Compare secrets management services across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI.
Last verified: May 2026
Showing 20 of 20 features.
| Feature | AWS | Azure | GCP | OCI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Service Name Core Features | AWS Secrets Manager | Azure Key Vault | Google Secret Manager | OCI Vault |
Secret Types Core Features | API keys, DB credentials, OAuth tokens, arbitrary text/binary | Secrets, keys, certificates in unified vault | Arbitrary string or binary data up to 64 KB | Secrets, master encryption keys, wrapping keys |
Max Secret Size Core Features | 64 KB per secret value | 25 KB per secret value | 64 KB per secret version payload | 25 KB per secret bundle |
Versioning Core Features | Staging labels: AWSCURRENT, AWSPREVIOUS, AWSPENDING | Automatic versioning with unique version identifiers | Immutable versions with enable/disable/destroy states | Secret versions with configurable rotation rules |
Replication Core Features | Multi-region secret replication with automatic sync | Geo-replication available in Premium tier | Automatic or user-managed replication policies | Cross-region vault replication |
Pricing Model Core Features | $0.40/secret/month + $0.05 per 10K API calls | Per-operation pricing; HSM keys at premium tier rates | Per active secret version + per 10K access operations | Per key-version per month + per 10K operations |
Encryption at Rest Security | AWS KMS (AES-256) with customer-managed or AWS-managed CMKs | HSM-backed (FIPS 140-2 Level 2 or Level 3) | Google-managed or CMEK via Cloud KMS (AES-256) | HSM-backed (FIPS 140-2 Level 3) or software-protected |
Access Control Security | IAM policies + resource-based policies per secret | RBAC roles or vault access policies; Managed Identity support | IAM roles (secretmanager.secretAccessor, admin, etc.) | IAM policies scoped to compartments and dynamic groups |
Audit Logging Security | CloudTrail records all Secrets Manager API calls | Azure Monitor diagnostic logs and Entra ID audit logs | Cloud Audit Logs (Admin Activity and Data Access) | OCI Audit service with 365-day retention |
Network Isolation Security | VPC endpoints (PrivateLink) for private access | Private endpoints and service endpoints | VPC Service Controls perimeter support | Private endpoints within VCN subnets |
Cross-Account Access Security | Resource-based policies allow cross-account access | Cross-tenant access via RBAC and Lighthouse | IAM bindings support cross-project identities | Cross-tenancy policies with explicit admit statements |
Automatic Rotation Operations | Built-in rotation via Lambda functions (RDS, Redshift, DocumentDB native) | Event Grid triggers Azure Functions for rotation | Pub/Sub-based rotation topics with custom handlers | Manual rotation; schedulable via OCI Functions |
CLI & SDK Support Operations | AWS SDK (all languages), CLI, CloudFormation, CDK, Terraform | Azure SDK, CLI, ARM templates, Bicep, Terraform | Google Cloud SDK, gcloud CLI, Terraform, client libraries | OCI SDK, CLI, Terraform, Resource Manager |
Kubernetes Integration Operations | Secrets Store CSI Driver, External Secrets Operator | Secrets Store CSI Driver with Key Vault provider | Secrets Store CSI Driver, Workload Identity binding | Secrets Store CSI Driver for OKE clusters |
CI/CD Integration Operations | CodePipeline, GitHub Actions, Jenkins plugins | Azure DevOps variable groups, GitHub Actions support | Cloud Build integration, GitHub Actions support | OCI DevOps service, external CI/CD via SDK |
Database Credential Rotation Integration | Native rotation for RDS, Aurora, Redshift, DocumentDB | Rotation via Functions; no native DB rotation | Custom rotation handler required for all databases | Autonomous DB integration; custom for others |
Application Config Integration | AppConfig for feature flags; Secrets Manager for credentials | App Configuration service links to Key Vault references | Berglas helper library; direct SDK access in apps | Config stored as secrets; accessed via SDK or instance metadata |
Container Injection Integration | ECS/EKS secret injection via task definitions or CSI driver | AKS pod identity + CSI driver; App Service references | GKE Workload Identity + CSI driver; Cloud Run env vars | OKE secret injection via CSI driver or init containers |
Serverless Integration Integration | Lambda environment encryption + Secrets Manager SDK calls | Functions app settings reference Key Vault secrets | Cloud Functions mount secrets as env vars or volumes | OCI Functions access vault secrets via resource principal |
Monitoring & Alerts Integration | CloudWatch metrics, EventBridge for secret events | Azure Monitor alerts, Event Grid notifications | Cloud Monitoring metrics, Pub/Sub event notifications | OCI Monitoring alarms, Events service triggers |
Your team is consolidating secrets management across a multi-cloud (AWS + GCP) environment. The compare tool reveals: AWS Secrets Manager has built-in RDS rotation (saves the team writing rotation Lambdas), GCP Secret Manager is cheaper at scale (per-version pricing). Recommendation: keep RDS credentials in Secrets Manager (use the built-in rotators), keep all other secrets (API keys, GCP service account credentials) in GCP Secret Manager. AWS workloads pull GCP secrets via cross-cloud federation. Net effect: rotation handled where AWS does it best, costs minimized for the bulk of secrets.
Every major cloud provider offers a managed secrets management service — AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, GCP Secret Manager, and OCI Vault — each with different pricing models, rotation capabilities, access control mechanisms, and integration patterns. Choosing the right service (or understanding them all in a multi-cloud environment) requires comparing features like automatic rotation, versioning, cross-region replication, HSM support, and pricing per secret per version. This comparison tool presents a detailed feature matrix and highlights the key differences that affect architecture decisions.
The compare tool maintains a feature matrix across 20+ secrets management dimensions per cloud: pricing model, supported secret types, automatic rotation, cross-region replication, HSM-backed keys, FIPS 140-2 levels, IAM integration, audit logging, versioning, expiration policies, and integration patterns. Side-by-side tables surface the cost crossover points and feature gaps that affect architecture decisions.
Azure Key Vault's per-operation pricing model is dramatically cheaper than per-secret models when you have many secrets but moderate access frequency. AWS Secrets Manager at $0.40/secret × 1,000 secrets = $400/month. Same secrets in Key Vault with 100K daily reads = ~$9/month. For org-wide secret consolidation, Key Vault is the cost winner.
AWS Secrets Manager has the most mature built-in rotation. The other clouds require you to write rotation logic in Functions/Lambda yourself. If your team is already on AWS and rotation is mandatory (compliance), Secrets Manager's pre-built rotators for RDS/Redshift/DocumentDB save weeks of work.
For multi-cloud architectures, picking ONE secret store as the source of truth simplifies operations dramatically. Use HashiCorp Vault (cloud-agnostic) or pick one cloud's service and pull secrets from it via cross-cloud access. Trying to keep 3+ cloud-native secret stores in sync is an operational nightmare.
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