Choose a BoKS alternative by matching it to the identities, systems, access paths, controls, and audit workflows your BoKS installation actually uses—not by assuming that another product is a feature-for-feature replacement. SSH PrivX, BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA), and Delinea each document capabilities relevant to some privileged-access needs, but the available product documentation does not establish compatibility with your particular BoKS version, modules, or migration path. Inventory your current environment, compare vendors against that inventory, then test the critical workflows in a proof of concept.
What should you map in your BoKS installation first?
Start with the job BoKS performs in your environment. Record each privileged-access use case and the systems, people, policies, and evidence it depends on. BoKS versions, modules, and deployments can differ; without those details, no vendor can responsibly confirm a universal replacement.
- Identities: workforce administrators, service or machine identities, contractors, vendors, and emergency accounts.
- Targets: Linux and Unix servers, Windows systems, network devices, cloud resources, appliances, and operational technology (OT), if present.
- Access paths: SSH, RDP, other device protocols, browser sessions, native clients, APIs, or any target-side agents and configuration.
- Controls: identity-provider and directory connections, roles, approvals, MFA, delegated administration, credential storage or rotation, and rules for granting or revoking access.
- Evidence and operations: session recording or logging, observation and termination, audit retention and export, high availability, recovery, integrations, and upgrade responsibilities.
For each use case, note what happens today, what must remain unchanged, and what could be redesigned. Include policy and secret inventories, historical logs and recordings, and any coexistence needs in the migration discussion.
How should you compare PAM alternatives?
Use one row per current BoKS use case, then ask every shortlisted vendor to demonstrate that same workflow. Record whether each requirement is documented, demonstrated in your proof of concept, contractually included, or still unverified. A feature described on a product page is not, by itself, evidence that it is included in your proposed package or works with your targets.
| Evaluation area | What to establish |
|---|---|
| Scope | Which people, machine identities, targets, and environments are covered? Include vendors, cloud resources, network devices, and OT only where they are part of your estate. |
| Identity and authorization | Which identity sources integrate? Can you reproduce required roles, contextual permissions, approvals, MFA, delegated administration, and joiner/mover/leaver changes? |
| Credential handling | Does the workflow use vaulted and rotated passwords, credential injection, SSH keys, short-lived certificates, or another method? Determine whether users can see secrets and how credentials are managed for targets that cannot use the preferred method. |
| Protocols and targets | Check SSH, RDP, network-device access, browser-based and native-client workflows, APIs, and any target-side service, agent, trust, or configuration requirement. |
| Session control and evidence | Test what is logged or recorded, whether sessions can be observed or terminated, how audit data is searched, and how records are retained and exported. |
| Deployment and resilience | Confirm SaaS/cloud and self-hosted options, network reachability, supported operating systems, dependencies, high-availability design, recovery behavior, and upgrade process for the exact proposed release. |
| Migration and commercial terms | Ask how policies, secrets, history, and recordings can be migrated or retained; whether coexistence is supported; and what implementation effort, licenses, and support are included. Comparable pricing, savings, deployment-time, and migration-success figures are not stated in the cited vendor material. |
Make the vendor answer specific to your BoKS version, modules, target estate, and proposed product package. The reviewed official documentation does not establish a supported BoKS migration route or universal feature parity for these candidates.
Which documented capabilities make each candidate worth evaluating?
The products below are candidates to assess against your inventory, not an overall ranking. Their vendor documentation describes relevant functions, but does not independently test performance or prove equivalence to a BoKS deployment.
Rank #2
- DUAL-APPLICATION CARD: Combines FIDO2 hardware two-factor authentication and MIFARE DESFire EV2 (4K, AES) physical access on one Swiss-engineered NFC smart card
- CUSTOMIZABLE WHITE PVC: Blank printable face ready for in-house printing of employee photos, names, and company logos to double as a branded ID badge
- FIDO ALLIANCE CERTIFIED: Meets FIDO2 v2.1 and CTAP Level 1 for phishing-resistant MFA and passwordless sign-in where the service supports it
- CERTIFIED SECURE ELEMENT: Common Criteria EAL 6+ augmented protect your keys on a tamper-resistant chip
- TAP OR CONTACT USE: Works over NFC (ISO 14443) and contact (ISO 7816) interfaces backed by a 2 year warranty
| Candidate | Capabilities described in vendor documentation | Questions to resolve for your environment |
|---|---|---|
| SSH PrivX | SSH Communications Security’s PrivX v44 introduction describes audited remote access to cloud infrastructure, servers, network devices, appliances, and OT. It documents role-based permissions and short-lived certificate authentication, with a secrets vault and password rotation for targets that cannot use certificates. PrivX 45.0 downloads for RHEL/Rocky Linux 8 and 9 and Amazon Linux 2023 are listed on the official software page updated September 30, 2026. | Certificate authentication requires configuring target systems to trust the PrivX certificate authority. Confirm the target-side work, vault and rotation coverage, identity integrations, high availability, Windows/RDP needs, and migration requirements. The v44 software material says the PrivX Agent is deprecated beginning with v44 while privx-cmd remains separately available; validate the client and components for the release you intend to deploy. |
| BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA) | BeyondTrust’s getting-started documentation describes remote privileged-access controls, a vault for privileged passwords and keys, credential injection, session logging, live viewing, and session termination. It lists Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile platforms, and SSH and Telnet devices. Its deployment documentation describes BeyondTrust-hosted cloud and a customer-hosted virtual appliance, along with authentication and integration options. | Test whether PRA covers every BoKS function and target protocol you use. Confirm integrations, resilience, data residency, migration artifacts, and pricing for the proposed setup. The deployment documentation qualifies endpoint and concurrent-user capacity by deployment and infrastructure; those figures are not universal guarantees. |
| Delinea | Delinea’s PRA documentation describes browser-based RDP and SSH access without a VPN, integration with Secret Server deployed in a cloud or private network, SMB/SFTP file transfers, and configurable near-real-time observation and session recording. Its platform documentation describes least-privilege and just-in-time controls for Windows, Linux, and Unix servers, plus MFA at server login and privilege elevation. | Confirm that relevant services are enabled on target systems. Establish the required protocol and target coverage, deployment architecture, migration of policies and audit history, and operational fit. Confirm which product modules and licenses are required for the intended functions; the cited documentation does not establish the package for your specific scope. |
These summaries reflect vendor descriptions, not independent comparative tests. No directly comparable performance, price, savings, deployment-duration, or BoKS migration-success figure is established in the cited material.
