# AWS Secrets Manager: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 77 judge labels across 5 categories by 14 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aws-secrets-manager

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Secrets management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/secrets-management/index.md) | 6% | 4 | 14% | 69 |
| [Non-human identity management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/non-human-identity-management/index.md) | 0% | 129 | 60% | 5 |
| [Identity governance](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/identity-governance/index.md) | 0% | 85 | 100% | 1 |
| [Privileged access management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/identity/privileged-access-management/index.md) | 0% | 71 | 100% | 1 |
| [SaaS security posture management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/saas-security-posture-management/index.md) | 0% | 90 | 100% | 1 |

## What the models said for it

- "Integrate HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or Azure Key Vault instead of native Kubernetes secrets." (Muse Glimmer 30B, Secrets)
- "Start with AWS Secrets Manager or Azure Key Vault if you're cloud-native" (Claude Haiku 4.5, Secrets)
- "If you're AWS-heavy, choose AWS Secrets Manager." (GPT-6 Luna, Secrets)
- "AWS‑centric stack → AWS Secrets Manager" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, Secrets)

## And against it

- "Received a high negative rate (64%) and is considered a criticized challenger" (Mistral Small, IGA)
- "AWS Secrets Manager has a negative rate of 64% for enterprise B2B companies" (Llama 4 Maverick, NHI management)
- "Not recommended for small teams due to vendor lock-in and complexity." (Mistral Small, Secrets)
- "AWS Secrets Manager (costs add up)" (Kimi K2, Secrets)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named AWS Secrets Manager, from 195 of the 244 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- securityboulevard.com: 96
- akeyless.io: 79
- infisical.com: 75
- startwithidentity.com: 68
- g2.com: 51
- gane.ai/index: 44
- cheatsheetseries.owasp.org: 36
- github.com: 35
- safeguard.sh: 33
- pulumi.com: 31

### Pages cited

- https://securityboulevard.com/2026/05/top-16-secrets-management-tools-and-platforms-for-2026-compared: 51
- https://startwithidentity.com/articles/top-8-secrets-management-tools.md: 42
- https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Secrets_Management_Cheat_Sheet.html: 36
- https://akeyless.io/blog/the-essential-guide-to-secrets-management: 35
- https://securityboulevard.com/2025/08/top-6-secrets-management-tools-you-need-in-2025: 31
- https://pulumi.com/blog/secrets-management-tools-guide: 29
- https://dupple.com/learn/best-secrets-management-tools: 27
- https://subrupt.com/best/secrets-management: 27

## In its own words

What AWS Secrets Manager's own pages state, read 2026-09-28. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: Centrally manage the lifecycle of secrets (https://aws.amazon.com/secrets-manager)
- For: applications, services, and IT resources (https://aws.amazon.com/secrets-manager)
- Price stated: you pay only for what you use, there is no minimum fee. There are no set-up fees or commitments to begin using the service. You are charged for number of secrets you store and for API requests made to the service each month. (https://aws.amazon.com/secrets-manager/faqs)
- Starting price: $0.40 / secret / month (https://aws.amazon.com/secrets-manager/pricing)
- Free plan or trial: Starting July 15, 2025, new AWS customers will receive up to $200 in AWS Free Tier credits, which can be applied towards eligible AWS services, including Secrets Manager. At account sign-up, you can choose between a free plan and a paid plan. The free plan will be available for 6 months after account creation. (https://aws.amazon.com/secrets-manager/faqs)
- Certifications: DoD CC SRG IL2, DoD CC SRG IL4, DoD CC SRG IL5, FedRAMP, HIPAA, IRAP, OSPAR, ISO 27001

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.