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

Azure Key Vault 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.4
Azure Key Vault boosts ROI by enhancing security, reducing development efforts, and centralizing key management for better compliance.
Sentiment score
7.0
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager boosts security and efficiency, reduces risks and costs, and streamlines credential management and compliance.
The return on investment lies in improved security infrastructure, addressing over-privileged access, and reducing the risk of credential compromise, which is a major source of data breaches.
The end users have the authority to reconcile the password or verify it before using session isolation, which is one of the unique features that can be enabled through Privileged Session Manager, preventing any attacks from happening within the organization when connected with sessions through CyberArk Privileged Access Manager.
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager has helped customers save on costs primarily by reducing the number of engineering and information security personnel.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
Azure Key Vault support is praised for responsiveness and reliability, with minor issues in reaching experts and clarity.
Sentiment score
6.5
CyberArk's support is knowledgeable but inconsistent, with mixed reviews on response times and initial interaction frustrations.
I have a strong relationship with Microsoft since we are one of their best clients in Spain.
The skill level of the support staff is also questionable.
Azure Key Vault's technical support by Microsoft Azure is very good.
CyberArk has been exceptional in coming back to us with immediate responses.
It could be forever until you talk to someone who knows what they are doing.
They are helpful, but complex issues can take a long time to resolve, which can delay solutions for urgent customer issues.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Azure Key Vault's scalability, seamless regional integration, and suitability for all business sizes receive high praise despite some dependency concerns.
Sentiment score
7.7
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager scales well across infrastructures, though on-premises deployment can be challenging due to server constraints.
The CPM can reportedly handle up to 50,000 accounts independently without issue.
I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.
They had 40,000 passwords in this one safe, and it was saving the last ten iterations of each password object. That means they had 400,000 password objects in this safe. They exceeded the limit.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Azure Key Vault is highly reliable and stable, with minimal issues, ideal for critical applications with high availability.
Sentiment score
7.8
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is stable with high availability, though occasional issues arise from complex setups or configurations.
Proper fine-tuning and expertise ensure the product performs well.
Overall, the stability of the solution is high.
It has a large customer base and positive feedback within my network.
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Key Vault needs better key rotation, mobile access, integration, interface, cost, vendor support, and disaster recovery features.
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager needs improved UI, integration, performance, support, cost efficiency, documentation, and compatibility.
My security area wants to rotate passwords every day, every week, or every month, depending on the services.
One of our certificates was not getting deployed, and during that time, the support team was unsure and had to connect with the back-end team for assistance.
The skill level of the support staff is also questionable.
They want everything to be on the cloud, but even in the SaaS version of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, they need to deploy some servers on-premises.
We cannot generate a plug-in for web-based applications.
If they want clients to move to the cloud, they need to support them in real-time.
 

Setup Cost

Azure Key Vault is seen as affordable with a pay-as-you-go model, though pricing opinions vary among users.
Enterprise buyers find CyberArk expensive but valuable for its comprehensive features, stability, and risk-reduction capabilities.
I would classify it as low priced.
We are planning to buy protection for Entra.
CyberArk is expensive compared to other products I know.
CyberArk is comparatively expensive compared to other PAM solutions, such as Delinea, especially during renewal.
CyberArk's SaaS solution is particularly expensive.
 

Valuable Features

Azure Key Vault offers secure, scalable key management with seamless Azure integration and comprehensive access control for enhanced security.
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager excels in security with features for password management, session monitoring, integrations, and robust threat analytics.
All secrets are in the Key Vault, and access is managed by the integrated management in ITT, which Azure provides to the services.
It also helps me increase my security posture and assists with regulatory and compliance requirements.
Since implementing Azure Key Vault, I have observed that instead of storing plain values, we can store them securely as and when required.
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager helps ensure data privacy because we now know who is using which credentials and at what time.
It keeps a record of activities, allowing me to easily fetch screen recordings to detect any misuse and see who did what and what happened.
It can integrate with Splunk, SNMP, and other solutions and technologies.
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Key Vault
Ranking in Enterprise Password Managers
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
Certificate Management Software (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (17th)
CyberArk Privileged Access ...
Ranking in Enterprise Password Managers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
223
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 May 2025, in the Enterprise Password Managers category, the mindshare of Azure Key Vault is 20.8%, down from 27.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is 7.8%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Password Managers
 

Featured Reviews

Sweta Agarwal - PeerSpot reviewer
With a straightforward deployment process, it's a stable solution to store passwords and information
Regarding how extensively it is used in your company, it is used for anything on the cloud where we need any service, especially user-facing ones. Around 800 to 1,000 users in my company use the solution. Also, it is important to note that there are around 150 to 200 people in the technology department.
SatishIyer - PeerSpot reviewer
Lets you ensure relevant, compliant access in good time and with an audit trail, yet lacks clarity on MITRE ATT&CK
When I was a component owner for PAM's Privileged Threat Analytics (PTA) component, what I wanted was a clear mapping to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, a framework which has a comprehensive list of use cases. We reached out to the vendor and asked them how much coverage they have of the uses cases found on MITRE, which would have given us a better view of things while I was the product owner. Unfortunately they did not have the capability of mapping onto MITRE's framework at that time. PTA is essentially the monitoring interface of the broker (e.g. Privileged Access Management, the Vault, CPM, PSM, etc.), and it's where you can capture your broker bypass and perform related actions. For this reason, we thought that this kind of mapping would be required, but CyberArk informed us that they did not have the capability we had in mind with regard to MITRE ATT&CK. I am not sure what the situation is now, but it would definitely help to have that kind of alignment with one of the more well-known frameworks like MITRE. For CyberArk as a vendor, it would also help them to clearly spell out in which areas they have full functionality and in which ares they have partial or none. Of course, it also greatly benefits the customers when they're evaluating the product.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Password Managers solutions are best for your needs.
851,604 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
7%
Educational Organization
33%
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...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Key Vault?
With Azure Key Vault, we can generate our own keys and then import them inside the system, which provides a higher level of security than provider-managed keys.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Key Vault?
The setup cost is low, as my usage is not extensive. I would classify it as low priced.
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
With the current model of licensing, for my use cases, sometimes it's hard to convince the management and get budget approvals for it. It's expensive and you're not getting anything new. It's just ...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure Key Vault, MS Azure Key Vault
CyberArk Privileged Access Security, CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Adobe, DriveTime, Johnson Controls, HP, InterContinental Hotels Group, ASOS
Rockwell Automation
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Key Vault vs. CyberArk Privileged Access Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.