see CyberArk vs BeyondTrust and Wallix vs Delinea. The decision framework is in how to choose a PAM solution.

Frequently asked questions

Is CyberArk still an independent company?: No. Palo Alto Networks completed its acquisition of CyberArk on 11 February 2026. CyberArk continues as a standalone platform inside Palo Alto Networks, and existing contracts and roadmaps carry forward, but buyers should factor in platform consolidation pressure and ask directly how the product is positioned against Palo Alto's wider security portfolio over the term of any multi-year agreement.
Is Delinea good enough to replace CyberArk?: For most mid-market privileged estates, yes. Delinea covers credential vaulting, session brokering and recording, and cloud privilege with materially less operational overhead. Where CyberArk still pulls ahead is the largest and most complex environments: very deep vaulting requirements, extensive legacy and OT coverage, and regulatory settings where its certification breadth and auditor familiarity carry weight.
Which is cheaper, CyberArk or Delinea?: Both are quote-based, so neither publishes a comparable number, but Delinea is generally positioned as better value with lower operational cost. The larger cost difference is usually not licensing: CyberArk deployments typically carry a significant implementation services line and ongoing administration effort that mid-market teams underestimate.
What should we do first in a PAM program?: Reduce standing privilege before you buy anything. Counting the accounts that hold permanent elevated rights, and moving the reducible ones to just-in-time elevation, changes what you need from either product and shrinks the deployment. A vault protecting 400 permanent admin accounts is a smaller win than removing 300 of them.

Last updated 2026-08-29

Independent, community-driven analysis. No vendor sponsorship. Compiled from public research and community input and verified on a best-effort basis, so details may be incomplete or out of date. Scores are opinions, not advice. Trademarks belong to their owners; mention does not imply affiliation or endorsement. See the full disclaimer, or send corrections to community@startwithidentity.com.