Identity security vendors – compare the differences

Delinea vs. Silverfort

Deciding who gets in is not the same as controlling their actions once in.

Delinea controls the connection itself, injecting vaulted credentials just-in-time so they never reach the human, machine or AI identity. Each action is authorized as it runs, the privileged session is recorded and unauthorized actions are stopped before they execute. Silverfort enforces MFA and access policy at the moment of authentication, then hands the verdict back to your identity provider.

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Delinea seamless security		Silverfort
Traditional PAM buyer
Privileged credential vaulting and rotation	Available	Vaultless by design
Privileged session recording and control	Available	Not offered
Endpoint privilege management	Available	Not offered
MFA everywhere, including legacy and service accounts	Integrates with your identity provider	Native, agentless
Just-in-time access and zero standing privilege	Available	Available, enforced at authentication
Modern workload access buyer
Native protocol access (SSH, RDP, database, Kubernetes)	Available, in the connection path	Authentication layer only
Credential separation (never reaches the user)	Available	User holds the credential
Secrets management	Available	Not offered
Service account and machine identity discovery	Available	Native, agentless discovery and fencing
AI agent identity
Agent inventory and human-owner mapping	Available	Risk-based, decision layer
Per-tool-call MCP authorization	Available	Available, MCP gateway
Credential separation for agents (never holds the credential)	Available	Agent holds the credential
Data-path enforcement on native protocols	Available	MCP tool calls only
Deployment and ecosystem
Self-hosted or air-gapped deployment	Available	Available, including air-gapped
Identity threat detection and response	Available	Native
Works alongside your identity provider	Federates with your identity provider	Overlays your identity provider

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

Deciding a login is not controlling the session

Delinea controls what happens inside the privileged session, which is where most of the damage is done. Silverfort decides whether to allow authentication and can require MFA or deny it, then returns the verdict to your identity provider.

Delinea brokers the connection and remains in it, injecting credentials through the proxy, recording the session, and preventing unsanctioned actions while it runs.
Silverfort returns an allow, deny, or step-up verdict to your identity provider at the moment of authentication.

Vaultless still leaves the credential with the user

Delinea enforces at runtime and keeps the credential out of the user's and agent's reach by brokering the connection. Silverfort enforces at authentication, but its vaultless model still leaves the credential in the hands of the user or the agent.

Delinea brokers the connection and injects credentials into the proxy, so they never reach the user or the agent, and there is nothing to steal.
Silverfort authorizes how a credential is used, but the user, service account or agent still holds it.

Authentication coverage is not the full privileged estate

Delinea controls the full privileged estate: the vault, the session, the secret and the endpoint. Silverfort does well at extending MFA and detection across identities, including legacy systems and service accounts.

Delinea adds credential vaulting and rotation, session recording and termination, secrets management and endpoint least privilege, the controls that act after authentication.
Silverfort enforces MFA and policy at authentication and detects identity threats.

Granting access is not controlling it

Silverfort sits at the authentication layer. Your identity provider consults it on each authentication and returns allow, deny, or step-up decisions. It also blocks lateral movement across tiers. But the credential still reaches the user, service account, or agent and the privileged session runs without control once it is open, and there is no vault, session recording, or secret behind it.

Delinea operates inside the connection, where the risk lives after authentication. It brokers the connection and injects the credential at the proxy, so the credential never reaches the user or the agent. It evaluates and authorizes each action before it runs and keeps doing so throughout the session. Granting access at login is table stakes. Access is only safe when the credential, the session and every action are controlled. That is the layer Silverfort leaves open.

The risk expands after login

Silverfort argues that vaults serve compliance rather than security, and that enforcing MFA and policies at authentication is sufficient. But enforcement at runtime matters. The risk happens after authentication succeeds. A decision at the authentication layer cannot prevent credentials from being shared with the human, machine or the agent, record or terminate a live privileged session, enforce least privilege on the endpoint, or manage the secret behind an application or service account.

Delinea enforces at runtime and controls what an authentication decision cannot. It delivers just-in-time, zero standing privilege access without exposing credentials, vaults and rotates the secret, records and can terminate the live session, and enforce least privilege on the endpoint, so a stolen session or a compromised agent has no credential to steal. What makes access safe is control of the credential and the activity after the login.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Delinea replace Silverfort?

Delinea and Silverfort do different jobs, so many customers run both. Delinea adds credential, session, and secrets control that the authentication-layer policy does not provide. Silverfort remains strong for MFA across legacy systems and service accounts, as well as for identity threat detection. Silverfort risk signals can inform Delinea enforcement.

Silverfort says the vault is compliance, not security. Why do we need Delinea?

Delinea enforces at runtime, with just-in-time (JIT) and zero-standing privilege access (ZSP) and authorization for every action. It brokers the connection and injects the credential at the proxy so it never reaches the user or the agent, controls and can stop the live session and manages the secret behind the application or service account. That is what limits the damage after a valid login, and it is exactly what a decision at authentication cannot do.

We already use Silverfort for MFA and service account protection. Why add Delinea?

Delinea enforces access in the connection itself, adding the controls that only matter after a valid login. It keeps the credential off the user and the agent, can control and stop the live session, and manages the secret and the endpoint behind it. That is the layer that authentication-time enforcement cannot reach, and it is in production today across on-premise, multi-cloud and ephemeral infrastructure. Silverfort enforces MFA and policy at authentication and can deny access, but it does none of those.

How does Delinea secure AI agents differently from Silverfort?

Delinea authorizes each agent’s action and brokers the connection so the agent never holds the credential, token and session key. If an agent is compromised, there is nothing to steal, and the action runs through Delinea across native protocols, not only through MCP tool calls. Silverfort discovers agents, maps each to a human owner, and authorizes tool calls inline through its MCP gateway, but the agent still holds its credentials.

Does Delinea do MFA and identity threat detection, too?

Delinea includes identity threat detection and response and integrates MFA through your identity provider. Silverfort's strength is agentless MFA on resources that could not support it before, and many customers keep it for that. Delinea's strength is controlling the credential and the session once access is granted.

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

Silverfort

Traditional PAM buyer

Privileged credential vaulting and rotation

Privileged session recording and control

Endpoint privilege management

MFA everywhere, including legacy and service accounts

Just-in-time access and zero standing privilege

Modern workload access buyer

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

Credential separation (never reaches the user)

Secrets management

Service account and machine identity discovery

AI agent identity

Agent inventory and human-owner mapping

Per-tool-call MCP authorization

Credential separation for agents (never holds the credential)

Data-path enforcement on native protocols

Deployment and ecosystem

Self-hosted or air-gapped deployment

Identity threat detection and response

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

Why the differences between Delinea and Silverfort matter

Thousands of customers. One easy choice.

Granting access is not controlling it

The risk expands after login

See the Platform in action

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Delinea replace Silverfort?

Silverfort says the vault is compliance, not security. Why do we need Delinea?

We already use Silverfort for MFA and service account protection. Why add Delinea?

How does Delinea secure AI agents differently from Silverfort?

Does Delinea do MFA and identity threat detection, too?