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AWS Secrets Manager VS Vault by HashiCorp

Compare AWS Secrets Manager VS Vault by HashiCorp and see what are their differences

AWS Secrets Manager logo AWS Secrets Manager

AWS Secrets Manager to Rotate, Manage, Retrieve Secrets

Vault by HashiCorp logo Vault by HashiCorp

Tool for managing secrets
  • AWS Secrets Manager Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-15
  • Vault by HashiCorp Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-26

AWS Secrets Manager features and specs

  • Automated Secret Rotation
    AWS Secrets Manager provides built-in support for automatic rotation of secrets, which enhances security by frequently changing passwords and other sensitive information.
  • Centralized Secret Management
    You can manage all your secrets from a single location, simplifying the process of keeping track of credentials, API keys, and other sensitive data across various applications and services.
  • Integration with AWS Services
    AWS Secrets Manager is well integrated with other AWS services such as RDS, Redshift, and IAM, making it easier to manage and retrieve secrets within the AWS ecosystem.
  • Fine-Grained Access Control
    Utilizes AWS IAM to provide fine-grained access control policies, allowing you to precisely define who can access specific secrets, enhancing security.
  • Secure Secret Storage
    Secrets are stored securely using encryption standards provided by AWS Key Management Service (KMS), ensuring that the data is protected both at rest and in transit.
  • Audit and Compliance
    AWS Secrets Manager facilitates compliance with regulatory requirements by providing logging and monitoring capabilities, enabling you to track access and changes to secrets.

Possible disadvantages of AWS Secrets Manager

  • Cost
    AWS Secrets Manager can be more expensive compared to other secret management solutions, especially as the number of stored secrets and API requests increase.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Relying on AWS Secrets Manager can increase dependency on AWS services, which might be a drawback if you are considering a multi-cloud strategy.
  • Complexity
    The integration and setup process can be complex, especially for organizations without prior AWS experience, potentially requiring a steep learning curve.
  • API Limits
    AWS imposes API request limits, which might be restrictive for applications with high-frequency secret access needs, potentially resulting in throttling issues.
  • Regional Availability
    Not all AWS regions may support Secrets Manager, which can be a constraint for global applications that require multi-region deployments.

Vault by HashiCorp features and specs

  • Comprehensive Security
    Vault provides a high level of data security by using end-to-end encryption and secure access protocols, ensuring sensitive data is well-protected.
  • Dynamic Secrets
    Vault allows for dynamic generation of secrets and credentials, reducing the risk of secret sprawl and enabling better lifecycle management.
  • Audit Capabilities
    Vault offers extensive audit logging capabilities, which help organizations monitor access and changes to sensitive data, enhancing compliance and security monitoring.
  • Multi-cloud Support
    Vault supports various cloud providers and infrastructures, making it suitable for multi-cloud and hybrid environments.
  • Access Control
    Fine-grained access control policies can be defined in Vault, enabling precise management of who can access what secrets and under what conditions.

Possible disadvantages of Vault by HashiCorp

  • Complex Setup
    The initial setup and configuration of Vault can be complex, requiring a good understanding of its components and operational requirements.
  • Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive features and capabilities, there is a significant learning curve associated with effectively using Vault.
  • Performance Overhead
    The added security and features can introduce performance overhead, especially in large-scale systems with numerous secrets and transactions.
  • Cost
    While the open-source version is free, the enterprise version with additional features and support can be costly for organizations.
  • Dependency Management
    Organizations might need to adapt their existing systems to integrate Vault, which could involve significant changes and management of additional dependencies.

AWS Secrets Manager videos

Understanding AWS Secrets Manager - AWS Online Tech Talks

More videos:

  • Review - AWS Secrets Manager
  • Tutorial - Python - How to access DB credentials from AWS Secrets Manager? | AWS Secrets Manager Tutorial

Vault by HashiCorp videos

No Vault by HashiCorp videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to AWS Secrets Manager and Vault by HashiCorp)
Identity And Access Management
Password Management
34 34%
66% 66
Identity Provider
100 100%
0% 0
Security & Privacy
23 23%
77% 77

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, AWS Secrets Manager seems to be a lot more popular than Vault by HashiCorp. While we know about 76 links to AWS Secrets Manager, we've tracked only 5 mentions of Vault by HashiCorp. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

