Local admin rights are the fuel most endpoint attacks run on: malware inherits the user’s privileges, and an admin user means an admin infection. EPM removes standing admin rights and elevates individual applications or tasks just-in-time within a broader Zero Trust Architecture.
CyberArk scores highest on depth, Admin By Request on deployment speed, and ThreatLocker on combining elevation with allowlisting. Here are the ten best, scored and a consolidation note buyers should see first.
One Ownership Note Before the Table
Netwrix and CoSoSys are the same company — Netwrix acquired CoSoSys (Endpoint Protector) in 2024. That matters here because Netwrix appears on this EPM list while CoSoSys appears on our device-control list: if you’re shortlisting both categories, you may be talking to one vendor twice without realizing, which affects bundling leverage.
The 2026 EPM Scorecard
| Rank | Tool | Elevation workflow (30%) | Coverage (25%) | Policy depth (20%) | Time-to-value (15%) | Value (10%) | Total |
| 1 | Heimdal | 8 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 7.8 |
| 2 | BeyondTrust | 9 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 8.4 |
| 3 | Delinea | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 8.1 |
| 4 | ThreatLocker | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8.2 |
| 5 | Admin By Request | 8 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 8.0 |
| 6 | ManageEngine | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 7.6 |
| 7 | Microsoft | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 6.8 |
| 8 | One Identity | 7 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7.1 |
| 9 | Netwrix | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7.0 |
| 10 | Ivanti | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6.9 |
Weighted averages rounded to one decimal. Editorial assessments, not benchmark results.
How We Scored
Research-based; no lab testing claimed. Elevation workflow (30%) dominates because EPM succeeds or fails on what happens when a user needs admin rights right now approval routes, self-service justification, and offline behaviour.
Coverage (25%): Windows, macOS, Linux, and servers. Policy depth (20%): per-application elevation, child-process control, context rules.
Time-to-value (15%) and value (10%) complete the weighting.
The Ten, Scored
1.Heimdal — 8.0/10
Why: Heimdal combines endpoint privilege management (EPM) with application control and just-in-time elevation, giving organizations a practical way to remove standing local admin rights while keeping approved workflows usable.
Strengths: just-in-time privilege elevation; application-specific controls; policy-based privilege management; automated approval workflows; broader endpoint security capabilities that can complement EPM; generally simpler deployment than heavyweight enterprise PAM platforms.
Trade-offs: less extensive enterprise PAM depth than CyberArk; smaller ecosystem and market presence; advanced privilege workflows and cross-platform requirements should be validated during a proof of concept.
Image ALT: Heimdal endpoint privilege management and just-in-time application elevation
2. BeyondTrust — 8.4/10 · broadest platform coverage
Why: The only perfect coverage score — Windows, macOS, and a genuinely strong Unix/Linux story that most competitors lack, plus mature QuickStart policy templates that shorten the least-privilege journey and address hidden privilege paths and PAM risks.
Strengths: best cross-platform breadth including servers; proven at very large scale; strong reporting for audit; pairs with BeyondTrust’s session management for a full PAM picture.
Trade-offs: enterprise pricing; deployment is a project; some capabilities split across modules.
Image ALT: BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management least privilege policy
3. ThreatLocker — 8.2/10 · best combined with allowlisting
Why: Elevation control in the same agent and console as allowlisting and Ringfencing, supporting robust ransomware protection solutions so “can this run?” and “can this run elevated?” are one policy conversation. For organizations doing default-deny anyway, adding EPM is nearly free operationally.
Strengths: single-agent simplicity; approval workflow with fast response times; strong MSP support; elevation tied to specific applications rather than sessions.
Trade-offs: identity-platform depth (vaulting, session recording) isn’t the point here; enterprise PAM buyers still need a PAM platform alongside.
Image ALT: ThreatLocker elevation control with allowlisting policy
4. Delinea — 8.1/10 · strongest mid-enterprise balance
Why: Privilege Manager delivers most of the leaders’ capability with less deployment weight, and Delinea’s cloud-first architecture suits organizations wanting enterprise EPM integrated with modern Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions.
Strengths: clean cloud administration; good Windows and macOS coverage; sensible policy wizards; strong integration with Delinea’s vault for a combined story.
Trade-offs: Unix/Linux depth trails BeyondTrust; very large estates may want the deeper engines above.
Image ALT: Delinea Privilege Manager application elevation policy
5. Admin By Request — 8.0/10 · fastest to deploy
Why: A perfect time-to-value score. The Danish vendor’s model — users request, admins approve from a phone, everything is logged and malware-scanned with integrated malware protection solutions — deploys in days, and a genuinely free tier for small fleets makes evaluation frictionless.
Strengths: deployment measured in days; excellent user experience; free tier for small deployments; per-session and per-app elevation with OPSWAT-backed scanning; published pricing.
Trade-offs: policy depth below the enterprise engines; fewer compliance-grade reporting options; smaller ecosystem.
Image ALT: Admin By Request just-in-time elevation approval workflow
6. ManageEngine — 7.6/10 · best mid-market value
Why: Application Control Plus and PAM360 cover elevation and application control alongside automated patch management software at published prices mid-market teams can approve, integrated with the wider ManageEngine estate.
Strengths: published pricing; combines allowlisting and elevation; fits existing ManageEngine deployments; quick start.
Trade-offs: console density; enterprise polish and depth trail the leaders; macOS support thinner than Windows.
