8 Best StrongDM Alternatives & Competitors (2026)

CyberArk specializes in privileged access management with vault-based credential storage and session isolation for enterprise environments. It offers strong compliance tooling and discovery of privileged accounts but relies on standing privileges and secrets management that Teleport eliminates through cryptographic identity and ephemeral access. Organizations with heavy regulatory needs may prefer CyberArk's mature vault features, while those seeking zero-standing-privilege models and AI agent governance often migrate toward Teleport for simpler infrastructure access.

CyberArk specializes in privileged access management with vault-based credential storage and session isolation for enterprise environments. It offers strong compliance tooling and discovery of privileged accounts but relies on standing privileges and secrets management that Teleport eliminates through cryptographic identity and ephemeral access. Organizations with heavy regulatory needs may prefer CyberArk's mature vault features, while those seeking zero-standing-privilege models and AI agent governance often migrate toward Teleport for simpler infrastructure access.

HashiCorp Vault provides secrets management, dynamic credentials, and identity-based access for cloud infrastructure. It excels at brokering short-lived tokens yet still centers on a secrets engine rather than Teleport's hardware-rooted cryptographic identity for every human, machine, and AI actor. Teams already invested in the HashiCorp ecosystem may retain Vault for application secrets while adopting Teleport to unify infrastructure access and remove VPN complexity.

Okta delivers workforce identity and SSO across applications with strong MFA and lifecycle management. While it integrates with infrastructure tools, it lacks Teleport's native zero-trust access to servers, Kubernetes, and databases without additional proxies. Companies using Okta for employee authentication often layer Teleport on top to extend the same identity model to infrastructure with ephemeral privileges and full session recording.

Tailscale creates mesh VPNs using WireGuard for simple private networking between machines. It reduces some access friction but still grants broad network reach rather than Teleport's just-in-time, identity-centric permissions with cryptographic attestation. Teams wanting lightweight connectivity may start with Tailscale, yet those needing PAM-grade auditing and AI workload controls typically evaluate Teleport for deeper governance.

BeyondTrust provides privileged access management with password rotation, endpoint privilege management, and remote access tools. It emphasizes credential vaulting and analytics, differing from Teleport's elimination of credentials via ephemeral, hardware-backed privileges. Enterprises with legacy Windows-heavy estates may retain BeyondTrust modules while adopting Teleport for Linux and cloud-native infrastructure.

Duo focuses on zero-trust network access and MFA for users and devices with strong posture checks. It secures remote access effectively yet does not provide the infrastructure-native SSH, Kubernetes, or database controls that Teleport embeds directly. Security teams using Duo for user verification often pair it with Teleport to extend the same identity principles to machine and AI workloads.