AWS Secrets Manager mentions (76)

  • Your Plaintext Email is a DevSecOps Blind Spot
    A Hardened Channel for Sensitive Communication: While dedicated secrets management tools (like HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, etc.) are essential for storing and managing application secrets, secure E2EE email provides a significantly safer channel for human-to-human communication that might involve discussing sensitive topics, sharing unavoidable one-off credentials (with immediate rotation plans), or... - Source: dev.to / 22 days ago
  • Building Custom Kendra Connectors and Managing Data Sources with IaC
    Some data sources are protected by some form of credentials. Unless the data source is a public website or stored in another AWS resource such as Amazon S3, Kendra or your custom data source will need credentials to fetch data. In either case, AWS Secrets Manager can be used to securely manage your credentials. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Deploy AWS Lambda Functions and Amazon DynamoDB with AWS CDK on LocalStack
    In this example, we need to set up two AWS Lambda, AWS Secrets Manager and Amazon DynamoDB resources. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Enhancing Your CI/CD Security: Tips and Techniques to Mitigate Risks
    You have to handle secrets like API keys and passwords carefully. Instead of hardcoding them into your code, you should use secure secrets management tools like HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager. Additionally, following API key authentication best practices ensures secure handling of sensitive credentials. This keeps sensitive information protected and reduces the risk of accidental leaks. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Starters Guide: End-to-End Guide to Building with LLMs on SageMaker
    Credential Management: Avoid storing sensitive data like access keys directly, utilizing AWS Secrets Manager, or using environment variables. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
View more

Vault by HashiCorp mentions (5)

  • Running the OpenTelemetry Demo App on HashiCorp Nomad
    Before you start, just a friendly reminder that HashiQube by default runs Nomad, Vault, and Consul on Docker. In addition, we’ll be deploying 21 job specs to Nomad. This means that we’ll need a decent amount of CPU and RAM, so Please make sure that you have enough resources allocated in your Docker desktop. For reference, I’m running an M1 Macbook Pro with 8 cores and 32 GB RAM. My Docker Desktop Resource... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Running cron jobs in the cloud — Amazon EC2 vs AWS Lambda
    When running cron jobs on Amazon EC2, you can, for example, use a secrets store like Vault. With Vault, your cron jobs can dynamically get the credentials they need. The secrets don’t get stored on the machine that’s running the cron jobs, and if you change a secret, the cron jobs will automatically receive that change. The downside of implementing a solution like Vault, however, is the overhead of managing the... - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
  • How do you document your smart home stuff?
    Vaultproject.io handles secrets management, so dynamic policies deal with database creds etc. "Manual" creds are stored in 1password or lastpass and added manually to Vault if it needs rebuilding. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Whare are your preferred platforms and tools/services for self hosting?
    It's all in the blog series, including sample configuration, but it's vaultproject.io and it allows you to do everything from managing simple secrets to auto-rotation of database credentials or even run your own KPI setup. Source: over 3 years ago
  • How to backup Hashicorp Vault with Raft storage on Kubernetes
    Our team is experimenting with Hashicorp Vault as our new credentials management solution. Thanks to the offical Vault Helm Chart, we are able to get an almost production-ready vault cluster running on our Kubernetes cluster with minimal effort. - Source: dev.to / almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing AWS Secrets Manager and Vault by HashiCorp, you can also consider the following products

Microsoft Azure Active Directory - Azure Active Directory is a comprehensive identity and access management cloud solution that provides a robust set of capabilities to manage users and groups and help secure access to applications including Microsoft online services like Office 365 …

Doppler - Doppler is the multi-cloud SecretOps Platform developers and security teams trust to provide secrets management at enterprise scale.

SecureLink for Enterprise - Privileged Access Management

KeePass - KeePass is an open source password manager. Passwords can be stored in highly-encrypted databases, which can be unlocked with one master password or key file.

JumpCloud - Cloud-based directory services. Alternative to Microsoft Active Directory.

VAULT - A password manager for freelancers, developers, agencies, IT departments and teams. VAULT safely stores account information and makes it easy to share between co-workers, other team members and clients.