Image ALT: ManageEngine endpoint privilege and application control
7. One Identity — 7.1/10 · best inside its identity estate
Why: Privilege management within One Identity’s broader identity governance portfolio — a sensible consolidation for existing customers, feeding privileged telemetry directly into Security Operations Center (SOC) platforms.
Strengths: coherent identity-suite story; strong AD-centric controls; solid server privilege management via Safeguard.
Trade-offs: endpoint-specific EPM depth trails the top three; buy it as part of the suite, not standalone.
Image ALT: One Identity privilege management within identity governance
8. Netwrix — 7.0/10 · strengthening through acquisition
Why: Netwrix has assembled privilege management (from the Remediant and PolicyPak acquisitions among others) alongside auditing and data security, correlating activity against threat intelligence feeds to stop privilege escalation.
Strengths: standing-privilege removal heritage from Remediant; good auditing DNA; increasingly broad portfolio including the CoSoSys device-control line.
Trade-offs: portfolio assembled from many acquisitions — ask which console and agent you’re actually getting; enterprise polish varies by module.
Image ALT: Netwrix privilege management and audit console
9. Microsoft — 6.8/10 · the free baseline
Why: A perfect value score: Windows LAPS randomizes local admin passwords free following standard Windows security best practices, and Microsoft Intune’s Endpoint Privilege Management add-on brings per-app elevation to Intune-managed estates without a third-party agent.
Strengths: LAPS is free and should be universal; Intune EPM is native to the management stack you may already run; no additional agent.
Trade-offs: Intune EPM is a paid add-on with policy depth well below the specialists; Windows-only; approval workflows are basic.
Image ALT: Microsoft Intune Endpoint Privilege Management elevation rules
10. Ivanti — 6.9/10 · best within an Ivanti estate
Why: elevation and application control together in Ivanti’s endpoint portfolio, with the trusted-ownership model reducing rule maintenance.
Strengths: combined app control and elevation; UEM integration; low-maintenance trust model.
Trade-offs: Ivanti products have featured repeatedly in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, making vendor-security due diligence mandatory; deepest value only inside an Ivanti estate.
Image ALT: Ivanti privilege management and application control policy
Buyer’s Guide
Start with LAPS regardless. Randomizing local admin passwords is free and removes the shared-password lateral-movement path. Every EPM deployment should sit on top of it.
Pilot the “4pm Friday” workflow. A user needs elevation now: how do they ask, who approves, from where, how long does it take, and what happens offline? That workflow — not the feature matrix — determines help-desk load and user revolt.
Demand child-process control. Elevating an installer that spawns an elevated browser is a privilege hole. Good EPM controls what elevated processes may launch.
Watch credential-theft protections. Removing admin rights doesn’t stop token and credential theft from memory; the stronger tools (CyberArk especially) add explicit protections here.
Common mistakes: removing admin rights with no elevation path (users find workarounds); elevating whole sessions instead of applications; and ignoring application control, which pairs naturally several tools here do both.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is endpoint privilege management?
EPM removes standing local administrator rights from users and elevates specific applications or tasks just-in-time under policy, with approval workflows and full audit.
Malware then runs with user-level privileges instead of admin, which blocks most privilege-dependent attack paths.
What is the best EPM tool in 2026?
CyberArk and BeyondTrust lead on depth — CyberArk for policy granularity and credential-theft protection, BeyondTrust for cross-platform breadth including Unix/Linux.
ThreatLocker is the best combined allowlisting-plus-elevation agent, Admin By Request the fastest to deploy, and ManageEngine the mid-market value pick.
Is removing local admin rights disruptive?
Less than feared, if elevation is self-service and fast. The failed projects removed rights without a workable elevation path.
Modern tools approve per-application elevation in seconds from a phone, and most users stop noticing within weeks.
Do I need EPM if I have PAM?
Usually yes — traditional PAM vaults and brokers privileged accounts, mostly on servers; EPM governs day-to-day elevation on endpoints. The leading vendors sell both, and mature programmes run both.
Is there a free EPM option?
Windows LAPS is free and handles local admin password randomization. Admin By Request offers a genuinely usable free tier for small fleets. Full policy-driven EPM at scale requires a paid product.
How much does EPM cost?
Per endpoint per year; the enterprise platforms are quote-based, while Admin By Request and ManageEngine publish accessible pricing. Factor the help-desk time saved by good elevation workflows it usually dwarfs the licence delta between vendors.
Bottom Line
CyberArk and BeyondTrust are the enterprise references — pick on policy depth versus platform breadth.
Delinea balances capability and weight for the mid-enterprise, ThreatLocker wins where allowlisting and elevation should be one agent, and Admin By Request is the fastest, cheapest credible start with a free tier that makes piloting effortless.
Turn on LAPS today regardless, and judge every vendor by the Friday-afternoon elevation request.
Related reading on Cyber Security News:
• Top 10 Best Privileged Access Management (PAM) Tools
• Top 10 Best Application Control & Allowlisting Tools
• 10 Best Identity and Access Management Solutions
• Top 10 Best Identity Threat Detection & Response (ITDR) Solutions
• Top 10 Best Ransomware Protection Solutions
• Top 10 Best Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) Solutions
• Top 10 Best User Access Management Tools
• Top 10 Best Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Solutions
• Passwordless Authentication Solutions
• Top 10 Best Zero Trust Security Vendors
• Top 10 Best Patch Management Software
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