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AWS Directory Service vs Tenable Cloud Security comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 2, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

AWS Directory Service
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
16th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Tenable Cloud Security
Ranking in Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (15th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (19th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (15th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category, the mindshare of AWS Directory Service is 1.8%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Cloud Security is 0.8%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

Basa Saiteja - PeerSpot reviewer
A valuable access management system with a user-friendly and straightforward setup
The solution is scalable, and we can scale according to our needs. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten. In our organization, our access to our AWS comes from IAM. We use AWS consoles using our credentials and don't have route access, so each person will log in through our IAM programmatic access, and everyone on our team can work on cloud. Over 10,000 people in our organization utilize the solution.
Ondrej Kováč - PeerSpot reviewer
Has vulnerability detection, software composition analysis and asset management features
Due to its robust nature, the platform's adoption can be overwhelming initially. However, once organizations start using it, they tend to get used to it. I haven't had much direct interaction with the support team, but some partners have reported a desire for better support for the product. Another area needing improvement is the implementation complexity, especially in multi-cloud environments. Tenable Cloud Security's features mean there's a steep learning curve, which can consume significant time and resources to utilize the platform's potential and fully see immediate benefits. It's similar to AI in that you must spend time fine-tuning and training before it truly helps.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We like the fact that it's got such great redundancy."
"I like the manageability. Activate Connect makes it easier to assign information and to manage the resources in the network."
"We can provide specific access to people based on what they need from our accounts."
"The most valuable feature is that because it's all in the cloud, you don't need to manage the infrastructure."
"I would rate AWS Directory Service nine out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is ease of use."
"The AD Connector is very good and easy to implement."
"AWS Directory Service is secure."
"The key benefit lies in having the largest and most up-to-date database. When it comes to using any Tenable product, it excels in finding vulnerabilities and providing analytics."
"The product's visibility and remediation work fine for me."
"Tenable Cloud Security excels in vulnerability detection, one of its strongest features. Another valuable feature is software composition analysis, which highlights and automates the detection of security flaws. Additionally, their knowledge base is excellent; if anything goes wrong, they provide clear guidance on what needs to be done to address specific vulnerabilities."
"Scanning and reporting are the most valuable features of Tenable Cloud Security"
"The tool alerts us on depreciating performance or deficiencies of our web application. It helps us react on time."
"The solution’s vulnerability management feature has helped us identify and mitigate risks well."
"Ermetic can provide super visibility for our cloud environment (we are using AWS)."
"If you have multi-cloud tenancy using AWS and Azure, you can have a single dashboard where you can onboard all the cloud infrastructure and have visibility into it."
 

Cons

"To get CloudWatch to monitor your memory and storage, you have to do some configuration within your server, which sometimes results in errors."
"AWS could improve the number of regions. Azure has passed them. The ned more consistency, as far as the Northeast is concerned."
"Currently, there is no option to integrate our on-premises Cisco AWS Directory Service, requiring some manual configuration."
"I've encountered challenges, particularly with Amazon WorkDocs, which is being deprecated. This has made it necessary to find an alternative document management solution that can handle editing, sharing, and workflow management for documents like Word files and PDFs."
"Accessing the data needs improvement."
"The group policy can be improved."
"I would like to see better integration with other business solutions."
"We had a problem with the schema uploading and setting up the directory when we are migrating our users from on-premises to cloud infrastructure."
"I do think there might be room for more integrations. This could allow for further customization and flexibility, essentially offering different functionality options to accommodate various budgets."
"I have faced several bug incidents with the solution"
"There is a need for the support team to improve their response time since it is one of the areas where the product's technical team has certain shortcomings."
"The product must provide more features."
"Tenable needs to offer a patch-based solution since it is an area where the tool lacks a bit."
"I didn't find anything that wasn't useful or needed to be added."
"Ermetic needs to improve its security scanning. I would like to see more dynamic graphical forms."
"Due to its robust nature, the platform's adoption can be overwhelming initially. However, once organizations start using it, they tend to get used to it. I haven't had much direct interaction with the support team, but some partners have reported a desire for better support for the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing depends because with AWS there are two types of directory objects: 30,000 and 500,000. It varies. AWS provides the pricing calculators so we can get an estimate from there as per the company requirement of how many users and objects that we need to create. So we can go to that portal, put in the data, and get the quotation. There are no extra licensing fees. It's all included."
"We pay an annual subscription fee."
"AWS' pricing is fair, and costs can be cut if you look carefully at when you're using it."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The tool's price is good compared to other brands. The tool's subscription is for a year."
"There is a need to opt for a subscription-based pricing model to use Tenable Cloud Security. I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"The tool's pricing is fair."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Healthcare Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Directory Service?
The most valuable feature of AWS Directory Service is cost-cutting features.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Directory Service?
The pricing is very good because it is low and there is no management cost. You do not need to hire any system administrator to manage your Active Directory.
What needs improvement with AWS Directory Service?
Currently, there is no option to integrate our on-premises Cisco AWS Directory Service, requiring some manual configuration. If AWS Active Directory Service provided additional domain controller fu...
What do you like most about Tenable Cloud Security?
The solution’s vulnerability management feature has helped us identify and mitigate risks well.
What needs improvement with Tenable Cloud Security?
Another team uses the tool. Tenable acquired Ermetic. I think Tenable has features, stays up to date, and upgrades every few months. I am not sure of the tool's use case, as another team uses it. I...
What is your primary use case for Tenable Cloud Security?
Right now, I use Tenable as CNAPP, and it is good for the product as it offers enhanced security to users. We did use the tool on the cloud. I am not sure if some models, like CIEM, are available a...
 

Also Known As

AWS Managed Microsoft AD
Ermetic, Ermetic Identity Governance for AWS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Tyler Technologies, Bilfinger, BarkBox, MongoDB, airSlate, Adama, Latch, Cloudinary, Riskified, AppsFlyer, IntelyCare, Aidoc, 42Dot, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Directory Service vs. Tenable Cloud Security and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.