AWS Secrets Manager vs Clevis: 2026 Comparison
AWS Secrets Manager is a free key management tool. Clevis 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 available product data, here is our conclusion:
AWS teams that need secrets rotation without a separate vendor will find AWS Secrets Manager operationally simpler than standalone KMS tools, since it handles both storage and automated rotation in one service. The free tier covers most non-enterprise use cases, and native IAM integration means no separate identity layer to manage. Skip this if you need hardware security modules or are locked into a non-AWS environment; Secrets Manager prioritizes convenience over portability, and its rotation logic is AWS-specific enough that migrations are painful.
Infrastructure teams automating decryption workflows in CI/CD pipelines or boot sequences should use Clevis for its plugin architecture, which handles LUKS volumes and encrypted data without requiring manual key entry at deployment time. The tool's 1,159 GitHub stars and active maintenance signal real production adoption, particularly in Red Hat environments where it's deeply integrated. Skip Clevis if you need centralized key lifecycle management or auditing; it's a decryption orchestrator, not a key management platform, and assumes your keys are already provisioned elsewhere.
