Softwr

Cybersecurity · head to head

Delinea vs ProtonVPN

Delinea logo

Delinea

Cybersecurity

Privileged access management from the merged Thycotic and Centrify

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ProtonVPN logo

ProtonVPN

Cybersecurity

High-speed Swiss VPN that safeguards your privacy

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only ProtonVPN 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.; ProtonVPN free plan limited to one device at a time
  • They diverge on capability: Delinea covers Secret Server, ProtonVPN covers No-logs policy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Delinea and ProtonVPN actually diverge.

Attributes where Delinea and ProtonVPN differ
AttributeDelineaProtonVPN
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotefreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Windows, Linux, macOSWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android
FoundedUnknown2014

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

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 ProtonVPN

  • No-logs policy
  • Secure Core
  • Kill Switch
  • DNS leak protection
  • Tor over VPN
  • Split tunneling
  • NetShield ad-blocker
  • VPN Accelerator

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 ProtonVPN
  • A mid-market IT team that abandoned a heavier PAM rollout and needs a vault that can be in production in weeksnot ProtonVPN
  • A company removing local administrator rights from every workstation after a ransomware incidentnot ProtonVPN
  • An audit finding that shared service account passwords are stored in a spreadsheet and used by contractorsnot ProtonVPN

ProtonVPN

  • Privacy-focused browsing without subscription costnot Delinea
  • Multi-device protection with Plus plan supporting 10 devicesnot Delinea
  • Integrated access to Proton email and cloud services via Unlimited plannot 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.

ProtonVPN

  • Free plan limited to one device at a time
  • Free plan restricted to 10 countries with random selection
  • Pricing amounts not clearly published; shown as variable

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

ProtonVPN

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the ProtonVPN review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Delinea if

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

Choose ProtonVPN if

  • You need no-logs policy.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android.
  • You also want secure core.
ProtonVPN review

Questions people ask

Is Delinea or ProtonVPN better?
Neither clearly leads. Delinea starts at On request and ProtonVPN at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Delinea or ProtonVPN?
ProtonVPN has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Delinea and Free for ProtonVPN.
Does Delinea or ProtonVPN run on more platforms?
Delinea runs on Web, Windows, Linux, macOS. ProtonVPN runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android.
Can I use ProtonVPN for free?
Yes. ProtonVPN 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 ProtonVPN is typically brought in for.
What can Delinea do that ProtonVPN cannot?
Delinea covers Secret Server, Privileged session recording, Privilege Manager, Server PAM. ProtonVPN covers No-logs policy, Secure Core, Kill Switch, DNS leak protection.

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.

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.

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.

Share

Related pages

More on Delinea

More on ProtonVPN

Keep looking

Other head to heads