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Developer Tools · head to head

Ansible vs Delinea

Ansible logo

Ansible

Developer Tools

Simple, agentless IT automation

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Delinea logo

Delinea

Cybersecurity

Privileged access management from the merged Thycotic and Centrify

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Ansible has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Ansible the open source project gives the engine and the language; the automation controller, automation mesh, automation hub, analytics and governance all belong to the paid Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform; Delinea the Thycotic and Centrify lineages are integrated unevenly, so buying the full portfolio means running consoles and agents that do not share one administrative model as cleanly as the marketing suggests.
  • They diverge on capability: Ansible covers Playbooks, Delinea covers Secret Server.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ansible and Delinea actually diverge.

Attributes where Ansible and Delinea differ
AttributeAnsibleDelinea
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelopen-sourcequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, ApiWeb, Windows, Linux, macOS
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Ansible

  • Playbooks
  • Inventory management
  • Module library
  • Variables and templating
  • Handlers
  • Roles
  • Async tasks
  • Plugins

Only in Delinea

  • Secret Server
  • Privileged session recording
  • Privilege Manager
  • Server PAM
  • Discovery
  • DevOps secrets
  • Behaviour analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Ansible

  • Configuration managementnot Delinea
  • Server provisioningnot Delinea
  • Application deploymentnot Delinea
  • Multi-node managementnot Delinea
  • Orchestrationnot Delinea

Delinea

  • An organisation whose cyber insurer now requires privileged credentials to be vaulted and rotatednot Ansible
  • A mid-market IT team that abandoned a heavier PAM rollout and needs a vault that can be in production in weeksnot Ansible
  • A company removing local administrator rights from every workstation after a ransomware incidentnot Ansible
  • An audit finding that shared service account passwords are stored in a spreadsheet and used by contractorsnot Ansible

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Ansible

  • The open source project gives the engine and the language; the automation controller, automation mesh, automation hub, analytics and governance all belong to the paid Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
  • Event-Driven Ansible and the AI coding assistant are platform features rather than open source ones
  • Red Hat does not publish platform pricing
  • Running open source Ansible at scale means building the control plane the platform otherwise provides

Delinea

  • The Thycotic and Centrify lineages are integrated unevenly, so buying the full portfolio means running consoles and agents that do not share one administrative model as cleanly as the marketing suggests.
  • Modules are licensed separately by different units, per privileged user for the vault and per endpoint for privilege management, which makes total cost hard to model and easy to underestimate at scale.
  • Delinea does not publish rates, so buyers benchmark against third party and public sector listings; expect list prices to be negotiable by a wide margin, which means the first quote is not the price.
  • Thoma Bravo ownership since 2021 has coincided with firmer renewal pricing, and buyers with a single-vendor PAM estate have little leverage once credentials are inside the vault.
  • Migrating out of a privileged access vault is a genuinely hard project because every automated process that fetches a secret has to be repointed, so the switching cost is real and the vendor knows it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Ansible

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Community edition
    • Unlimited nodes
    • Full functionality
  • Ansible Automation Platform$5000/year
    • Enterprise support
    • Ansible Tower
    • Advanced features

Delinea

On request
  • Secret Server$undefined/year
    • Priced per privileged user, tiered by edition
    • Cloud or on premises deployment
    • Session recording in higher editions
  • Privilege Manager$undefined/year
    • Priced per endpoint
    • Local admin rights removal and application elevation
    • Licensed separately from Secret Server
  • Server PAM$undefined/year
    • Priced per managed server or per privileged user
    • Just-in-time server access
    • Licensed separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Ansible if

  • You need playbooks.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
  • You also want inventory management.
Ansible review

Choose Delinea if

  • You need secret server.
  • You work on Web, Windows, Linux, macOS.
  • You also want privileged session recording.
Delinea review

Questions people ask

Is Ansible or Delinea better?
Neither clearly leads. Ansible starts at Free and Delinea at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ansible or Delinea?
Ansible has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Ansible and On request for Delinea.
Does Ansible or Delinea run on more platforms?
Ansible runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api. Delinea runs on Web, Windows, Linux, macOS.
Can I use Ansible for free?
Yes. Ansible has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Delinea starts at On request.
What is Ansible best used for?
Ansible is most often used for configuration management, server provisioning, application deployment, multi-node management. Of those, configuration management and server provisioning are not what Delinea is typically brought in for.
What can Ansible do that Delinea cannot?
Ansible covers Playbooks, Inventory management, Module library, Variables and templating. Delinea covers Secret Server, Privileged session recording, Privilege Manager, Server PAM.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ansible: Is Ansible free for commercial use?

Ansible Collaborative is open source. The page describes it as 'an open source IT automation engine' and does not impose restrictions on commercial use for the open source version.

Source
Delinea: Is Delinea the same as Thycotic?

Delinea is the merged company formed from Thycotic and Centrify in 2021. Secret Server is the former Thycotic product; the server access products come from Centrify.

Ansible: What is the difference between open source Ansible and the commercial alternative?

The page references Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform as an enterprise alternative to Ansible Collaborative, but does not disclose specific differences, pricing, or feature comparisons between the two offerings.

Source
Delinea: Is pricing published?

Not by Delinea. Public sector frameworks have listed Secret Server Cloud around 348 GBP per user per year, which is a reference point, not a quote.

Ansible: Is there paid support available for Ansible?

The page does not disclose whether paid support contracts are available for open source Ansible or whether Red Hat offers support plans for their enterprise Ansible Automation Platform.

Source
Delinea: Does one licence cover endpoints and servers?

No. Secret Server, Privilege Manager and Server PAM are separately licensed on different units. Scope all three if your requirement spans them.

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