Identity security vendors – compare the differences

Delinea vs. Keeper

Securing the credential is not the same as controlling the access.

Delinea controls the connection itself, brokering access and injecting vaulted credentials just-in-time so they never reach the human, machine or AI identity, with each action authorized as it runs. Keeper secures credentials in a zero-knowledge vault and grants access from it, with the user or agent retrieving the secret to use it.

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Delinea seamless security		Keeper
Traditional PAM buyer
Privileged credential vaulting and secrets management	Available	Available, zero-knowledge vault
Password rotation with dependency mapping	Available, broad dependencies	Narrower, custom scripts common
Privileged and service-account discovery	Available	Local, AWS and Azure
Host-level AD bridging for Unix and Linux	Available	Directory sync only, not host bridging
Endpoint privilege management	Available	Newer, less mature
Privileged session recording and control	Available	Recording, limited command control
Modern workload access buyer
Native protocol access (SSH, RDP, database, Kubernetes)	Available, in the connection path	Clientless browser, native via tunnels
Access without a launcher or portal	Available	Browser launcher is primary
Just-in-time access and zero standing privilege	Available	Available
Secrets management	Available	Available
Multi-cloud console access (AWS, Azure, GCP)	Available	Available
AI agent identity
Governed access for AI agents and MCP	Available	Available, Agent Kit and MCP
Credential separation for agents (never holds the credential)	Available, injected at the proxy	Agent retrieves the secret from the vault
Per-action authorization in the connection	Available, in the data path	Grant-time approval, session monitoring
Identity threat detection on sessions	Available	Per session only
Deployment and ecosystem
Self-hosted or air-gapped deployment	Available, air-gapped	Cloud-native control plane
FedRAMP High authorization	Available	Available, Government Cloud
MSP and multi-tenant management	Available	Available, strong MSP program
Works alongside your identity provider	Federates with your identity provider	Available

Faster to deploy: Easier to use

Delinea is consistently recognized for requiring fewer resources to manage and less time to achieve full functionality.

• 99.995% uptime SLA
• No multi-year commitment required to start

Zero standing privilege—available now

Delinea ships ephemeral access with proxy injection, JIT entitlement, and full session recording for human, machine, and AI agent identities - today.

• Native tools, broker invisible
• Time to value in weeks

Identity security built for the AI era

Delinea centralizes authorization with runtime enforcement across every AI agent in your stack.

• MCP-native connectivity
• Customers are using this in production today

Controlling the connection, not just the credential

Delinea keeps the credential out of reach by staying in the connection, which is what decides how much a compromise can touch.

Delinea brokers the connection and injects the credential at the proxy, so it never reaches the user or the agent, and each action is authorized as it runs with the session stopped mid-stream if needed.
Keeper secures the credential in the vault and releases or injects it for the session, and in its agent model the agent retrieves the secret from the vault to use it.

Depth across the privileged estate

Delinea was built for the parts of PAM that are hard to make reliable at enterprise scale.

Delinea handles the hard parts: dependency-aware rotation with heartbeat and break-glass, host-level AD bridging for Unix and Linux and discovery that onboards privileged and service accounts at enterprise scale.
Keeper covers rotation, discovery and elevation. Its dependency coverage is narrower, often requires custom scripts, and relies on directory sync rather than host-level AD bridging.

Runs where the workload runs, including isolated networks

Delinea runs fully self-hosted or air-gapped, so regulated and classified environments are not forced onto a cloud control plane.

Delinea runs as a fully self-hosted or air-gapped platform for classified and regulated networks and holds FedRAMP High authorization for its Privileged Access Management.
Keeper runs a cloud-native control plane on AWS with a self-hostable connection component, and its Government Cloud holds FedRAMP High for federal use.

A vault stores the secret, it does not control the access

Keeper is built around a zero-knowledge vault. Privileged access is granted by releasing or injecting the stored credential for a session, and in its agent model the AI agent connects to vault folders and retrieves the secret to use it. The vault is well engineered, and Keeper can broker a connection and inject the credential. However, storing and handing off a secret is not the same as authorizing every action and controlling the session while it runs.

Delinea operates inside the connection. Access is brokered and the vaulted credential is injected at the proxy, so it never reaches the human, machine or AI identity. Every action is authorized as it runs, the privileged session is recorded and unauthorized actions are stopped before they execute.

