Posted by Alon Gvili
October 24, 2025
Summary:
Organizations comparing Akeyless vs. BeyondTrust are seeking a PAM solution built for modern, hybrid environments. BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access serves traditional, compliance-heavy enterprises, while Akeyless Modern PAM delivers a cloud-native, vaultless platform that unifies secrets, access, and encryption. For teams evaluating BeyondTrust alternatives, Akeyless offers faster deployment, lower TCO, and Zero-Knowledge security designed for scale.
The Evolution of PAM: From Vaults to Zero-Knowledge SaaS
As IT ecosystems move toward cloud and containerized workloads, the definition of PAM has shifted. The legacy model, built around static vaults, heavy infrastructure, and manual session orchestration, can’t keep pace with ephemeral identities, API-driven automation, and distributed teams.
BeyondTrust continues to serve large, regulated enterprises with complex access requirements. However, Akeyless represents the new era of PAM, one that integrates identity-based access, ephemeral credentials, and encryption in a unified, Zero Trust SaaS platform.
The core question today isn’t whether PAM is necessary—but whether it can adapt as fast as your environment changes.
Limitations of BeyondTrust Compared to Akeyless
The points below outline the main areas where BeyondTrust and Akeyless take different approaches to PAM.
Infrastructure Overhead and Deployment Complexity
BeyondTrust’s Privileged Remote Access operates through appliance-based deployment, either on-prem or cloud-hosted, and depends on its BeyondInsight framework. This design introduces infrastructure overhead, including servers, databases, and orchestrators.
Akeyless, on the other hand, requires no hardware, vaults, or agents. Its cloud-native architecture scales globally and instantly, providing immediate availability without configuration complexity.
Fragmented Modules vs. Unified Platform
To achieve end-to-end PAM capabilities, BeyondTrust often requires coupling Privileged Remote Access with Password Safe for vaulting and credential injection. Each module adds cost, setup, and integration friction.
Akeyless delivers secrets management, access, encryption, and key lifecycle control within a single platform, without separate SKUs or synchronization dependencies.
Static Vaulting vs. Ephemeral Credentials
BeyondTrust relies on vault-based credential storage and injection. While secure, this model maintains “standing secrets” that must be rotated and managed.
Akeyless eliminates static credentials altogether. It issues ephemeral, just-in-time SSH, RDP, or database credentials that expire automatically after use, reducing exposure and eliminating the need for manual rotation.
DevOps and Cloud Workload Agility Gaps
BeyondTrust excels in IT-admin use cases such as RDP and SSH but is less suited to cloud-native, automated environments.
Akeyless is purpose-built for cloud-native environments, supporting Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, and dynamic workloads through native integrations and identity federation (SSO, OIDC, AWS IAM, and more).
No True Zero-Knowledge Model
BeyondTrust encrypts credentials in vaults, but its servers have potential access to decrypted data.
Akeyless enforces Zero-Knowledge security through patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography™ (DFC), aligning with principles in the NIST Zero Trust Architecture framework to ensure that no one, not even Akeyless, can reconstruct user secrets or keys.
What BeyondTrust Does Well
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access remains a good fit for:
- Enterprises with strict audit and compliance mandates
- Environments dominated by Windows-based or legacy infrastructure
- Teams requiring advanced session recording and forensic traceability
- Organizations with existing BeyondInsight or Password Safe deployments
For organizations prioritizing agility, automation, and scalability, Akeyless offers a more efficient and adaptable path.
Inside Akeyless Modern PAM: Unified, Vaultless, and Cloud-Native
Akeyless Modern PAM brings together secrets, access, and encryption into one Zero-Knowledge SaaS service. By removing infrastructure dependencies, it enables organizations to secure human, machine, and workload identities across hybrid and multi-cloud environments without added operational friction.
Core Differentiators
- Unified Platform: Akeyless Secrets Management, Secure Remote Access, and Encryption in one control plane.
- Zero-Knowledge Cryptography: Akeyless never has visibility into customer secrets or keys.
- Instant SaaS Deployment: No servers to maintain, no agents to deploy.
- Ephemeral Credentials: JIT access for both human and machine identities.
- Broad Coverage: SSH, RDP, Databases, Kubernetes, and web applications.
- Full Auditability: Centralized logging, SIEM integration, and compliance-ready dashboards.
Comparison Table: Akeyless vs BeyondTrust
| Feature | BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access + Password Safe | Akeyless Modern PAM |
| Deployment Model | Appliance-based (cloud/on-prem) | SaaS-native, no infrastructure |
| Secrets Management | Vaulted, static credentials | Vaultless, ephemeral JIT credentials |
| Identity Support | Human (Windows/Linux) | Human + Machine + Workload |
| Infrastructure Impact | Requires orchestration and servers | Stateless SaaS gateways |
| Protocols Supported | RDP, SSH, VNC, HTTPS, SQL | SSH, RDP, DBs, K8s, Web Apps |
| Session Recording | Advanced centralized playback | Agentless session logging |
| Zero-Knowledge | No | Yes (via DFC) |
| Scalability | Manual or hybrid scaling | Automatic SaaS scaling |
| Cloud-Native Fit | Partial (via modules) | Native (built-in identity federation) |
| Compliance | Strong audit via BeyondInsight | Built-in compliance dashboards |
| TCO | Higher (modules + infra) | Lower (unified SaaS model) |
Why Modern Infrastructure Needs Modern PAM
The contrast between Akeyless and BeyondTrust illustrates two different approaches to PAM. BeyondTrust continues to extend the traditional vault-based model suited for regulated, infrastructure-heavy environments. Akeyless redefines PAM through automation, unification, and Zero-Knowledge architecture that aligns with the speed and scale of modern cloud-first operations.
Verdict: Akeyless Is the Modern Alternative to BeyondTrust
BeyondTrust remains a respected leader in legacy PAM and compliance-heavy use cases. For organizations seeking simplicity, faster onboarding, and agility across hybrid and cloud environments, Akeyless stands out among BeyondTrust alternatives.
Akeyless Modern PAM integrates secrets, access, and encryption in one platform, SaaS-delivered, Zero-Knowledge, and built for elastic scalability.
Security and DevOps leaders evaluating BeyondTrust alternatives will find Akeyless offers:
- Faster time-to-value
- Lower operational complexity
- Post-quantum-ready Zero-Knowledge security
- Built-in scalability for hybrid and multi-cloud deployments
You can also compare Akeyless with other PAM alternatives to explore how its Zero-Knowledge architecture extends across secrets management, encryption, and secure access.
Next Steps
Simplify privileged access for modern infrastructure.
Unify secrets, access, and encryption without the overhead.Request a Demo to see how Akeyless Modern PAM can modernize your privileged access strategy.
FAQs
Akeyless delivers a unified SaaS platform without vaults, appliances, or add-on modules. It brings secrets management, secure access, and encryption together within a single Zero-Knowledge framework.
Yes. Akeyless is designed to protect identities and secrets across hybrid, multi-cloud, and DevOps-driven infrastructures.
Yes. Akeyless issues ephemeral SSH, RDP, and database credentials that automatically expire after each session, removing the need for static secrets.
Akeyless enforces Zero-Knowledge security through its patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography™ (DFC), which prevents any entity—including Akeyless itself—from viewing or reassembling your secrets.
Akeyless connects seamlessly with tools like Terraform, Jenkins, and Kubernetes, supporting best practices outlined in the OWASP DevSecOps Guidelines, and integrates with leading identity providers such as Okta, Azure AD, and AWS IAM.
