IBM Cloud Secrets Manager is a commercial key management tool by IBM. Thales CipherTrust Manager is a commercial key management tool by Thales Group. 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, integrations, company size fit, here is our conclusion:
Enterprise teams managing secrets across IBM Cloud infrastructure will value IBM Cloud Secrets Manager for its single-tenant isolation model, which eliminates the blast radius risk of shared multi-tenant vaults. The HSM-backed PKI and dedicated instance architecture directly address NIST PR.AA access control requirements without forcing secrets into a shared environment. Skip this if you need a vendor-agnostic secrets engine; IBM Cloud Secrets Manager assumes you're already committed to IBM's ecosystem and integrates tightly with their toolchains and Key Protect service rather than standing alone.
Enterprise and mid-market security teams that need to centralize encryption key management across hybrid cloud environments should choose Thales CipherTrust Manager; the FIPS 140-3 Level 3 HSM integration and multi-cloud deployment support let you enforce consistent key lifecycle controls whether keys live on-premises or across AWS, Azure, and GCP. The native KMIP and REST API support mean integration with legacy systems and modern workloads happens without custom middleware. Skip this if your priority is secrets rotation speed and developer self-service over compliance reporting; CipherTrust Manager's strength is audit-heavy governance and role-based access control, not frictionless CI/CD pipelines.
Centralized secrets management service for IBM Cloud powered by HashiCorp Vault
Enterprise key management solution for centralized encryption key lifecycle mgmt
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Common questions about comparing IBM Cloud Secrets Manager vs Thales CipherTrust Manager for your key management needs.
IBM Cloud Secrets Manager: Centralized secrets management service for IBM Cloud powered by HashiCorp Vault. built by IBM. headquartered in United States. Core capabilities include Single-tenant dedicated instance with data isolation, Dynamic and static secrets lifecycle management, API keys, credentials, certificates, and text secret types..
Thales CipherTrust Manager: Enterprise key management solution for centralized encryption key lifecycle mgmt. built by Thales Group. headquartered in France. Core capabilities include Centralized encryption key lifecycle management, Role-based access control with Active Directory and LDAP integration, FIPS 140-3 Level 3 compliant HSM integration..
Both serve the Key Management market but differ in approach, feature depth, and target audience.
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