What should a proof of concept demonstrate?
Build the proof of concept around representative systems and realistic operator tasks, including failure and recovery cases. A useful test sequence is:
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- Key with Logo Keychain Security Brands and American Access Systems for Access Panel Keys - Gate Openers - Keypads - Telephone Entry: - Cellular Access Control: Model 16-X1, Model 16-M7, Model 25-K2, Model 25-K2SBI, Model 25-K2HID, Model 25-K2SK, Model 16-M1, Model 16-M4, Model 16-X2. - Wireless Access Control: Model 14-500, Model 14-500T, Model 14-HD500, Model 14-HD500T, Model 14-RTE433, Model 14-RTE433T, Model 14-RTE300. - Multi-Tenant: Model 16-M7, Model 16-M1, Model 16-M4, Model 16-X2.
- - Smart Access Control: Model 27-210, Model 27-215, Model 27-220, Model 27-225, Model 27-220HID, Model 27-225HID, Model 27-220SK, Model 27-225SK, Model 27-230, Model 27-230HID, Model 27-230SK, Model 27-240. - Telephone Entry: Model 16-X1, Model 16-M7, Model 16-M1, Model 16-M4, Model 16-X2. - Intercom Stations: Model 12-000I, Model 23-100I, Model 23-006I, Model 23-013I, Model 17-300, Model ADV-1000I, Model 19-100I, Model 27-215, Model 27-225, Model 27-225HID, Model 27-225SK.
- - Keypads: Model 12-000, Model 12-000I, Model 12-000SG, Model 23-100KP, Model 23-006KP, Model 23-013KP, Model ADV-1000, Model 26-500, Model 19-100, Model 19-100E, Model ADV-1000I, Model ADV-1000-KNOX, Model 19-100I, Model 16-X1, Model 16-M7, Model 25-K2, Model 25-K2SBI, Model 25-K2HID, Model 25-K2SK, Model 16-M1, Model 16-M4, Model 16-X2, Model 27-210, Model 27-215, Model 27-230, Model 27-230HID, Model 27-230SK, Model 14-500, Model 14-500T, Model 14-HD500, Model 14-HD500T.
- Select representative targets: include the Linux/Unix and Windows systems, network devices, cloud resources, or OT systems that are genuinely in scope. Include more than one access method if your current workflows use more than one.
- Run normal and emergency access: test an administrator’s routine task and an emergency workflow, including required approvals, role boundaries, and MFA.
- Test third-party access: verify the contractor or vendor workflow, its allowed targets and actions, and how access is ended or revoked.
- Verify credential handling: exercise the relevant password rotation or certificate setup. Check whether secrets are exposed to users and what target-side configuration is required.
- Inspect session controls and audit output: observe, record, search, export, and—where supported and required—terminate a session. Check the resulting evidence against your retention and audit needs.
- Exercise identity changes: change or remove an identity in the relevant provider or directory and verify how authorization changes in the PAM workflow.
- Test resilience and dependencies: validate high-availability and failure behavior, network reachability, and recovery using the deployment architecture proposed for production.
- Rehearse migration and coexistence: determine which policies, secrets, historical evidence, and integrations can be transferred, retained, or must be rebuilt. Do not assume migration is supported until the vendor confirms the route for your installation.
Capture the exact product release, deployment model, modules, and license assumptions used in the test. Keep a record of what was demonstrated, what is only documented, what is contractually committed, and what remains unresolved.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What should you request before selecting a replacement?
Give each vendor the BoKS version and modules in use, an inventory of identities and targets, the protocols and workflows that must continue, and the audit and resilience requirements. Ask for written confirmation of the proposed product scope, prerequisites, licensing, supported migration or coexistence steps, and any limitations discovered during the proof of concept. Without that installation-specific confirmation, shortlist inclusion should not be treated as proof that a product can replace BoKS in your environment.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- Programmable four digit codes: 5, 50, 100, 500 Code Capacity, Programmable Personal Master Code
- Programmable Latch Code, Programmable Sleep Code, 3 strikes you're out, External event input
- Two relays w/ variable relay output time: 1 - 99 seconds, LED indicators and Night Light
- Optional camera (intercom model only), Limited two year warranty
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
