Cybersecurity · head to head
Delinea vs Notepad++
Delinea
Cybersecurity
Privileged access management from the merged Thycotic and Centrify
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
Notepad++
Developer Tools
Free, lightweight source code and text editor for Windows
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Only Notepad++ has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: 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.; Notepad++ windows-only, with no official native macOS or Linux build.
- They diverge on capability: Delinea covers Secret Server, Notepad++ covers Syntax Highlighting.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Delinea and Notepad++ actually diverge.
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 Delinea
- Secret Server
- Privileged session recording
- Privilege Manager
- Server PAM
- Discovery
- DevOps secrets
- Behaviour analytics
Only in Notepad++
- Syntax Highlighting
- Tabbed Editing
- Plugin System
- Regular Expression Search
- Function List
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Delinea
- An organisation whose cyber insurer now requires privileged credentials to be vaulted and rotatednot Notepad++
- A mid-market IT team that abandoned a heavier PAM rollout and needs a vault that can be in production in weeksnot Notepad++
- A company removing local administrator rights from every workstation after a ransomware incidentnot Notepad++
- An audit finding that shared service account passwords are stored in a spreadsheet and used by contractorsnot Notepad++
Notepad++
- Quick editing of code and config files on Windowsnot Delinea
- Batch find-and-replace across multiple files with regexnot Delinea
- Lightweight alternative to a full IDE for scriptingnot Delinea
- Viewing and editing logs or large text filesnot Delinea
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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.
Notepad++
- Windows-only, with no official native macOS or Linux build.
- Lacks built-in debugging or project/build management found in full IDEs.
- Plugin quality and maintenance varies since they are community-contributed.
- No built-in version control integration beyond what plugins provide.
Pricing, plan by plan
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
Notepad++
Free- FreeFree
- Full editor and plugin ecosystem, no paid tiers
Which should you pick?
Choose Delinea if
- You need secret server.
- You work on Web, Windows, Linux, macOS.
- You also want privileged session recording.
Choose Notepad++ if
- You need syntax highlighting.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on windows.
- You also want tabbed editing.
Questions people ask
- Is Delinea or Notepad++ better?
- Neither clearly leads. Delinea starts at On request and Notepad++ at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Delinea or Notepad++?
- Notepad++ has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Delinea and Free for Notepad++.
- Does Delinea or Notepad++ run on more platforms?
- Delinea runs on Web, Windows, Linux, macOS. Notepad++ runs on windows.
- Can I use Notepad++ for free?
- Yes. Notepad++ has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Delinea starts at On request.
- What is Delinea best used for?
- Delinea is most often used for an organisation whose cyber insurer now requires privileged credentials to be vaulted and rotated, a mid-market it team that abandoned a heavier pam rollout and needs a vault that can be in production in weeks, a company removing local administrator rights from every workstation after a ransomware incident, an audit finding that shared service account passwords are stored in a spreadsheet and used by contractors. Of those, an organisation whose cyber insurer now requires privileged credentials to be vaulted and rotated and a mid-market it team that abandoned a heavier pam rollout and needs a vault that can be in production in weeks are not what Notepad++ is typically brought in for.
- What can Delinea do that Notepad++ cannot?
- Delinea covers Secret Server, Privileged session recording, Privilege Manager, Server PAM. Notepad++ covers Syntax Highlighting, Tabbed Editing, Plugin System, Regular Expression Search.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
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.
Notepad++: Is Notepad++ free?
Yes, Notepad++ is free and open-source software distributed under the GNU General Public License, with no paid tiers.
SourceDelinea: 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.
Notepad++: What license does Notepad++ use?
Notepad++ is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0 (GPLv2), meaning its source code is freely available and modifiable under GPL terms.
SourceDelinea: 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.
Notepad++: Which operating systems does Notepad++ support?
Notepad++ runs exclusively on Microsoft Windows; there is no official native build for macOS or Linux.
SourceNotepad++: How do I install plugins in Notepad++?
Plugins are installed and managed through the built-in Plugins Admin (plugin manager), which lists community plugins available for download and update.
SourceNotepad++: Where can I get help or documentation for Notepad++?
Official documentation is at the User Manual site, and community support is available through the Notepad++ community forum and GitHub issue tracker.
SourceRelated pages
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