- A Leader Recognition: Ping was named a Leader and positioned highest on Ability to Execute.
- An expanded CIAM Evaluation: The 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ broadens the CIAM landscape to address emerging requirements for AI agent and partner identity.
- Identity for agentic customer journeys: Ping extends CIAM to discover, authorize, and govern agentic customer interactions and commerce.
Ping Positioned Highest on Ability to Execute for CIAM
Ping Identity was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Customer Identity & Access Management (CIAM), positioned highest on Ability to Execute.
As we see it, the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Access Management covered both workforce and customer identity, the 2026 report provides a dedicated evaluation of Customer Identity and Access Management. Its scope includes customers, partners and machine identities, including AI agents, while workforce access management is outside the evaluation.
From our view, the report also highlights AI agents acting on customers' behalf, bringing agent authentication, scoped permissions, consent and delegation into the CIAM assessment. It also describes continuous verification and risk-based controls that extend protection beyond the initial login. The focus is secure, low-friction digital experiences for customers and the agents acting for them.
Why Ping Was Named a Leader in Customer Identity
We believe core platform capabilities drive this momentum, each aligned with the evolving demands of customer identity in an AI-driven world: adaptable customer journeys, controls authorizing and governing AI agents acting on behalf of humans, and deployment flexibility to meet diverse infrastructure requirements.
Ping allows organizations to place identity controls exactly where they are required. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, Ping provides five distinct operational models:
- Multi-tenant SaaS
- Dedicated single-tenant SaaS
- Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) High-authorized cloud
- Self-managed software
- Hybrid
This flexibility ensures security teams can maintain strict operational control over their most sensitive data and meet localized regulatory demands.
Delivering Trusted Digital Experiences Across Humans and AI Agents
Customers open accounts, recover access, change details, and move money across many channels. Some of those interactions now start with an AI agent acting for the customer. Each digital moment carries a different level of risk.
Ping's identity platform addresses four essential questions:
- Verified identity: Who or what is acting?
- Delegated authority: On whose behalf, and within what limits?
- Contextual authorization: Is this action permitted under the current conditions?
- Time-of-action enforcement: How is that decision applied?
Governance spans these controls, establishing ownership, oversight, and review. Runtime control puts policy into effect when it matters: when an identity takes action.
Together these capabilities help enterprises strengthen resilience and accountability; increase revenue and customer trust; all while accelerating AI innovation.
What's Ahead for Ping in CIAM
In our view, being named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CIAM reinforces our commitment to helping organizations secure every identity for both humans and AI. We believe this recognition reflects our focus on delivering secure digital experiences today while preparing for what comes next.
That commitment remains the same: help customers unify verification, authentication, and fraud protection across the customer journey; secure customer-facing AI agents with runtime controls; and operate on their terms with flexible deployment options.
At Ping, we'll continue working alongside customers and the market to make digital experiences for humans and AI agents more trusted, frictionless, and ready for what the future holds.
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Customer Identity & Access Management (CIAM), Brian Guthrie, Nathan Harris, Steve Wessels, Yemi Davies, 28 Oct 2026
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This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Ping Identity.