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AWS Secrets Manager vs Azure Key Vault comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

AWS Secrets Manager
Ranking in Enterprise Password Managers
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Azure Key Vault
Ranking in Enterprise Password Managers
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
Certificate Management Software (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Enterprise Password Managers category, the mindshare of AWS Secrets Manager is 17.3%, down from 21.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Key Vault is 19.1%, down from 26.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Password Managers
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Nov 24, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

Mahadev Metre - PeerSpot reviewer
Consistent security and efficiency improvements optimize IT infrastructure with effective management
When creating AWS Secrets Manager, it should be automated using tools such as Terraform, Puppet, or Ansible. With Terraform code, you specify the encryption key, secret name, rotation policy, and secret replication. Human error occurs when feeding secret values manually, especially with large amounts of secrets to input. Secrets should never be protected only by IAM. They should be protected by multiple layers, such as IAM and one or two KMS keys. Additional security measures could be beneficial if necessary. The rotation policy is crucial because some secrets may become obsolete, require updates, or get compromised. With a weekly rotation policy, if unauthorized access occurs, the exposure is limited to seven days. The rotation policy can be customized according to needs.
RituparnaBhattacharya - PeerSpot reviewer
Secret storage and certificate management have been streamlined
I am not on the developer's end. I am primarily the main infrastructure person. I'm not sure what needs improvement. Sometimes, we face issues that the support team is not aware of, necessitating investigation from their end. For example, one of our certificates was not getting deployed, and during that time, the support team was unsure and had to connect with the back-end team for assistance. Improvements can be made in this area, however, it's understandable that not everything can be perfect.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature of AWS Secrets Manager is the ability to keep data secret and assign access permissions to people to grant or restrict access."
"The most valuable feature is usability, as it is quite user-friendly."
"Secrets Manager helps in retrieving the enrollment variables used by the code."
"The product is easy to use and is inexpensive."
"The solution is very scalable."
"The most valuable feature of AWS Secrets Manager is its seamless integration with various AWS services."
"AWS Secrets Manager is used for storing secret information that has to be a secret from your customer and your employees."
"It's highly scalable, so I'd rate it a ten out of ten."
"The solution can scale up as needed."
"The GUI was quite easy for me to use."
"The best feature is the integrity of the .NET applications in our company."
"The integration management of access to Key Vault is beneficial for me."
"The most valuable feature of Azure Key Vault is the secret storage of data."
"The tool is highly secure and very easy to manage."
"We use Azure Key Vault to store secrets."
"Azure Key Vault is very affordable, with charges of less than a dollar for over ten thousand keys."
 

Cons

"If you add one more layer of security to AWS Secrets Manager, even the programmer will not be able to see the secrets."
"If you don't have enterprise support, then you will not be able to get through to them to get the help. It is not only applicable to AWS Secrets Manager. It is also applicable to any service on AWS."
"The solution's initial setup process is complicated."
"An area for improvement in AWS Secrets Manager could be expanding integration options beyond AWS services."
"We occasionally have problems with rate limits, although that is a problem more generally with AWS."
"There is room for improvement in terms of integrating with certain other platforms."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model."
"It would be good if the AWS Secrets Manager were more customizable."
"While the solution already does a great job of managing keys, the solution could probably look at maybe expanding more into mobile devices and endpoints."
"One of my previous clients was one of the big banks here in the Netherlands and the EU courts have stated that Microsoft Azure Key Vault is not, according to their perspective, secure due to the fact that Microsoft has access to Key Vault."
"Users should be able to segregate the passwords."
"I can see that other people are doing the infrastructure as code, they are able to easily manage and cycle their passwords as needed using their own interface they created. It would be nice if Microsoft provided more guidance in that area."
"There's room for improvement in cross-platform compatibility."
"The solution does not allow you to integrate with XML parties if it is not inside Azure itself."
"The solution needs to improve its cost."
"The integration with Thales HSM is complex and is not out-of-the-box. Uploading the keys was quite a tedious process."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."
"I don't believe there is a license cost for the solution."
"We purchase a monthly license for the product."
"We've observed that AWS Secrets Manager pricing is based on a per-secret-per-month model. As a result, we prefer to divide our secrets into individual pieces to increase security and grant specific access permissions to certain secrets, systems, or individuals. However, this approach results in higher costs. Therefore, we have been exploring ways to combine our secrets into groups to reduce expenses and simplify management. Nonetheless, we acknowledge that this issue may not be related to the secret manager's functionality."
"The cost is somewhat high."
"The price of the solution is reasonable for what we are using it for."
"We use a pay-as-you-go license for the solution, which is not very expensive."
"The product costs much less compared to other vendors."
"Azure is cheaper than CyberArk... CyberArk is good, but it's quite expensive."
"The cost of the Azure Key Vault is very high and the pricing model is based on the number of keys that you store and retrieve."
"It is a cheap option."
"The pricing is decent. It has a pretty low price. It is a straightforward cost based on usage."
"The product is inexpensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Azure Key Vault or AWS Secrets Manager?
Azure Key Vault is a SaaS solution. You can easily store passwords and secrets securely and encrypt them. Azure Key Vault is a great solution to ensure you are compliant with security and governanc...
Which is better - HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager?
HashiCorp Vault was designed with your needs in mind. One of the features that makes this evident is its ability to work as both a cloud-agnostic and a multi-cloud solution. As a cloud-agnostic sol...
What do you like most about AWS Secrets Manager?
The most valuable feature of AWS Secrets Manager is its seamless integration with various AWS services.
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Key Vault?
With Azure Key Vault, we can generate our own keys and then import them inside the system, which provides a higher level of security than provider-managed keys.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Key Vault?
The setup cost is low, as my usage is not extensive. I would classify it as low priced.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Azure Key Vault, MS Azure Key Vault
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Autodesk, Clevy, Stackery
Adobe, DriveTime, Johnson Controls, HP, InterContinental Hotels Group, ASOS
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Secrets Manager vs. Azure Key Vault and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,390 professionals have used our research since 2012.