AWS Secrets Manager or AWS SSM Parameter Store?

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Question

The company that I work for is heavily invested in AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store. But, I have been reading up on AWS Secrets Manager and I’m confused on what the difference is?

Response

AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store is a cost effective configuration store as there isn’t a charge for standard parameters. Parameter Store supports the storage of common configuration data like a URL and also data that’s more complex like a list of strings. But, AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store also supports more sensitive configuration data like secrets, passwords and tokens.

With AWS Secrets Manager, everything you store is of a sensitive nature, think, secrets and passwords. AWS Secrets Manager also features automated secret rotation and direct integration with services like RDS, Redshift, and DocumentDB. So, if you need to automatically rotate secrets or need integration points with RDS, Redshift, and/or DocumentDB, AWS Secrets Manager might just be the solution you are looking for.

Checkout our articles on AWS Security, AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store, and AWS Secrets Manager.

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