STRONGDM VS. TELEPORT

Identity security vendors — compare the differences

Authenticating the connection is not the same as authorizing everything that happens inside it.

StrongDM stays in the path for the life of the session, authorizing every action as it happens. Teleport authenticates the connection and can lock or moderate the session, but it does not authorize the individual actions taken inside it.

session · prod-postgres — via StrongDM LIVE 00:15:32

09:41:02 SELECT * FROM payments WHERE created_at > … ALLOWED

09:41:07 credential injected at proxy — never exposed

09:41:11 policy re-evaluated · identity + posture ok 214 MS

09:41:19 ssh deploy@10.2.14.7 — credential brokered ALLOWED

09:41:23 DROP TABLE users; BLOCKED

09:41:24 session flagged + recorded for replay ENFORCED

● authorization evaluated continuously — every request, all session long

session · prod-postgres — via Teleport NO SIGNAL

09:41:02 certificate issued · RBAC policy checked ISSUED

09:41:03 connection established · identity verified GRANTED

09:41:04 —

09:41:11 (no per-action authorization)

09:41:19 (session trusted after connect)

09:41:24 recording generated after the fact

○ authentication ends once the connection is established

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StrongDM (now Delinea) built for the way modern teams actually run access

Easier to implement. Easier to use. Easier to manage.

StrongDM brokers and controls access sessions across your infrastructure, injecting credentials at the point of connection instead of handing them out, all through one identity, one policy, and one audit trail. Teleport authenticates the connection with certificate-based identity and can lock or moderate the session, but it does not authorize the individual actions taken inside it.

Credentials are injected at the moment of connection and revoked the instant the task ends. Nothing is left standing for an attacker to find.

Every command, query, or tool call is checked against policy while the session is live, not just at the door.

Enforcement runs underneath the tools your teams already use, so nothing about the workflow gets slower.

Gateways and relays run redundant, with automatic failover, so the control plane doesn’t go down with a single node.

ONE POLICY, ONE AUDIT TRAIL

Identity security built for the AI era

StrongDM centralizes authorization across every human, machine, or AI agent identity, and enforces it at runtime instead of reviewing it after the fact.

MCP Gateway

MCP Gateway authorizes each tool call an AI agent makes before it executes. Live today for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex CLI, GitHub Copilot in VS Code, and Kiro.

No credential in the agent

The agent never holds a credential; only the action gets authorized.

Same policy for machines

Service accounts and pipelines get the same policy and audit treatment as human users.

Claude Code Claude Desktop Codex CLI GitHub Copilot · VS Code Kiro

COMPARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STRONGDM AND TELEPORT

StrongDM reduces risk and simplifies operations

StrongDM extends access control into continuous, in-session authorization across every human, machine, and AI identity.

criterion
Session recording and control	Available, command-level replay, video for RDP Available	Available, session recording and replay Available
Works with your existing vault	Available, vault agnostic Available	Vault-free by design, no integration with a vault you already run Not offered
Per-action authorization inside the session	Available, blocks or redacts the specific action live Available	Session-level lock or moderation only, not per-action Not offered
Credential separation (never reaches the requester)	Available by default Available	Reachable, but requires operating your own certificate authority and agent fleet Partial / limited
Real-time blocking or redaction	Postgres, SQL Server today Partial / limited	Detailed record after the fact, not blocked live Not offered
Zero standing privilege, ChatOps-driven JIT	Available Available	Available Available
Deployment footprint	Agentless, nothing installed on targets Available	Agent runs alongside every protected resource Not offered
Infrastructure and database breadth	Servers, Kubernetes, cloud, network, 47+ DB types documented Available	Same major categories, database depth not published Partial / limited
AI agent / MCP governance	MCP Gateway (GA), per-tool-call policy Available	MCP proxy (GA) + Agentic Identity Framework, Beams runtime in public beta as of its most recent update Partial / limited

Available Partial / limited Not offered

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Michael DaSilva_Yext — Michael DaSilva Infrastructure Security Manager, Yext

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Why the differences between StrongDM and Teleport matter

Authenticating the connection is not the same as authorizing what happens inside it

Teleport’s job is to verify identity and grant access at connection time, then it assumes the session is safe from there. StrongDM does that too, then stays.

Teleport’s in-session controls are blunt: it can lock or moderate the whole session, but not authorize the individual action.

StrongDM stays in the data path and authorizes each action as it happens, and can block or redact the specific action live.

A detailed recording is not the same as stopping the action before it runs

Teleport records and replays sessions in detail, which tells you what happened after the fact. It doesn’t block the destructive query or redact the sensitive column while the session is live.

Teleport’s audit trail reconstructs the story afterward.

StrongDM blocks specific SQL actions and redacts columns on Postgres and Microsoft SQL Server today, before they execute.

An agent fleet is not the same as an agentless proxy

Teleport reaches servers, Kubernetes clusters, and databases by running an agent alongside each one, on top of a certificate authority you operate. StrongDM reaches the same infrastructure through a proxy, with nothing installed on the resource itself.

Teleport’s coverage grows with your infrastructure, and so does the agent fleet you patch and monitor.

StrongDM’s control plane doesn’t carry that same per-resource footprint.

