CyberArk is the name most security teams think of first when someone says "privileged access management" (PAM) — the software that controls who gets admin rights to your servers, databases, and cloud consoles, and for how long. It's also famous for taking weeks to deploy and requiring a dedicated implementation project, which is exactly why a newer wave of tools exists: some rebuild PAM natively on infrastructure you already run, others solve just one slice of the problem — like auditing what happened during a session, or managing the machine-to-machine credentials CyberArk was never really built for. Here are 4 real tools from our catalogue that go after different parts of that job.
Huntoso
Huntoso is the closest like-for-like swap: a PAM platform built directly on Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) that removes standing admin access in favor of just-in-time elevation, with automated credential rotation and audit-ready evidence for HIPAA, SOC 2, and NIST. Because it plugs into identity infrastructure most companies already run, it claims roughly a 10-minute setup instead of the weeks a legacy PAM rollout usually needs, with no professional-services engagement required. The catch is that it only works if your organization is already on Entra ID, and pricing isn't published — you'll need to talk to sales to find out what it costs.
Trustity
Trustity takes a broader swing than a pure PAM replacement: it's a unified endpoint security platform where PAM (vault and credential rotation for local admin accounts) is just one of five modules, alongside screen/camera-recording detection, a filter that blocks sensitive data from being pasted into unsanctioned AI tools, host-level brute-force blocking, and an agentless DNS security proxy — all managed from one dashboard under a single agent. That breadth is the appeal if you want one vendor covering several security gaps at once, but it also means Trustity is a younger, less specialized vendor than a PAM-only tool, and like Huntoso, its pricing is quote-only with no public numbers to compare against.
Defakto
Defakto goes after a piece of the problem CyberArk was never really designed for: the passwords baked into scripts, servers, and automated jobs that run forever on the same static credentials — exactly what attackers look for once they're inside. It issues short-lived identities at runtime instead of permanent static secrets, built on the open SPIFFE standard rather than a proprietary protocol, and was named a Gartner Cool Vendor for identity security in 2025. It's aimed squarely at Fortune 500-scale infrastructure teams already running Kubernetes and CI/CD — useful leverage if that's you, overkill if it isn't — and again, pricing is enterprise-quote-only.
SSH Session Monitor
SSH Session Monitor is the outlier on this list: a free, open-source tool that does one narrow thing well — reconstructing exactly what happened during an SSH session, including the commands that were typed, straight from Windows OpenSSH event logs. It's passive and read-only, so it never intercepts credentials, stores everything locally in SQLite, and costs nothing. It isn't a PAM replacement on its own — there's no credential vault or policy enforcement, and it's Windows-only — but if what you actually need out of CyberArk is "who did what during this session," it gets you that specific answer for free instead of a six-figure PAM contract.
| Tool | What it replaces | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huntoso | Full PAM suite | Custom quote | Entra ID shops wanting fast, compliance-ready PAM |
| Trustity | PAM + broader endpoint security | Custom quote | Teams wanting one vendor for PAM, DLP, and screen-capture detection |
| Defakto | Non-human/machine credential PAM | Custom quote | Large infra teams on Kubernetes/CI-CD securing service identities |
| SSH Session Monitor | Session auditing only | Free, open source | Small Windows-only teams that just need SSH session logs |
None of these four fully replace CyberArk feature-for-feature — that's the point. If you need broad PAM fast and you're already on Microsoft's identity stack, start with Huntoso. If you want PAM bundled with other endpoint security gaps under one agent, look at Trustity. If your real exposure is machine-to-machine credentials in Kubernetes and CI/CD rather than human admins, Defakto is built for exactly that. And if your actual need is much smaller than any of these — just knowing what happened during an SSH session — SSH Session Monitor gets you there for free before you sign a contract with anyone.