Report:
Magic Quadrant for Privileged Access Management
How does Gartner define the Privileged Access Management market in 2025?
Gartner defines privileged access management (PAM) as tools that provide an elevated level of technical access through the management and protection of accounts, credentials and commands, which are used to administer or configure systems and applications. PAM tools — available as software, SaaS or hardware appliances — manage privileged access for both people (system administrators and others) and machines (systems or applications). Gartner defines five distinct tool categories for PAM tools: privileged account and session management (PASM), privilege elevation and delegation management (PEDM), secrets management, cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM) and remote PAM (RPAM).
Key Facts for Magic Quadrant for Privileged Access Management in 2025
- Publication Date: 13 October 2025
- Document ID: G00823931
- Coverage: Worldwide
- Authors: Abhyuday Data, Paul Mezzera, Shubham Gera, Tarun Rohilla, Michael Kelley
- Core Purpose: The PAM market is evolving to meet the demands of managing privileged access for machines, cloud environments and, at the same time, securing traditional privileged access risks. IAM leaders should focus on the features that differentiate vendors in this market.
Strategic Planning Assumptions
No strategic planning assumptions provided.
How was the Privileged Access Management market evolved in 2025?
- PAM market revenue for 2025 is estimated at $3.25 billion, representing 12% growth over 2024
- Market growth expected to taper off in the coming two to three years
- 10 out of 12 vendors now offer SaaS deployment options
- Increased emphasis on securing privileged access for machines, workloads, and cloud infrastructures
- 15-25% of clients report cybersecurity insurers require PAM strategy as condition for coverage
- North America and Europe remain primary markets, with increasing interest in Asia/Pacific and Middle East regions
- 12 vendors evaluated in this Magic Quadrant: 3 Leaders, 4 Challengers, 2 Visionaries, 3 Niche Players
- Leaders: BeyondTrust, CyberArk, Delinea
- Challengers: ARCON, ManageEngine, Saviynt, Segura
- Visionaries: One Identity, WALLIX
- Niche Players: Keeper Security, Netwrix, StrongDM
- Market drivers include security, regulatory compliance, audit requirements, and cybersecurity insurance requirements
- High-profile breaches linked to compromised privileged credentials driving awareness
- Primary industry verticals: diversified financial services, communications/media/services, and government
- PAM increasingly becoming a horizontal solution across all industries
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- Centralized management and enforcement of privileged access by controlling either access to privileged accounts and credentials or execution of privileged commands (or both)
- Managing and brokering privileged access to authorized human users (e.g., system administrators, operators and help desk staff) and authorized machines (e.g., systems, applications, workloads etc.) on a temporary basis
- Account discovery and onboarding of privileged accounts across multiple systems, applications and cloud infrastructure providers
- Vaulting, rotation and management of privileged credentials
- Management, monitoring, recording and auditing for privileged sessions, including remote privileged sessions
What are the common features of top products in the Privileged Access Management space?
- Agent-based controlled privilege elevation for commands executed on Windows, UNIX/Linux or macOS operating systems
- Secrets management for workloads including applications, services, containers, scripts and VMs
- Privileged account life cycle management for humans and machines
- Cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM)
- Identity administration including federation and authorization capabilities to secure remote privileged access for third-party external IT staff, including vendors, service providers and other external users that require technical access
- Automating multistep, repetitive and routine tasks related to privileged operations that are orchestrated and/or executed over a range of systems, while providing guardrails by checking against defined policies and settings
- Zero standing privileges (ZSP) where users are not elevated to a preexisting privileged account or privileged role as a just-in-time (JIT) approach, but rather net-new permissions and roles are created when a privileged user needs access. Those permissions are then deleted after a time-bound session
- Analyzing privilege patterns, misconfigurations, access behaviors, and anomalies for privileged threat detection and response
Scope Exclusions
- Does not meet all mandatory features for PAM
- Does not meet at least five out of eight common features
- Features not fully documented
- Not marketed, sold and deployed for customer production environments
- Does not compete in at least two of the four major regional markets
- Does not sell and support its own PAM product developed in-house (resellers or third-party providers)
- Not sold to customers in different verticals or industries
- Does not rank in Top 15 for Customer Interest Indicator (CII)
- Does not meet minimum revenue requirement of $30 million USD in FY24 or minimum of 1,200 paying customers