Two different architectures

authenticates the connection

Teleport authenticates the connection. It issues short-lived certificates, checks them against RBAC policy, and grants access to the requested server, database, or cluster. That’s a real access broker, built on cryptographic identity instead of shared secrets. Authenticating the connection is not the same as authorizing everything that happens once it’s open.

controls the entire access path

StrongDM controls the entire access path. It brokers the connection, injects the credential at the proxy so the requester never sees or handles it, checks every command or tool call against policy while the session runs, and can block or redact specific actions live on Postgres and Microsoft SQL Server today.

The same proxy model covers service accounts and AI agents the way it covers human identities, so teams run one access model instead of standing up separate infrastructure for each. A Teleport implementation gets a strong certificate-based identity model and, for teams that want it, a free self-hostable Community Edition. It still needs the in-session blocking and agentless footprint a proxy model provides, without adding a certificate authority and agent fleet to operate.

Strong identity is not the same as controlling the session

Teleport replaces shared secrets with short-lived certificates issued per session, which removes standing credentials from the equation and is a real improvement over static keys. It doesn’t inject a credential at a proxy, record and terminate a live session the way a broker can, or block a specific action while it’s running.

StrongDM brokers the connection, so a compromised session or an over-permissioned agent has nothing to take. It authorizes each action before it runs, for as long as the session lasts, records and can end the session live, and works with the vault you already run instead of requiring a new certificate authority.

Frequently asked questions

How is StrongDM different from Teleport?

Teleport authenticates at connection time. It issues a certificate, checks it against policy, and grants access to the resource. StrongDM stays in the path for the life of the session, authorizing what happens after the connection opens, not just deciding whether to allow it.

Does StrongDM enforce privileged actions in real time?

Yes, on Postgres and Microsoft SQL Server today, with more database engine coverage on the roadmap. StrongDM can block a destructive query or redact specific columns before they run. Teleport gives you a detailed recording of the session, but stopping an action live means adding separate database monitoring on top.

Is StrongDM cloud-native, and does it cover infrastructure outside the cloud?

Yes to both. StrongDM’s control plane is cloud-native and reaches servers, Kubernetes, network devices, and 47+ database engines without installing an agent on any of them. Teleport covers similar major categories but requires deploying and maintaining an agent alongside each protected resource.

Does StrongDM support AI agents and non-human identities?

Yes. MCP Gateway authorizes each tool call live today for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex CLI, GitHub Copilot in VS Code, and Kiro. Service accounts and pipelines get the same policy and audit treatment as human users. Teleport’s Agentic Identity Framework takes a different approach, isolating each agent in its own runtime through Beams rather than authorizing tool calls against workflows you already run. MCP Gateway is GA today; Teleport’s Beams runtime is in public beta as of its most recent update, so it’s newer infrastructure to stand up and operate.

What does StrongDM integrate with?

StrongDM works with the vault you already run (CyberArk, HashiCorp, or Delinea Secret Server) and streams every authorization decision, blocked action, and session event to the SIEM you already use, including Splunk, Datadog, CloudWatch, and standard syslog. Teleport is vault-free by design, which means adopting its model instead of extending the vault infrastructure you’ve already invested in.

How long does a StrongDM deployment take?

Customers switching from other access tools have gone from proof-of-concept to production without needing professional services hours; larger environments typically phase in by system type rather than a single cutover event.

Teleport offers a free, self-hostable Community Edition. Does that mean StrongDM costs more?

Teleport’s open source edition is real and worth acknowledging directly if a free, self-hostable, inspectable option is a requirement for your team. StrongDM’s pricing is published, and indicative rather than sales-contact-only, and the tradeoff is what you get for it: an agentless proxy model, in-session blocking on supported databases, and one policy and audit trail across infrastructure. Teleport’s agent model doesn’t reach the same way.

What does migrating from Teleport to StrongDM involve?

Typically, discovering and onboarding existing resources (StrongDM’s cloud resource discovery can surface and dedupe what’s already running), a parallel-run period where both platforms are live, then cutting over proxy endpoints and decommissioning Teleport agents resource by resource. Talk to a solutions engineer for a runbook specific to your environment.

Can StrongDM run alongside Teleport during a transition?

Yes. StrongDM’s proxy model doesn’t require removing Teleport first, resources can be onboarded incrementally while Teleport continues protecting anything not yet migrated, with a full cutover once the transition is complete.

Does StrongDM support Windows and RDP access the same way Teleport does?

Both support RDP with session recording. Teleport additionally offers a browser-based RDP client with no separate desktop client required; confirm current parity on this point with a solutions engineer before treating it as a differentiator either way.

What happens to our audit history if we switch from Teleport?

Switching platforms doesn’t carry historical audit logs forward automatically. Export and archive Teleport’s audit log and session recordings per your retention requirements before decommissioning; audit history in StrongDM begins accruing from cutover.

Does StrongDM support air-gapped or fully on-premises deployments?

Yes, StrongDM deploys on premises, in the cloud, or hybrid. Teleport also explicitly markets air-gapped support; confirm StrongDM’s current air-gapped certification status with a solutions engineer before a regulated-environment deal.