Category taxonomy · verified June 2026
Privileged Access Management (PAM) vs Alternative Categories
PAM, IAM, IGA, CIEM and Secrets Management are different identity-security categories with overlapping vendors. The category taxonomy matters because an RFP that does not distinguish them ends up double-buying.
Direct Answer
What is the difference between PAM, IAM, IGA, CIEM and Secrets Management?
PAM covers privileged human access (admins, root accounts, vault, session, JIT). IAM covers workforce identity (SSO, MFA, lifecycle). IGA covers access governance (certification campaigns, separation-of-duty, request workflows). CIEM covers cloud entitlement rightsizing (AWS, GCP, Azure permissions). Secrets Management covers machine-to-machine credentials (API keys, certificates, DB passwords).
Five-category map
| Category | Scope | Example vendors | Typical buyer |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAM | Privileged human access (vault, session, JIT) | CyberArk, BeyondTrust, Delinea, Teleport, ManageEngine, Okta PA | Security team |
| IAM | Workforce identity (SSO, MFA, lifecycle) | Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping, JumpCloud | Identity / IT team |
| IGA | Access governance, certification, request | SailPoint, Saviynt, One Identity Manager | Compliance / audit team |
| CIEM | Cloud entitlement rightsizing | Sonrai, Tenable Cloud Security, Saviynt, Microsoft Entra Permissions Management | Cloud security team |
| Secrets Management | Machine-to-machine credentials | HashiCorp Vault, CyberArk Conjur, AWS Secrets Manager, Keeper Secrets Manager | Platform / SRE team |
Where vendors overlap
- Okta sells IAM + PAM. Workforce Identity Cloud Suites bundle SSO, MFA, lifecycle, IGA basics and Privileged Access (0.5 RU). One vendor, one contract for both categories.
- CyberArk sells PAM + Secrets Management. Privileged Access Manager + Conjur Secrets + Secrets Hub.
- Saviynt sells IGA + PAM + CIEM. Identity Cloud platform consolidates all three.
- One Identity sells PAM + IGA + AD admin. Safeguard + One Identity Manager + Active Roles.
- HashiCorp sells Secrets Management + PAM-adjacent. Vault for secrets + Boundary for session brokering.
How to scope an RFP without double-buying
- Start from the security framework. SOC 2 CC6.1 / 6.2 / 6.3, ISO 27001 A.9, NIST 800-53 AC family all distinguish privileged from workforce access.
- Map controls to categories. Privileged session monitoring is PAM. SSO + MFA enforcement is IAM. Quarterly access certification is IGA. AWS IAM permission rightsizing is CIEM. Storing the DB password your app uses is Secrets.
- Identify which category each vendor leads in. Okta leads in IAM. CyberArk leads in PAM. SailPoint leads in IGA. HashiCorp leads in Secrets.
- Decide consolidation vs best-of-breed. Consolidation reduces vendor count and contract overhead; best-of-breed reduces category-specific risk.
PAM vs PIM terminology note
Privileged Access Management (PAM, Gartner) and Privileged Identity Management (PIM, Forrester) are largely the same category with different analyst branding. Microsoft uses PIM specifically for the Entra ID role activation feature, which is a workflow within Entra ID P2, not a stand-alone PAM product. When a vendor or RFP says PIM, confirm whether they mean Forrester PIM (PAM) or Microsoft PIM (Entra ID feature).
See also
- How PAM vendors price.
- PAM pricing guide.
- Okta vs CyberArk for the IAM-vs-PAM consolidation question.
Last verified June 2026 · Next refresh September 2026