Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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
7.1
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
CyberArk Privileged Access ...
Ranking in Enterprise Password Managers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
225
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 August 2025, in the Enterprise Password Managers category, the mindshare of AWS Secrets Manager is 17.2%, down from 21.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is 8.0%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Password Managers
 

Featured Reviews

Mahadev Metre - PeerSpot reviewer
Consistent security and efficiency improvements optimize IT infrastructure with effective management
When creating AWS Secrets Manager, it should be automated using tools such as Terraform, Puppet, or Ansible. With Terraform code, you specify the encryption key, secret name, rotation policy, and secret replication. Human error occurs when feeding secret values manually, especially with large amounts of secrets to input. Secrets should never be protected only by IAM. They should be protected by multiple layers, such as IAM and one or two KMS keys. Additional security measures could be beneficial if necessary. The rotation policy is crucial because some secrets may become obsolete, require updates, or get compromised. With a weekly rotation policy, if unauthorized access occurs, the exposure is limited to seven days. The rotation policy can be customized according to needs.
Abdul Durrani - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables granular and secure access with just-in-time access and Zero Trust model
CyberArk provides a good amount of control over access types. However, as a future enhancement, having additional features for cross-platform integration would be beneficial. It would be good to have integrations with other tools and firewalls, such as Zscaler and CrowdStrike. Although I am not fully aware of recent updates, more cross-platform integration would be valuable. A SOC analyst would like to have centralized access in terms of information flowing in even for privileged access management. They would like to have control over everything instead of opening four to five tabs for different sorts of information. Cross-platform integration would help with that. Customers also want CyberArk's pricing to be better so that they can implement it further and have more licenses. Implementing a privileged access management solution can be challenging. It would be great if CyberArk could provide recommendations based on the compliance standards of an organization. It would help system admins ensure that all the required ports are closed and the systems are being managed properly. If any system is not being used anymore, any ports opened for that system need to be closed. Having such recommendations would be helpful.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's highly scalable, so I'd rate it a ten out of ten."
"AWS Secrets Manager plays a significant role in optimizing IT infrastructure security and efficiency."
"The solution is very scalable."
"I would highly recommend AWS Secrets Manager for secret management in AWS."
"The most valuable feature is security."
"AWS Secrets Manager is used for storing secret information that has to be a secret from your customer and your employees."
"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."
"The product is easy to use and is inexpensive."
"On the customer accounts side, our account managers are responsive. If you ask them, they will get you whomever you need."
"It is a single tool that isolates possible kinds of malware. You get lateral movement blocking and auditing information, e.g., you know who is doing what. You are getting protections from the service as well as a useful environment. All your admins can easily go in and out of your company while accessing your servers in a secure way, even if they are working abroad."
"There are no issues with scalability. Our clients are very happy to use the product."
"The features that are most effective, like every PAM solution, include monitoring and password rotations."
"We are able to centrally manage credentials, touch applications, and rotate passwords."
"The ability to develop and deploy applications with no stored secrets is very valuable."
"The most valuable features of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager are its robust functionality and reliability."
"CyberArk's support is excellent, providing personalized assistance through a dedicated local account manager and sales engineer."
 

Cons

"There is a potential improvement in connecting AWS Secrets Manager to Jenkins CI/CD pipeline to automatically reflect changes in production."
"An area for improvement in AWS Secrets Manager could be expanding integration options beyond AWS services."
"There is room for improvement in terms of integrating with certain other platforms."
"The sidecar feature has room for improvement."
"If you add one more layer of security to AWS Secrets Manager, even the programmer will not be able to see the secrets."
"AWS Secrets Manager could support hybrid infrastructure."
"The solution's initial setup process is complicated."
"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 room for improvement, particularly with Vendor PAM."
"The greatest area of improvement is with the user interface of the Password Vault Web Access component."
"The support services could act faster when people reach out to resolve issues."
"In CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, the UI has room for improvement, as does the dashboard reporting, which could be made better or easier to use."
"Report creation could be improved. The policies could be more customized."
"Initially, there was a lot of hiccups, because there were a lot of transitions due to manual installations."
"We require IAM (identify and access management) capability at the administrator level because we need more identification."
"The tool needs to improve its usage and interface. They need to have a modern and useful interface. I want the product to improve its integration capabilities as well since some of the integration features do not work always."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We purchase a monthly license for the product."
"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."
"The cost is somewhat high."
"Network and security licenses are currently being managed by other outsource vendors, so they are facing some type of problems in the digital aspect."
"The license CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is on an annual basis."
"Quite expensive"
"Since CyberArk is at the top of the Gartner list, the cost is indeed on the higher side, but customers must discern which entities are essential to purchase. They should weigh the cost against the quality received."
"CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is on the expensive side. It is very expensive."
"It's an affordable platform."
"CyberArk is good at what they do, and the price reflects that. You have to pay the price for the same."
"This product is very expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Password Managers solutions are best for your needs.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

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: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.