Aqua Real-Time CSPM vs s3tk: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Aqua Real-Time CSPM is a commercial cloud security posture management tool by Aqua Security Software Ltd.. s3tk is a free cloud security posture management tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best cloud security posture 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:
Mid-market and enterprise teams managing AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud simultaneously will get the most from Aqua Real-Time CSPM because its agentless scanning paired with in-workload visibility actually catches misconfigurations that surface-level inventory tools miss. The vendor's support for VMs, containers, serverless, and Kubernetes clusters across 30+ compliance frameworks means you're not rebuilding mappings for HIPAA one year and PCI the next. Skip this if your organization runs primarily on a single cloud or needs sophisticated identity and access governance; Aqua prioritizes configuration posture over the identity layer, leaving supply chain risk assessment to adjacent tools.
DevOps and security teams running S3-heavy AWS environments will get immediate value from s3tk because it's free, open-source, and requires no agent deployment or cloud integration,just point it at your buckets. The 461 GitHub stars and zero setup friction mean you can scan your entire S3 estate for misconfigurations, overpermissioned ACLs, and unencrypted data in minutes, not weeks. Skip this if you need continuous runtime monitoring or policy enforcement across your broader cloud infrastructure; s3tk is a scanner, not a guard rail, and works best as part of a larger CSPM rather than a replacement for one.
