AWS Secrets Manager vs HashiCorp Vault: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
AWS Secrets Manager is a free key management tool. HashiCorp Vault is a commercial key management tool by HashiCorp. 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:
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.
Teams managing secrets across hybrid infrastructure need Vault because it's the only platform that treats dynamic secrets and automated rotation as first-class features rather than bolt-ons, cutting credential exposure windows from days to hours. HashiCorp's 2,258-person scale and hybrid deployment model mean you get a vendor that won't disappear and infrastructure that works across your datacenter, cloud, and Kubernetes sprawl. Skip Vault if your team lacks the operational maturity to run a stateful service; it demands careful HA setup, backup strategy, and policy maintenance that lightweight vaults or cloud-native alternatives can sidestep.
