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Cybersecurity · head to head

Ping Identity vs Zencity

Ping Identity logo

Ping Identity

Cybersecurity

Enterprise identity for workforce and customers, with a 5,000 user floor

From
$3/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Zencity logo

Zencity

Government

Resident sentiment analysis combining organic social listening with representative surveys

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Ping Identity workforce pricing carries a 5,000 user annual minimum, so an organisation with 800 staff pays for 5,000 and the effective per user cost is over six times the list rate.; Zencity social listening is structurally biased toward residents who post, so a city using the listening product without the survey product will consistently mistake volume for consensus.
  • They diverge on capability: Ping Identity covers Single sign-on, Zencity covers Organic social listening.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ping Identity and Zencity actually diverge.

Attributes where Ping Identity and Zencity differ
AttributePing IdentityZencity
Starting price$3/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer user per monthquote
PlatformsWeb, Linux, WindowsWeb
CategoryCybersecurityGovernment

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 Ping Identity

  • Single sign-on
  • Adaptive MFA
  • Identity orchestration
  • API access management
  • Directory services
  • Flexible deployment
  • ForgeRock capabilities

Only in Zencity

  • Organic social listening
  • Representative surveys
  • Community trust surveys
  • Topic and sentiment analysis
  • Service request integration
  • Leadership reporting

What people use each for

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

Ping Identity

  • A bank that must keep identity data on premises in one country while running SaaS identity elsewherenot Zencity
  • An airline or telco with tens of millions of customer identities needing a directory that holds that scalenot Zencity
  • An enterprise assembling authentication journeys that call several external verification and risk vendorsnot Zencity
  • An existing ForgeRock customer deciding what its upgrade path looks like under Ping ownershipnot Zencity

Zencity

  • A city manager deciding whether a social media outcry reflects a representative viewnot Ping Identity
  • A police department measuring community trust with a sampled instrument rather than complaint volumenot Ping Identity
  • A communications team wanting early warning on a service issue before it reaches councilnot Ping Identity
  • A council needing resident input on a policy without running its own survey operationnot Ping Identity

Where each one falls short

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

Ping Identity

  • Workforce pricing carries a 5,000 user annual minimum, so an organisation with 800 staff pays for 5,000 and the effective per user cost is over six times the list rate.
  • Adaptive multi-factor authentication is in the Plus tier only, doubling the per user price for a capability many buyers assume is standard in a modern identity platform.
  • ForgeRock no longer exists as an independent product, so customers who chose it specifically to avoid Ping now face a roadmap set by the vendor they did not pick.
  • Thoma Bravo ownership across both merged companies means the commercial priority is margin, and buyers report firmer renewal negotiations than they saw before 2022.
  • The portfolio has overlapping components from three product lineages, so scoping a deployment requires vendor architects and the licensing conversation is more complicated than the price list implies.

Zencity

  • Social listening is structurally biased toward residents who post, so a city using the listening product without the survey product will consistently mistake volume for consensus.
  • Government analysis of residents' public speech, particularly by police departments, has drawn civil liberties criticism and records request scrutiny in United States cities, and agencies need a public answer ready before signing.
  • Sentiment classification of local slang, sarcasm and non English posts is imperfect, and a misclassified theme presented in a leadership briefing can be acted on before anyone checks the underlying posts.
  • Survey sample sizes at neighbourhood level are often small, so the district level breakdowns that councils most want are the least reliable numbers in the report.
  • It reports on opinion without connecting to service delivery systems, so acting on a finding remains a separate manual process in whatever operational software the agency runs.

Pricing, plan by plan

Ping Identity

$3/month
  • PingOne for Workforce Essential$3/month
    • Minimum 5,000 users billed annually
    • Single sign-on and directory services
    • OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML and SCIM
  • PingOne for Workforce Plus$6/month
    • Minimum 5,000 users billed annually
    • Everything in Essential
    • Adaptive multi-factor authentication
  • PingOne for Customers Essential$35000/year
    • Flat annual fee
    • No-code identity orchestration
    • Unified customer profiles
  • PingOne for Customers Plus$50000/year
    • Flat annual fee
    • Everything in Essential
    • Adaptive MFA and device management

Zencity

On request
  • Zencity$undefined/year
    • Quoted annually by population served and module scope
    • Survey programmes priced separately from the listening platform
    • Police community trust surveying sold as its own line

Which should you pick?

Choose Ping Identity if

  • You need single sign-on.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Windows.
  • You also want adaptive mfa.
Ping Identity review

Choose Zencity if

  • You need organic social listening.
  • You also want representative surveys.
Zencity review

Questions people ask

Is Ping Identity or Zencity better?
Neither clearly leads. Ping Identity starts at $3/month and Zencity at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ping Identity or Zencity?
Ping Identity starts at $3/month and Zencity at On request.
Does Ping Identity or Zencity run on more platforms?
Ping Identity runs on Web, Linux, Windows. Zencity runs on Web.
What is Ping Identity best used for?
Ping Identity is most often used for a bank that must keep identity data on premises in one country while running saas identity elsewhere, an airline or telco with tens of millions of customer identities needing a directory that holds that scale, an enterprise assembling authentication journeys that call several external verification and risk vendors, an existing forgerock customer deciding what its upgrade path looks like under ping ownership. Of those, a bank that must keep identity data on premises in one country while running saas identity elsewhere and an airline or telco with tens of millions of customer identities needing a directory that holds that scale are not what Zencity is typically brought in for.
What can Ping Identity do that Zencity cannot?
Ping Identity covers Single sign-on, Adaptive MFA, Identity orchestration, API access management. Zencity covers Organic social listening, Representative surveys, Community trust surveys, Topic and sentiment analysis.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ping Identity: Can I still buy ForgeRock?

Not as a separate product. Ping acquired ForgeRock in 2023 and the capabilities are sold within the Ping portfolio. Existing customers should ask about the specific migration path for their components.

Zencity: Is this surveillance of residents?

It analyses publicly posted content and aggregated survey responses rather than private accounts, but the distinction has been contested publicly, especially for police use. Prepare an explanation before procurement.

Ping Identity: What is the real minimum spend?

PingOne for Workforce Essential is 3 USD per user per month with a 5,000 user annual minimum, so roughly 180,000 USD a year before anything else.

Zencity: Why pair listening with surveys?

Because the people who post are not representative of the people who live there. The gap between the two datasets is often the most useful output.

Ping Identity: Is MFA included?

Basic authentication policies are in Essential. Adaptive MFA and passwordless require the Plus tier at 6 USD per user per month.

Zencity: What did Zencity acquire?

Elucd, in 2021, which brought community trust survey methodology used with police departments.

Zencity: Can residents find out what our city bought?

Yes. These are public contracts and several have been obtained and published through records requests.

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