Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

EJBCA VS Smallstep SSH

Compare EJBCA VS Smallstep SSH and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

EJBCA logo EJBCA

EJBCA® is a PKI Certificate Authority software, built using Java (JEE) technology.

Smallstep SSH logo Smallstep SSH

Single Sign-on SSH
  • EJBCA Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-26
  • Smallstep SSH Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-04

EJBCA features and specs

  • Open Source
    EJBCA is open-source, which means you can access, modify, and distribute the software freely. This leads to cost savings and the flexibility to customize the software to meet your specific needs.
  • Comprehensive Features
    EJBCA offers a comprehensive set of features for certificate management, including issuance, revocation, validation, and a wide range of PKI functions. This makes it suitable for various applications and industries.
  • Scalability
    EJBCA is designed to handle large deployments, making it suitable for enterprises or organizations with extensive PKI infrastructures and the need for handling numerous certificates.
  • Standards Compliance
    EJBCA complies with numerous industry standards like X.509, RFC 5280, and others, ensuring interoperability with other systems and adherence to accepted security protocols.
  • Community Support
    As an open-source project, EJBCA benefits from an active community of users and contributors who can offer support, share knowledge, and contribute to the continuous improvement of the software.

Possible disadvantages of EJBCA

  • Complexity
    EJBCA's comprehensive feature set and flexibility can result in a steep learning curve for new users, requiring a deep understanding of PKI concepts and the software itself.
  • Resource Intensive
    Setting up and maintaining an EJBCA deployment can be resource-intensive, requiring sufficient hardware and skilled personnel to manage and optimize the system.
  • Limited User Interface
    The user interface of EJBCA may not be as polished or intuitive as some commercial CA solutions, potentially making administration tasks more challenging for less technical users.
  • Support and Documentation
    While there is community support, the quality and availability of official documentation and professional support might be less comprehensive compared to commercial software with dedicated support teams.
  • Initial Configuration
    The initial setup and configuration of EJBCA can be complex and time-consuming, necessitating careful planning and execution to ensure that security and operational needs are met.

Smallstep SSH features and specs

  • Enhanced Security
    Smallstep SSH enables strong authentication practices by integrating with identity providers, reducing the chances of compromised passwords and ensuring secure connections.
  • Centralized Access Management
    The platform centralizes user access management, allowing admins to easily manage and revoke user access across multiple servers and services from a single point of control.
  • Ease of Integration
    Smallstep SSH integrates seamlessly with existing infrastructure and identity providers like Okta and Google Workspace, simplifying the onboarding process for enterprises.
  • Improved Compliance
    With detailed logging and custom policies, Smallstep SSH helps organizations meet various compliance requirements by offering traceability and accountability for user actions.
  • Scalability
    Designed with scalability in mind, Smallstep SSH can efficiently handle growing organizational needs without sacrificing performance or security.

Possible disadvantages of Smallstep SSH

  • Complexity of Setup
    For organizations unfamiliar with identity provider integrations or certificate-based authentication, the initial setup can be complex and may require specialized knowledge.
  • Dependence on External Identity Providers
    Reliance on external identity providers for authentication means that downtime or disruptions with these services can impact Smallstep SSH functionality.
  • Limited Offline Access
    Because the solution is designed to work with identity providers, offline mode functionality is limited, which might be a concern for systems that require constant availability.
  • Cost Considerations
    For small organizations or startups, the cost of implementing and maintaining an enterprise-level authentication system like Smallstep SSH might be prohibitive.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a learning curve associated with transitioning from traditional SSH management to Smallstep SSH's certificate-based approach, which might necessitate training for IT staff.

EJBCA videos

How to integrate PrimeKey EJBCA Enterprise with Luna SA for Government HSM

More videos:

  • Review - EJBCA Installation in Ubuntu Linux

Smallstep SSH videos

No Smallstep SSH videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to EJBCA and Smallstep SSH)
Security & Privacy
72 72%
28% 28
Identity And Access Management
Password Management
100 100%
0% 0
Productivity
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Smallstep SSH seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 1 time since March 2021. 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.

EJBCA mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of EJBCA yet. Tracking of EJBCA recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Smallstep SSH mentions (1)

  • SSH With SSO
    Through a combination of the properties that are in an SSH certificate and configuration on the hosts, you'll be able to realize RBAC. If you're using the open source step-ca, this will require you to configure things yourself on the hosts. We also have an offering where this capability and management/auditing of the rules is hosted for you, which makes that specific part easier: https://smallstep.com/sso-ssh/. Source: almost 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing EJBCA and Smallstep SSH, you can also consider the following products

OpenXPKI - OpenXPKI is a software stack that provides all necessary components to manage keys and certificates...

Keystash.io - Centralized Linux user and SSH key management software

Portecle - Portecle is a user friendly GUI application for creating, managing and examining keystores, keys...

strongDM - Trust strongDM to manage an engineers access to everything

TinyCA - TinyCA is a simple graphical userinterface written in Perl/Gtk to manage a small CA (Certification...

OneLogin - On-demand SSO, directory integration, user provisioning and more