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AWS Secrets Manager vs HashiCorp Vault comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 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
HashiCorp Vault
Ranking in Enterprise Password Managers
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 HashiCorp Vault is 11.6%, down from 13.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Password Managers
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
 

Featured Reviews

Atul-Yadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures dynamic secret retrieval and automates security measures
AWS Secrets Manager is a fully managed service that allows our applications to retrieve secrets dynamically at runtime. This protects sensitive information, such as keys or credentials, from being compromised. It also automates the secrets, eliminating the need for manual rotation, thereby providing significant security and efficiency benefits. Furthermore, secrets are encrypted at rest using the AES 256-bit standard encryption algorithm.
Anand-Awasthi - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers dynamic secrets and certificate management for proactive security measures
The best features in HashiCorp Vault are its dynamic certificate management and dynamic secret management, which are the key features that use data effectively. These are very targeted use cases that cut across multiple solutions. I have utilized Vault's encryption capabilities for securing data in transit and at rest, especially for dynamically consuming database encryption, which covers the requirements of various scenarios where databases do not have encryption capability. HashiCorp Vault provides security by rotating the keys and taking all the burden of securing the data from the database. These are key core features that many users employ in this solution. Vault's audit logs provide insights into access patterns and help ensure compliance. These facilities are configurable, and the logs are encrypted, ensuring that anything recorded in the logs is secure. We could use systems that comply with specific standards for audit logging and scanning, especially when working with them. The benefits from HashiCorp Vault include significant advantages in security lifecycle management itself. The value becomes apparent when security incidents occur. It has substantial value in proactively protecting from adverse situations, providing resilience and appreciation by customers in complete security lifecycle management solutions for core infrastructure applications.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The API is fine and works well."
"The product is easy to use and is inexpensive."
"Integrating with other services was straightforward, especially within the AWS environment."
"The most valuable feature of AWS Secrets Manager is its seamless integration with various AWS services."
"The most valuable feature is security."
"The solution is very scalable."
"All our workloads are running on AWS, so integration with our workload is much easier on AWS Secrets Manager than going with another solution such as Thycotic."
"AWS Secrets Manager plays a significant role in optimizing IT infrastructure security and efficiency."
"The most valuable feature of HashiCorp Vault is version control."
"The interface is very simple to navigate."
"It's stable. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten."
"This solution is easy to use and to integrate."
"The benefits from HashiCorp Vault include significant advantages in security lifecycle management itself."
"We use the solution for secret management."
"The tool's dynamic rotation of the password credentials is good."
"It is a good product to consider for companies who are looking to build on-premise or hybrid infrastructure."
 

Cons

"We occasionally have problems with rate limits, although that is a problem more generally with AWS."
"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."
"If you add one more layer of security to AWS Secrets Manager, even the programmer will not be able to see the secrets."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model."
"There is a potential improvement in connecting AWS Secrets Manager to Jenkins CI/CD pipeline to automatically reflect changes in production."
"The sidecar feature has room for improvement."
"There is room for improvement in terms of integrating with certain other platforms."
"The solution's initial setup process is complicated."
"It would be helpful to have more advanced features."
"I don't think there are any major improvements required—so far, so good. However, I think that having more training materials, such as videos, and documentation available would be helpful. I would prefer to have more videos available either on the official site or on YouTube."
"The product needs to improve its customization. It should be also more like easy to plug and play."
"HashiCorp Vault can be improved from the security perspective, as it focuses on security lifecycle management. It requires other solutions for monitoring as users need to rely on tools that constantly monitor the system, especially database activity."
"There could be a plugin for the database to change the secret automatically. It would be an efficient feature for password security."
"The product is complicated to install."
"The technical support was hard to get a hold of and lacking in service."
"The solution's initial setup process is complicated."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't believe there is a license cost for the solution."
"The solution is expensive."
"The cost is somewhat high."
"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."
"We purchase a monthly license for the product."
"The product is expensive."
"The solution's cost is reasonable."
"In my case, the open-source version works well. It's advisable for small to medium-scale organizations, but for large-scale organizations, you should go with the enterprise version."
"I am using the open-source version of Vault and I would have to buy a license if I want to get support."
"It could do everything we wanted it to do and it is brilliant, but it is super pricey. To be fair to HashiCorp, we drove the price up with our requirements around resiliency. Because of the nature of our company, we don't really operate in the cloud."
"The AWS version is much cheaper than HashiCorp Vault."
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Answers from the Community

NC
Dec 12, 2021
Dec 12, 2021
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 solution, HashiCorp Vault allows you to be flexible in the cloud infrastructure that you choose to use. It is completely compatible and integratable with a myriad of different platforms. You can determin...
See 2 answers
KK
Nov 23, 2021
yet to learn both
DG
Dec 12, 2021
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 solution, HashiCorp Vault allows you to be flexible in the cloud infrastructure that you choose to use. It is completely compatible and integratable with a myriad of different platforms. You can determine what you want to use and HashiCorp Vault will function without issue, regardless of what you choose. If you are using HashiCorp Vault as a multi-cloud solution, then you have an even greater number of platform options. You will be able to mix and match which cloud platforms you like to use to customize your data protection. The only limits on your customization will end up being your imagination. HashiCorp Vault’s user interface is simple for you to both use and navigate. The UI was designed to be basic enough for users to manage without forcing an organization to spend a great deal of time and resources having to train employees in its use. It might be a little confusing for employees when they start using it. However, once they have used it for a little while they will be proficient in its use. Should an organization choose to invest in training employees in the use of this UI, the required investment will be minimal. AWS Secrets Manager is an extremely user-friendly solution. It is intuitive in its design, which makes it a valuable product. However, AWS Secrets Manager lacks the level of cloud flexibility that HashiCorp Vault offers. Conclusion: While AWS Secrets Manager is a fairly competent product, we found HashiCorp Vault to be superior. HashiCorp Vault‘s greater flexibility and integration capabilities make it the more robust solution.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
 

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 HashiCorp Vault?
The feature I find most beneficial in HashiCorp Vault is the secret engine. It integrates smoothly with many applications, making it easy to set up and implement quickly. This allows you to test it...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HashiCorp Vault?
If I were to set it up in AWS Secret Management, I would have to manage it, pay, and create secrets without being cloud agnostic. The advantage with Vault is that it is cloud agnostic. I can deploy...
What needs improvement with HashiCorp Vault?
The UI could be improved to better handle complex operations like policy management, dynamic secret creation, and audit log analysis
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Autodesk, Clevy, Stackery
Adobe, SAP Ariba, Citadel, Spaceflight, Cruise
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Secrets Manager vs. HashiCorp Vault and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,632 professionals have used our research since 2012.