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Cybersecurity · head to head

Delinea vs Wireshark

Delinea logo

Delinea

Cybersecurity

Privileged access management from the merged Thycotic and Centrify

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Wireshark logo

Wireshark

Cybersecurity

The world's foremost network protocol analyzer

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Wireshark 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.; Wireshark free and open source under the GNU GPL; downloadable without paying any license fee, no commercial tier
  • They diverge on capability: Delinea covers Secret Server, Wireshark covers Deep packet inspection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Delinea and Wireshark actually diverge.

Attributes where Delinea and Wireshark differ
AttributeDelineaWireshark
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotefree
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Windows, Linux, macOSDesktop, Cli
FoundedUnknown1998

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 Wireshark

  • Deep packet inspection
  • Live capture
  • Offline analysis
  • 3000+ protocol support
  • Rich display filters
  • VoIP analysis
  • Decryption support
  • Scripting with Lua

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

Wireshark

  • Network Securitynot Delinea
  • Packet Analysisnot Delinea
  • Open Sourcenot 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.

Wireshark

  • Free and open source under the GNU GPL; downloadable without paying any license fee, no commercial tier

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

Wireshark

Free
  • Free & Open SourceFree
    • Full functionality
    • Deep inspection
    • Live capture

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 Wireshark if

  • You need deep packet inspection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Desktop, Cli.
  • You also want live capture.
Wireshark review

Questions people ask

Is Delinea or Wireshark better?
Neither clearly leads. Delinea starts at On request and Wireshark at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Delinea or Wireshark?
Wireshark has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Delinea and Free for Wireshark.
Does Delinea or Wireshark run on more platforms?
Delinea runs on Web, Windows, Linux, macOS. Wireshark runs on Desktop, Cli.
Can I use Wireshark for free?
Yes. Wireshark 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 Wireshark is typically brought in for.
What can Delinea do that Wireshark cannot?
Delinea covers Secret Server, Privileged session recording, Privilege Manager, Server PAM. Wireshark covers Deep packet inspection, Live capture, Offline analysis, 3000+ protocol support.

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.

Wireshark: Is there a cost to download and use Wireshark?

No, Wireshark is completely free. It's distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2, making it "free software" with no demo limitations. The full version is available at no cost.

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.

Wireshark: What support options are available for Wireshark users?

Wireshark offers multiple support channels including mailing lists, an active Discord community, the Ask Wireshark Q&A platform, comprehensive documentation, a user guide, and developer resources for those needing technical assistance.

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.

Wireshark: Are there different pricing tiers or subscription levels?

Wireshark does not offer pricing tiers or subscriptions. There is one free version available to all users regardless of use case, personal, professional, or organizational.

Source
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