Vaulted vs AWS Secrets Manager
Built for different workflows. AWS Secrets Manager is a managed service for programmatic secrets within AWS infrastructure. Vaulted is a zero-knowledge tool for instant human-to-human secret sharing — free, anonymous, and with no AWS account required.
| Feature | Vaulted | AWS Secrets Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Client-side encryption | ||
| Zero-knowledge architecture | ||
| Encryption algorithm | AES-256-GCM | AES-256 (AWS KMS) |
| Key never sent to server | ||
| Self-destructing links | ||
| Configurable view limit | Unlimited or 1–10 views | |
| Passphrase protection | ||
| No account required | ||
| Automatic secret rotation | ||
| AWS service integration | RDS, Redshift, DocumentDB | |
| IAM access control | ||
| Free to use | $0.40/secret/month + API calls | |
| Open source |
Key Differences
AWS Secrets Manager is deeply integrated into the AWS ecosystem. It stores secrets that your applications retrieve programmatically via the AWS SDK, supports automatic rotation for RDS, Redshift, and DocumentDB credentials, and uses IAM policies for fine-grained access control. It's built for machines talking to machines.
Vaulted is built for people sharing with people. You paste a secret, set an expiration and view limit, and get a self-destructing link you can send to anyone. Everything is encrypted client-side with AES-256-GCM — the server never sees your plaintext. No AWS account, no IAM roles, no SDK integration required.
The cost model is also fundamentally different. AWS Secrets Manager charges $0.40 per secret per month plus $0.05 per 10,000 API calls. Vaulted is completely free. If you just need to send someone a password or API key securely, there's no reason to spin up an AWS service for it.
Choose Vaulted if
- You need to share a secret with a person, not an application
- You want zero-knowledge, client-side encryption with no server trust
- You don't want to pay per secret or manage an AWS account
- You need self-destructing links with configurable view limits
Choose AWS Secrets Manager if
- Your applications need to retrieve secrets programmatically at runtime
- You need automatic rotation for AWS database credentials
- You require IAM-based access control and CloudTrail audit logging
- You're already in the AWS ecosystem and need native integration