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- Meet all mandatory features for PAM and at least five out of eight common features as of 19 May 2025
- Be marketed, sold and deployed for use with customer production environments for purposes consistent with objectives of PAM
- Be fully documented for the entirety of features, including configuration and use
- Compete in at least two of the four major regional markets (North America; Latin America; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Asia/Pacific)
- Sell and support its own PAM product or service developed in-house
- Have sold its PAM product or service to customers in different verticals or industries
- Markets its products for use consistent with PAM
- Rank in the Top 15 for the Customer Interest Indicator (CII)
- Have booked total revenue of at least $30 million USD in FY24 for core PAM capability products and subscriptions; or have a minimum of 1,200 paying customers that have acquired the vendor's PAM tools that cover the entirety of core PAM capabilities
Ability to Execute — Relative Weighting
- Product or Service - High
- Overall Viability - High
- Sales Execution/Pricing - High
- Market Responsiveness/Record - Medium
- Marketing Execution - Medium
- Customer Experience - Medium
- Operations - Low
Completeness of Vision — Relative Weighting
- Market Understanding - Medium
- Marketing Strategy - Medium
- Sales Strategy - Medium
- Offering (Product) Strategy - High
- Business Model - Low
- Vertical/Industry Strategy - Low
- Innovation - High
- Geographic Strategy - High
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research evaluates 12 vendors in the Privileged Access Management (PAM) market based on their ability to execute and completeness of vision. The research covers five distinct PAM tool categories: privileged account and session management (PASM), privilege elevation and delegation management (PEDM), secrets management, cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM), and remote PAM (RPAM). The evaluation includes product capabilities across 13 technical areas, pricing analysis across multiple scenarios, vendor viability, sales execution, customer experience, innovation, and strategic vision. Special emphasis is placed on emerging PAM for machines capabilities including workload identity and secrets management.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: IAM leaders and security professionals should use this research to: 1) Understand the current PAM market landscape and vendor positioning; 2) Evaluate PAM vendors based on specific use cases including PASM, PEDM, RPAM, and PAM for machines scenarios; 3) Compare vendor capabilities across technical features, pricing, customer experience, and innovation; 4) Make informed decisions when selecting PAM solutions that match their organization's requirements for managing privileged access for both humans and machines; 5) Understand emerging trends in the PAM market including AI-driven capabilities, secrets management, and CIEM; 6) Plan PAM implementation strategies and timelines; 7) Assess vendor strengths and cautions to align with organizational needs across different geographies and industry verticals.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: Vendors must provide: 1) Centralized management and enforcement of privileged access controlling either accounts/credentials or privileged commands; 2) Managing and brokering privileged access to authorized users and machines on a temporary basis; 3) Account discovery and onboarding across multiple systems and cloud providers; 4) Vaulting, rotation and management of privileged credentials including secured vault, automatic credential rotation, request/approval workflows, credential checkout, and credential injection in sessions; 5) Management, monitoring, recording and auditing for privileged sessions including remote privileged sessions without revealing credentials to users.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Not meeting all mandatory features for PAM
- Meeting fewer than five out of eight common features
- Incomplete or inadequate product documentation
- Not marketed or deployed for production environments consistent with PAM objectives
- Limited geographic presence (not competing in at least two major regional markets)
- Operating as a reseller or third-party provider rather than developing own PAM product
- Limited vertical/industry coverage
- Not ranking in Top 15 for Customer Interest Indicator
- Insufficient revenue ($30 million USD minimum) or customer base (1,200 paying customers minimum)
- Features only listed or referenced in passing rather than fully documented and configured
Q: What differentiates Ability to Execute vs. Completeness of Vision?
A: Ability to Execute evaluates current capabilities, financial health, sales effectiveness, market responsiveness, marketing execution, customer experience, and operational capability. It focuses on the vendor's current ability to deliver products and services successfully. Completeness of Vision assesses the vendor's understanding of market direction, strategic planning, innovation, and future roadmap. It focuses on the vendor's strategy to anticipate and shape market changes, develop differentiated offerings, and expand into new markets and verticals.
Reference
- Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Privileged Access Management, 13 October 2025, ID G00823931
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