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Index › IT › Identity and access › Secrets › HashiCorp Vault vs AWS Secrets Manager
Secrets management · November 2026 Edition

HashiCorp Vault vs AWS Secrets Manager

Six of fourteen models named HashiCorp Vault first on the direct prompt; zero named AWS Secrets Manager. Both were named by all fourteen models and HashiCorp Vault carries 81 labels and AWS Secrets Manager 69, so the shares are not directly comparable.

HashiCorp Vault

endorsed leader

Named in eight categories this edition.

AWS Secrets Manager

accepted challenger

Named in five categories this edition.

First-choice share32%6%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate21%14%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#4A position in a field of 12; printed, not drawn.
Labels8169A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, HashiCorp Vault reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Doppler was named alongside these two in ten of the fourteen direct answers. HashiCorp Vault vs Doppler · HashiCorp Vault vs Infisical · HashiCorp Vault vs Azure Key Vault

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the secrets management page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
HashiCorp VaultFirst choices, of fourteen modelsAWS Secrets Manager
Direct603 against HashiCorp Vault
Paraphrase531 against HashiCorp Vault
Comparative120
Budget-constrained204 against HashiCorp Vault · 4 against AWS Secrets Manager
Scale-constrained401 against HashiCorp Vault · 2 against AWS Secrets Manager
Negative317 against HashiCorp Vault · 4 against AWS Secrets Manager
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, HashiCorp Vault and AWS Secrets Manager were named in the same answer 233 times, of the 471 answers naming HashiCorp Vault and the 244 naming AWS Secrets Manager. In those answers AWS Secrets Manager took the first choice eleven times and HashiCorp Vault seventy-eight.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where HashiCorp Vault and AWS Secrets Manager stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.20
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
HashiCorp Vault AWS Secrets Manager first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, HashiCorp Vault on the left and AWS Secrets Manager on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where HashiCorp Vault and AWS Secrets Manager stood in it.

HashiCorp Vault first, AWS Secrets Manager an alternative

6 of 14 modelsAWS Secrets Manager was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
GPT-5.4 miniHashiCorp Vault alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault
Grok 4.20HashiCorp Vault alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Akeyless, Passwork
Mistral SmallHashiCorp Vault alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Akeyless, Azure Key Vault, CyberArk Conjur
Qwen 3.7 FlashHashiCorp Vault alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Akeyless, Azure Key Vault, Infisical
GLM 4.7 FlashXHashiCorp Vault alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, Doppler, Google Secret Manager, Infisical
MiniMax M2.5HashiCorp Vault alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Akeyless, Azure Key Vault, CyberArk Conjur, Doppler

Neither was the first choice, one was named

8 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Doppler, HashiCorp Vault
Gemini 3.5 FlashDoppler, Infisical alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, Google Secret Manager
Perplexity SonarInfisical alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Akeyless, Doppler
DeepSeek V4 FlashDoppler, Infisical alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Akeyless, HashiCorp Vault
Llama 4 MaverickDoppler alternatives: Akeyless, HashiCorp Vault
Kimi K2Doppler alternatives: 1Password, HashiCorp Vault, Infisical
GPT-6 LunaDoppler alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Infisical
Muse Glimmer 30BDoppler alternatives: AWS Secrets Manager, Akeyless, HashiCorp Vault

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
AWS Secrets Manager leads by seven points.
AWS Secrets Manager9%#3 of 11
HashiCorp Vault1%#8 of 11
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
The order flips: HashiCorp Vault leads at mid-market.
HashiCorp Vault32%#1 of 12
AWS Secrets Manager6%#4 of 12
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
HashiCorp Vault leads by sixty-six points.
HashiCorp Vault68%#1 of 12
AWS Secrets Manager2%#5 of 12
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about HashiCorp Vault

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.

“Often recommended to avoid unless you already have a dedicated platform/security team” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid: HashiCorp Vault Community Edition (licensing changes)” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · hard negative
“HashiCorp Vault (HCP / Enterprise) | Multi-cloud, complex enterprise policies, dynamic secrets, heavy compliance. | Steep learning curve... HCP (managed) recommended.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“For most modern deployments, HashiCorp Vault (open-source or Cloud) or a major cloud provider's native solution are the most cautious choices” MiniMax M2.5 · negative prompt · first choice
“Centralized secrets management solutions, such as HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager or Azure Key Vault, help regain control” Claude Haiku 4.5 · negative prompt · first choice

What the models said about AWS Secrets Manager

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.

“Not recommended for small teams due to vendor lock-in and complexity.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“AWS Secrets Manager (costs add up)” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · hard negative
“Integrate HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or Azure Key Vault instead of native Kubernetes secrets.” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · first choice
“Start with AWS Secrets Manager or Azure Key Vault if you're cloud-native” Claude Haiku 4.5 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“If you're AWS-heavy, choose AWS Secrets Manager.” GPT-6 Luna · paraphrase prompt · first choice
Also compared
HashiCorp Vault vs DopplerHashiCorp Vault vs InfisicalHashiCorp Vault vs Azure Key VaultHashiCorp Vault vs AkeylessHashiCorp Vault vs Google Secret ManagerDoppler vs AWS Secrets ManagerInfisical vs AWS Secrets ManagerAWS Secrets Manager vs Azure Key VaultAWS Secrets Manager vs AkeylessAWS Secrets Manager vs Google Secret ManagerAll twenty-one head-to-head pages and the full secrets standing

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.