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AWS Secrets Manager vs CyberArk Privileged Access Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 16, 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 Secrets Manager
Ranking in Enterprise Password Managers
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
CyberArk Privileged Access ...
Ranking in Enterprise Password Managers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
217
Ranking in other categories
User Activity Monitoring (1st), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (1st), Mainframe Security (2nd), Operational Technology (OT) Security (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Enterprise Password Managers category, the mindshare of AWS Secrets Manager is 19.4%, down from 20.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is 7.5%, down from 9.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Password Managers
 

Featured Reviews

ManuelTorres - PeerSpot reviewer
Simplifies and secures secret management within the AWS ecosystem, though it could enhance integration capabilities with external platforms
AWS Secrets Manager has streamlined our processes for managing secrets and their lifecycle. We typically handle everything through automation, following a predefined approach. When we undertake our developments, we seamlessly integrate the process into our workflows. Essentially, our secrets require minimal intervention; they are automatically managed by the system itself. This ensures smooth operations without the need for manual intervention. We integrate this tool with various AWS services, utilizing AWS Secrets Manager specifically for AWS resources. Any application, service, or deployment within AWS leverages Secrets Manager whenever it requires access to it.
Lasantha Wijesinghe - PeerSpot reviewer
We have visibility and control through real-time user behavior analytics
It took us some time to realize its benefits because there was a learning curve for us. It took us about a year to get our heads around this product and start effectively using it. It is a journey. It takes at least five years for any company to make this product very useful and reach maturity. It is not only the product's fault. The company needs to have a vision, and the company culture needs to go with it. Senior leadership needs to support the vision. You need to have lots of ingredients for success. If everything is in place, you will see success after one year. In the first year, it is a struggle for everybody. My company was bought by a bigger company, and they were very new to privileged access management. Everybody was struggling. The advice I would give is to have a good vision for privileged access management. You need dedicated teams, senior management support, and proper company policies and standards before implementing the solution. Start building knowledge slowly and avoid jumping into the deep end without preparation. I would rate CyberArk Privileged Access Manager a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of AWS Secrets Manager is its seamless integration with various AWS services."
"AWS Secrets Manager is used for storing secret information that has to be a secret from your customer and your employees."
"Secrets Manager helps in retrieving the enrollment variables used by the code."
"The most valuable feature is security."
"The most valuable feature of AWS Secrets Manager is the ability to keep data secret and assign access permissions to people to grant or restrict access."
"All our workloads are running on AWS, so integration with our workload is much easier on AWS Secrets Manager than going with another solution such as Thycotic."
"It's highly scalable, so I'd rate it a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is the management of credentials."
"Password Vault's policy configuration is very good - when you receive an attack, you can segment the structure of the project in order to isolate parts or users."
"This solution is quite stable."
"CyberArk has the ability to change the credentials on every platform."
"I would recommend CyberArk Privileged Access Manager because it is a leading solution for privileged access management."
"I would recommend implementing CyberArk Privileged Access Manager as it is the best so far."
"Technical support has been very responsive in navigating challenges. It is very easy to open a ticket."
"CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is cool."
"DVR like video recording and text-based recording for easier audits."
 

Cons

"We occasionally have problems with rate limits, although that is a problem more generally with AWS."
"There is room for improvement in terms of integrating with certain other platforms."
"An area for improvement in AWS Secrets Manager could be expanding integration options beyond AWS services."
"If you don't have enterprise support, then you will not be able to get through to them to get the help. It is not only applicable to AWS Secrets Manager. It is also applicable to any service on AWS."
"There is a potential improvement in connecting AWS Secrets Manager to Jenkins CI/CD pipeline to automatically reflect changes in production."
"It would be good if the AWS Secrets Manager were more customizable."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model."
"There is a need for better environmental implementation, such as having a security fund as a solution."
"The main challenge was integrating with in-house IT and business applications, which are not standard. We needed to create special updates for that kind of integration."
"The price is high compared to Azure Key Vault. It's the most expensive solution."
"it manages creds based on Organizational Units. That is, a "safe" is limited to specific OUs. That makes for very elaborate OU structure, or you risk exposing too many devices by putting most of them in fewer OUs."
"Make it easier to deploy."
"The usual workload is sometimes delayed by the solution."
"The session monitoring and recording feature is also a good feature feature, but we're currently experiencing an issue with session monitoring not working correctly. We're working with CyberArk to resolve it. We aren't able to view active sessions or historical recordings of sessions."
"Many of the infrastructure folks who use the product dislike it because it complicates their workflow. They get a little less control, and they have to go through a specific solution. It proactively logs in for them, which obfuscates some of the issues that they may be troubleshooting."
"Our DevOps team is looking in the direction of cloud, because we are not in it today. We are hoping to build it with Conjur from the ground up."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We purchase a monthly license for the product."
"The cost is somewhat high."
"The solution is expensive."
"We've observed that AWS Secrets Manager pricing is based on a per-secret-per-month model. As a result, we prefer to divide our secrets into individual pieces to increase security and grant specific access permissions to certain secrets, systems, or individuals. However, this approach results in higher costs. Therefore, we have been exploring ways to combine our secrets into groups to reduce expenses and simplify management. Nonetheless, we acknowledge that this issue may not be related to the secret manager's functionality."
"I don't believe there is a license cost for the solution."
"It is in line with its competitors, but all such solutions cost too much money."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"If you are looking at implementing this solution, buy the training and go to it."
"The solution is costly but we get what we pay for."
"The solution is available at a high price"
"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."
"CyberArk is one of the best PAM solutions and one of the most expensive, but it works better than the others, so the pricing is fair."
"Its price can be reduced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
Educational Organization
34%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Azure Key Vault or AWS Secrets Manager?
Azure Key Vault is a SaaS solution. You can easily store passwords and secrets securely and encrypt them. Azure Key Vault is a great solution to ensure you are compliant with security and governanc...
Which is better - HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager?
HashiCorp Vault was designed with your needs in mind. One of the features that makes this evident is its ability to work as both a cloud-agnostic and a multi-cloud solution. As a cloud-agnostic sol...
What do you like most about AWS Secrets Manager?
The most valuable feature of AWS Secrets Manager is its seamless integration with various AWS services.
How does Sailpoint IdentityIQ compare with CyberArk PAM?
We evaluated Sailpoint IdentityIQ before ultimately choosing CyberArk. Sailpoint Identity Platform is a solution to manage risks in cloud enterprise environments. It automates and streamlines the m...
What do you like most about CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
The most valuable features of the solution are control and analytics.
 

Also Known As

No data available
CyberArk Privileged Access Security, CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Autodesk, Clevy, Stackery
Rockwell Automation
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Secrets Manager vs. CyberArk Privileged Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.