The hard part of PAM is the estate, not the vault

Keeper has closed much of the PAM checklist, adding rotation, discovery, ephemeral access, endpoint privilege management and AI session monitoring. On paper, the list looks complete. The depth shows on the enterprise estate, where rotation maps real service dependencies, Unix and Linux hosts must authenticate against Active Directory, and discovery onboards privileged and service accounts at scale.

Delinea was built for that estate. It vaults and rotates credentials with broad out-of-the-box dependency mapping, heartbeat verification and break-glass recovery, and it bridges Unix and Linux hosts to Active Directory. It discovers and onboards privileged and service accounts at enterprise scale and brokers native-protocol access across SSH, RDP, databases, Kubernetes, and cloud in the connection itself, using the tools teams already use and no launcher.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Delinea replace Keeper?

Delinea can. It provides password management for the entire workforce alongside enterprise privileged access, infrastructure and database access, and AI-agent control, all on one platform, so teams do not need one vendor for business passwords and another for privileged access. Some organizations run Delinea and Keeper side by side during a transition, keeping Keeper for workforce passwords while they stand up privileged access on Delinea, then consolidate as those programs mature.

Does Delinea provide vaulting and secrets management like Keeper?

Yes, Delinea provides enterprise credential vaulting and secrets management, including secrets for CI/CD and Kubernetes workloads. The difference is what surrounds the vault: Delinea also controls the connection and injects the credential at the proxy so it never reaches the requester.

How does Delinea secure AI agents differently from Keeper?

Delinea brokers the connection and injects the credential at the proxy, so the agent never holds it, and authorizes each action as it runs. Keeper connects the agent to designated vault folders, where it retrieves the secret to use, with access gated by human confirmations. If the agent is compromised, the two models expose a very different blast radius.

Does privileged access keep working if the platform or its cloud connection goes down?

Delinea keeps your most critical privileged secrets available during an outage by replicating them to a secondary site. It can run fully self-hosted and air-gapped, so access does not depend on a vendor cloud staying reachable. KeeperPAM requires continuous connectivity between its deployed components and Keeper's cloud services to operate, so privileged access depends on that link. Keeper's general vault offers offline access, but that is the workforce password vault, not Privileged Access Management.

Can Delinea run in air-gapped or classified environments?

Delinea runs fully self-hosted and air-gapped for classified and regulated networks, and its enterprise-grade Privileged Access Management holds FedRAMP High authorization. Keeper's control plane is cloud-native on AWS, with a self-hostable connection component and a FedRAMP High Government Cloud for federal use.

Is Delinea harder to deploy than Keeper?

Delinea deploys in hours for core vaulting and scales to enterprise depth from there, with native tool access that does not route users through a browser launcher. Keeper is known for fast setup in smaller environments; the trade-off becomes apparent as requirements grow into dependency-aware rotation, host-level AD bridging and agent credential separation.

Identity security vendors – compare the differences

Identity security vendors – compare the differences

The Delinea Platform stops unauthorized access without slowing teams down

Delinea seamless security

Keeper

Traditional PAM buyer

Privileged credential vaulting and secrets management

Password rotation with dependency mapping

Privileged and service-account discovery

Host-level AD bridging for Unix and Linux

Endpoint privilege management

Privileged session recording and control

Modern workload access buyer

Native protocol access (SSH, RDP, database, Kubernetes)

Access without a launcher or portal

Just-in-time access and zero standing privilege

Secrets management

Multi-cloud console access (AWS, Azure, GCP)

AI agent identity

Governed access for AI agents and MCP

Credential separation for agents (never holds the credential)

Per-action authorization in the connection

Identity threat detection on sessions

Deployment and ecosystem

Self-hosted or air-gapped deployment

FedRAMP High authorization

MSP and multi-tenant management

Works alongside your identity provider

Why the differences between Delinea and CyberArk matter

Faster to deploy: Easier to use

Zero standing privilege—available now

Identity security built for the AI era

Thousands of customers. One easy choice.

A vault stores the secret, it does not control the access

The hard part of PAM is the estate, not the vault

See the Platform in action

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Delinea replace Keeper?

Does Delinea provide vaulting and secrets management like Keeper?

How does Delinea secure AI agents differently from Keeper?

Does privileged access keep working if the platform or its cloud connection goes down?

Can Delinea run in air-gapped or classified environments?

Is Delinea harder to deploy than Keeper?

Traditional PAM buyer 

Modern workload access buyer 

Deployment and ecosystem 