# Privileged access management for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "privileged access management platform" and as "PAM tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/identity/privileged-access-management/smb/

**Standing:** KeeperPAM (tied with ManageEngine PAM360) leads with 27% of first choices; verdict contested. 55 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KeeperPAM | 27% | 0% | 52 |
| 2 | ManageEngine PAM360 | 27% | 6% | 49 |
| 3 | Teleport | 11% | 0% | 36 |
| 4 | Delinea | 7% | 18% | 39 |
| 5 | Delinea Secret Server | 7% | 0% | 14 |
| 6 | StrongDM | 5% | 0% | 31 |
| 7 | BeyondTrust | 2% | 81% | 31 |
| 8 | CyberArk | 2% | 88% | 40 |
| 9 | JumpCloud | 0% | 0% | 13 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: ManageEngine PAM360; alternatives Delinea, miniOrange
- GPT-5.4 mini: KeeperPAM; alternatives Okta Privileged Access
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: KeeperPAM; alternatives Devolutions Server, Securden Unified PAM, StrongDM
- Perplexity Sonar: ManageEngine PAM360; alternatives Delinea, Devolutions Starter Pack, KeeperPAM, StrongDM
- Grok 4.1 Fast: ManageEngine PAM360; alternatives KeeperPAM, Teleport
- Mistral Small: KeeperPAM, ManageEngine PAM360; alternatives Delinea, StrongDM, Teleport
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: KeeperPAM; alternatives Delinea, ManageEngine PAM360, StrongDM, Teleport
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Teleport; alternatives BeyondTrust, HashiCorp Vault, Infisical
- Kimi K2: Delinea, ManageEngine PAM360; alternatives KeeperPAM, Securden Unified PAM
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: KeeperPAM; alternatives Delinea, JumpCloud, ManageEngine PAM360, StrongDM
- MiniMax M2.5: KeeperPAM; alternatives Delinea, ManageEngine PAM360, StrongDM, Teleport

## Sources the answers cite

65 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- startwithidentity.com: 42 answers, 48 citations
- aimultiple.com: 35 answers, 41 citations
- keepersecurity.com: 23 answers, 45 citations
- heimdalsecurity.com: 23 answers, 25 citations
- expertinsights.com: 22 answers, 22 citations
- g2.com: 20 answers, 26 citations
- mitigata.com: 20 answers, 20 citations
- delinea.com: 18 answers, 31 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-pam-for-smb (41 answers)
- https://aimultiple.com/pam-solutions (35 answers)
- https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/privileged-access-management-pam-software-solutions (22 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/identity-and-access-management/the-top-privileged-access-management-pam-solutions (21 answers)
- https://mitigata.com/blog/best-pam-tools (20 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/privileged-access-management-pam/small-business (15 answers)
- https://thectoclub.com/tools/best-privileged-access-management-solutions (15 answers)
- https://compliancestronghold.com/best-pam-solution (14 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/privileged-access-management (14 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-pam-software (14 answers)

## Warned against

- CyberArk: 35 of 40 labels negative. "Platforms like CyberArk and ARCON are often criticized for their steep learning curves, poor documentation, difficult integrations, and limited OS compatibility." (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- BeyondTrust: 25 of 31 labels negative. "Small businesses should avoid traditional enterprise PAM platforms (CyberArk, legacy BeyondTrust deployments)" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- Delinea: 7 of 39 labels negative. "Avoid if overkill: Pure enterprise like Thycotic without SMB proof." (Grok 4.1 Fast, scale prompt)
- ARCON PAM: 4 of 5 labels negative. "Platforms like CyberArk and ARCON are often criticized for their steep learning curves, poor documentation, difficult integrations" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.