Akeyless Multi-Cloud KMS BYOK vs Key Vault: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Akeyless Multi-Cloud KMS BYOK is a commercial key management tool by Akeyless Security. Key Vault is a free key management tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best key management fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:
Enterprise and mid-market security teams managing encryption keys across AWS, Azure, and GCP will find Akeyless Multi-Cloud KMS BYOK valuable for eliminating key sprawl without surrendering control to hyperscaler KMS services. The platform's automated rotation, centralized audit trails, and NIST PR.AA and PR.DS alignment mean you're not just centralizing key management; you're building a control plane that actually shows you who accessed what and when. Skip this if your organization runs primarily on a single cloud and lacks the compliance pressure that makes BYOK economics work, or if you need the KMS to also handle application secrets and database credentials in one system.
Teams already committed to Azure will find Key Vault's native integration and zero cost the obvious choice for secrets management at scale. It meets FIPS 140-2 Level 2 certification and integrates directly with Azure's identity layer, eliminating the friction of third-party credential sync. Skip this if your infrastructure spans multiple clouds and you need a vendor-agnostic secrets engine; Key Vault's Azure-first design means non-Azure workloads end up as second-class citizens in your rotation workflows.
