Delinea vs Keeper Security: which is better for enterprise vs SMB?

Delinea is the stronger enterprise PAM, covering vaulting, privileged session management, privilege elevation, AD bridging, cloud entitlements and, since March 2026, StrongDM's just-in-time runtime authorization. Keeper Security is the better fit for SMB and mid-market teams that want password management and approachable privileged access in one zero-knowledge platform without a large PAM project.

How much do Delinea and Keeper cost?

Delinea publishes no prices; its platform bundles page (checked 2026-11-05) lists Essentials, Standard and Enterprise capacity limits behind a Get Pricing form. Keeper sells its Business Starter and Business password-manager plans per user per month, billed annually, with prices that load at checkout, while Enterprise and KeeperPAM are quote-based through sales.

Are Delinea and Keeper FedRAMP authorized?

Delinea Secret Server achieved FedRAMP High authorization on 8 July 2026 under partner UberEther. Keeper Security Government Cloud (KSGC) announced FedRAMP High authorization on 23 December 2025, building on a Moderate authorization from August 2022. Confirm the exact authorized product scope on the FedRAMP Marketplace before you buy.

Who owns Delinea and Keeper Security?

Delinea is private, owned by TPG, and formed from the 2021 merger of Thycotic and Centrify; it acquired StrongDM in a deal closed on 5 March 2026. Keeper Security is a private company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Chicago.

Is Keeper a real PAM or just a password manager?

KeeperPAM is a real PAM platform: it combines the vault, Keeper Secrets Manager with service account rotation, Connection Manager, session recording for SSH, RDP, VNC, database and browser sessions, remote browser isolation and Endpoint Privilege Manager. It is newer and lighter on governance than Delinea, so very large privileged estates should validate coverage.

Delinea vs Keeper Security: Enterprise vs SMB, Comparison

Delinea vs Keeper Security: Enterprise vs SMB

CapabilityDelineaKeeper Security

Overall

4.3

4.1

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

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

Verdict

Delinea vs Keeper Security comes down to enterprise PAM depth versus a password manager that grew into PAM. Delinea is the largest independent PAM vendor now that Idira (formerly CyberArk) sits inside Palo Alto Networks: Secret Server, privilege elevation, AD bridging, cloud entitlements and StrongDM's runtime authorization, built for teams with real privileged estates. Keeper Security starts from a zero-knowledge password manager and extends into KeeperPAM, which a small team can deploy quickly. Enterprises with complex Windows and server estates should pick Delinea; SMBs and lean mid-market teams usually get better value from Keeper. Profile scores: Delinea 4.3, Keeper 4.1.

Where each wins

Decision factor	Delinea	Keeper Security
Enterprise privileged estates	Wins: elevation, AD bridging, governance	Lighter governance
Password management for all staff	Separate need	Wins: enterprise password manager included
Time to deploy	Faster than heavyweight suites	Wins: cloud-native, outbound-only gateway
Self-hosted option	Wins: SaaS or on-prem Secret Server	Cloud-native; Connection Manager for air-gapped
Just-in-time infrastructure access	Wins: StrongDM	JIT elevation as an add-on
Published pricing	None	Partial, per seat for password plans
FedRAMP High	Secret Server, July 2026	Government Cloud, December 2025
Recent patch exposure	Four critical on-prem CVEs in September 2026	None noted in our profile

Pricing reality (checked 2026-11-05)

Delinea's platform bundles page shows no prices, only capacity: Essentials covers up to 4 engines, 15 admins and 15 business users with 2TB storage; Standard adds privilege elevation, AD bridging and 15 servers; Enterprise raises limits to 30 admins, 30 servers and 30 workstations and adds DevOps integration and service account governance. Every route ends at a quote form.

Keeper's business pricing page sells Business Starter and Business per user per month, billed annually, with amounts that load dynamically at checkout; Enterprise is quote-based, and KeeperPAM "is available through Sales only". Zero-trust network access, endpoint privilege management, just-in-time elevation and remote browser isolation are listed as add-ons. Model both with the TCO calculator.

Ownership changes

Delinea, owned by TPG, closed its StrongDM acquisition on 5 March 2026, after buying Authomize and Fastpath in 2024. Keeper Security remains private. Neither is inside a larger platform vendor, which matters to buyers avoiding consolidation after Palo Alto Networks bought CyberArk.

Deployment and architecture

Delinea runs as a SaaS platform on Azure across seven hosting geographies, or as self-hosted Secret Server. Self-hosting carries patch duty: in September 2026 Delinea disclosed four critical on-premises Secret Server flaws, including a 9.8 FIDO2 registration bypass, while cloud tenants were unaffected (see its security advisories). Secret Server reached FedRAMP High on 8 July 2026.

KeeperPAM is cloud-native: a KeeperPAM Gateway in your cloud or data center needs only outbound connections to Keeper Cloud, and users connect from the Keeper Vault in a browser. Sessions are recorded for SSH, RDP, VNC, databases and browser sessions. For US public sector, Keeper Security Government Cloud holds FedRAMP High, announced 23 December 2025.

Migration notes

Moving between them is about rotation, not records. Inventory privileged and service accounts, move them in waves by system, enable rotation in the target, and confirm dependent services still authenticate before retiring the old vault. Session recordings and audit logs do not move; export them to your SIEM first.

Who should pick which

Delinea: mid-market and enterprise programs with Windows, Unix and cloud privileged estates, FedRAMP High needs, or StrongDM-style infrastructure access.
Keeper: SMBs and lean mid-market teams that want password management and privileged access in one platform.
Neither: the largest regulated estates should also price CyberArk (now Idira) and BeyondTrust.

Frequently asked questions

Delinea vs Keeper Security: which is better for enterprise vs SMB?: Delinea is the stronger enterprise PAM, covering vaulting, privileged session management, privilege elevation, AD bridging, cloud entitlements and, since March 2026, StrongDM's just-in-time runtime authorization. Keeper Security is the better fit for SMB and mid-market teams that want password management and approachable privileged access in one zero-knowledge platform without a large PAM project.
How much do Delinea and Keeper cost?: Delinea publishes no prices; its platform bundles page (checked 2026-11-05) lists Essentials, Standard and Enterprise capacity limits behind a Get Pricing form. Keeper sells its Business Starter and Business password-manager plans per user per month, billed annually, with prices that load at checkout, while Enterprise and KeeperPAM are quote-based through sales.
Are Delinea and Keeper FedRAMP authorized?: Delinea Secret Server achieved FedRAMP High authorization on 8 July 2026 under partner UberEther. Keeper Security Government Cloud (KSGC) announced FedRAMP High authorization on 23 December 2025, building on a Moderate authorization from August 2022. Confirm the exact authorized product scope on the FedRAMP Marketplace before you buy.
Who owns Delinea and Keeper Security?: Delinea is private, owned by TPG, and formed from the 2021 merger of Thycotic and Centrify; it acquired StrongDM in a deal closed on 5 March 2026. Keeper Security is a private company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Chicago.
Is Keeper a real PAM or just a password manager?: KeeperPAM is a real PAM platform: it combines the vault, Keeper Secrets Manager with service account rotation, Connection Manager, session recording for SSH, RDP, VNC, database and browser sessions, remote browser isolation and Endpoint Privilege Manager. It is newer and lighter on governance than Delinea, so very large privileged estates should validate coverage.

Last updated 2026-11-05

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.