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Cybersecurity · head to head

Delinea vs Socket

Delinea logo

Delinea

Cybersecurity

Privileged access management from the merged Thycotic and Centrify

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Socket logo

Socket

Cybersecurity

Supply chain security platform detecting and blocking malicious dependencies

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Socket 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.; Socket team plan requires minimum 5-developer commitment, expensive for small teams
  • They diverge on capability: Delinea covers Secret Server, Socket covers Malware detection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Delinea and Socket actually diverge.

Attributes where Delinea and Socket differ
AttributeDelineaSocket
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer-developer monthly subscription with tiered access
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Windows, Linux, macOSWeb, CLI, GitHub
FoundedUnknown2021

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 Socket

  • Malware detection
  • Automatic blocking
  • AI behavior analysis
  • Reachability analysis
  • Slack integration
  • SBOM support
  • SAML SSO
  • GitHub Actions scanning

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

Socket

  • Blocking zero-day malware attacks in JavaScript dependenciesnot Delinea
  • Managing CVE false positives with precomputed reachability analysisnot Delinea
  • Securing Python and Go supply chains at scalenot Delinea
  • Automating compliance requirements for regulated industriesnot Delinea
  • Real-time threat notifications via Slack integrationnot 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.

Socket

  • Team plan requires minimum 5-developer commitment, expensive for small teams
  • Business plan $50/dev/month becomes costly for teams exceeding 20 members
  • Enterprise pricing requires custom consultation with no transparent pricing
  • Free plan limited to individual developers without team collaboration
  • Reachability analysis improvement (90% false positive reduction) only on Enterprise

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

Socket

Free
  • FreeFree
    • For individual developers
    • Detects 70+ risk types
    • Blocks malicious dependencies automatically
  • Team$25/month
    • Per developer on minimum 5 developers
    • Precomputed reachability analysis cuts 60% false positives
    • Slack alerts for threats
  • Business$50/month
    • Per developer on minimum 20 developers
    • All Team features
    • Compliance integrations with Vanta
  • Enterprise$undefined/custom
    • Function-level reachability eliminates up to 90% irrelevant CVEs
    • Multi-repository system support
    • Named account manager

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 Socket if

  • You need malware detection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI, GitHub.
  • You also want automatic blocking.
Socket review

Questions people ask

Is Delinea or Socket better?
Neither clearly leads. Delinea starts at On request and Socket at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Delinea or Socket?
Socket has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Delinea and Free for Socket.
Does Delinea or Socket run on more platforms?
Delinea runs on Web, Windows, Linux, macOS. Socket runs on Web, CLI, GitHub.
Can I use Socket for free?
Yes. Socket 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 Socket is typically brought in for.
What can Delinea do that Socket cannot?
Delinea covers Secret Server, Privileged session recording, Privilege Manager, Server PAM. Socket covers Malware detection, Automatic blocking, AI behavior analysis, Reachability analysis.

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.

Socket: How many zero-day attacks does Socket detect?

Socket detects over 100 zero-day attacks weekly across JavaScript, Python, and Go ecosystems.

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.

Socket: What is precomputed reachability analysis?

Socket's precomputed reachability analysis cuts CVE false positives by 60% automatically on Team plans, and up to 90% on Enterprise plans through function-level analysis.

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.

Socket: Is there a discount for annual billing?

Yes. Socket offers a 20% discount for annual commitments across all subscription tiers.

Source
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