Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Smallstep Certificates VS AWS Certificate Manager

Compare Smallstep Certificates VS AWS Certificate Manager and see what are their differences

Smallstep Certificates logo Smallstep Certificates

A private certificate authority (X.509 & SSH) & ACME server for secure automated certificate management, so you can use TLS everywhere & SSO for SSH.

AWS Certificate Manager logo AWS Certificate Manager

AWS Certificate Manager from Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • Smallstep Certificates Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-22
  • AWS Certificate Manager Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-15

Smallstep Certificates features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

AWS Certificate Manager features and specs

  • Automated Certificate Management
    AWS Certificate Manager automates the creation, renewal, and deployment of SSL/TLS certificates, reducing manual effort and the risk of human error.
  • Seamless Integration
    AWS Certificate Manager integrates easily with other AWS services such as Elastic Load Balancing (ELB), Amazon CloudFront, and Amazon API Gateway, simplifying the process of securing web applications.
  • Free Public Certificates
    AWS offers free public SSL/TLS certificates through AWS Certificate Manager, allowing users to secure their domains without additional cost.
  • Enhanced Security
    Automated renewal and deployment of certificates help ensure that your applications and services remain secure and compliant with industry standards.
  • Scalability
    AWS Certificate Manager can handle a large number of certificates, making it suitable for enterprises with many domains and subdomains.

Possible disadvantages of AWS Certificate Manager

  • AWS Ecosystem Dependency
    AWS Certificate Manager is deeply integrated with AWS services, which can be a limitation for businesses that utilize multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategies.
  • Limited Customization
    Users have less control over certificate details and configurations compared to managing their own certificates manually or through other certificate authorities.
  • Proprietary Limitations
    AWS Certificate Manager's certificates can only be used with supported AWS services, which restricts their use in non-AWS environments.
  • Region Availability
    Some AWS regions may have limited support or features for AWS Certificate Manager compared to others, which can affect global deployment strategies.
  • Learning Curve
    New users may find it challenging to understand and utilize all the features and integrations provided by AWS Certificate Manager without sufficient AWS knowledge.

Analysis of AWS Certificate Manager

Overall verdict

  • AWS Certificate Manager is an excellent choice, especially for AWS users. It offers robust security features, ease of integration, and automation, which collectively enhance an organization's ability to manage certificates effectively. Organizations that use AWS infrastructure benefit significantly from ACM's seamless integration with other services within the AWS ecosystem.

Why this product is good

  • AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) is widely regarded as a reliable and efficient service for managing SSL/TLS certificates. It simplifies the process of deploying certificates on AWS resources, ensures secure communication for web applications, and handles certificate renewals automatically. Integration with other AWS services is seamless, which enhances security and reduces administrative burdens. The service also supports both public and private certificates, making it versatile for various use cases.

Recommended for

    ACM is highly recommended for organizations and developers who utilize AWS services extensively and need a streamlined, secure method to manage SSL/TLS certificates. It is ideal for those who want to minimize the operational overhead of certificate management and leverage AWS's scalable infrastructure for secure deployments.

Smallstep Certificates videos

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AWS Certificate Manager videos

How can I add certificates for websites to the ELB using AWS Certificate Manager?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Smallstep Certificates and AWS Certificate Manager)
Identity And Access Management
Network & Admin
0 0%
100% 100
Web Development Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Domain Name Registrar
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, AWS Certificate Manager should be more popular than Smallstep Certificates. It has been mentiond 24 times 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.

Smallstep Certificates mentions (10)

  • A convert from Judaism to Catholicism goes to r/Catholicism to ask if it would be appropriate to pass down a century old Jewish prayer shawl to his son. Not everyone is welcoming.
    Just a little heads up https://smallstep.com/certificates/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Looking for an open source certificate management solution.
    Step-ca: Not web based, but the CLI is pretty user friendly: https://smallstep.com/certificates/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Using k8s-apiserver as AAA server for microservices?
    I was just looking at https://smallstep.com/certificates a few days ago. It looks like they have an operator that fits your description as well as example docs for setting up inter-microservice mtls. Source: over 2 years ago
  • What are SSH Certificate Authority solutions?
    In the quick search I learned about Ssh cert authority which looks very manual and also like a dead project Smallstep's step-ca who put together very nice article about how to begin certificate authority process Netflix' BLESS is AWS only Cashier which also looks quite ok. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Quickly prototyping and testing TLS services with valid certs
    If you want something a little fancier (I.e. Get automatic certs with all that ACME goodness) check out SmallStep. This is next on my list of homelab projects. Source: over 3 years ago
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AWS Certificate Manager mentions (24)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Smallstep Certificates and AWS Certificate Manager, you can also consider the following products

BastionXP - BastionXP Identity Based Infrastructure Access Platform is a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) / Certificate Authority (CA) that creates, signs and distributes SSH, SSL X.509 certificates to servers and users upon successful SSO login via OAuth or SAML

Google Authenticator - Google Authenticator is a multifactor app for mobile devices.

PKI.js - PKIjs is a pure JavaScript library implementing the formats that are used in PKI applications (signing, encryption, certificate requests, OCSP and TSP requests/responses). It is built on WebCrypto (Web Cryptography API) and requires no plug-ins.

Authy - Best rated Two-Factor Authentication smartphone app for consumers, simplest 2fa Rest API for developers and a strong authentication platform for the enterprise.

Smallstep SSH - Single Sign-on SSH

Azure Multi-Factor Authentication - Azure Multi-Factor Authentication helps safeguard access to data and applications while meeting user demand for a simple sign-in process.