When building platforms on AWS, one of the most important decisions is how to store and manage secrets-things like database passwords, API tokens, and sensitive configuration. AWS offers two main tools for this: Secrets Manager and Parameter Store. They look similar at first, but they solve slightly different problems. Choosing the right one can simplify your platform, reduce cost, and improve security.
Secrets Manager in Simple Terms
Secrets Manager is built specifically for highly sensitive secrets. Its biggest advantage is that it can automatically rotate secrets for services like RDS, Redshift, DocumentDB, and any custom integration you build with Lambda. It also has strong auditing and supports cross-region and cross-account setups out of the box.
The downside is cost. You pay for each secret, each API call, and each rotation. This adds up quickly, especially for large platform teams managing dozens or hundreds of credentials.
Use Secrets Manager when your secrets change often, when rotation matters, or when the secret is critical to your production systems.
Parameter Store in Simple Terms
Parameter Store is more general-purpose. It is great for application configuration, environment variables, feature flags, and low-sensitivity secrets. It uses a simple folder-like path system, which makes organisation easy. It also integrates nicely with EC2, Lambda, ECS, CodeBuild, and CI/CD pipelines.
The biggest advantage is price. The standard tier is free, and many teams use it heavily without paying anything.
The limitation is that Parameter Store doesn't rotate secrets on its own, and its throughput is lower unless you upgrade to Advanced parameters. If you need rotation, you must write your own automation.
So Which One Should You Use?
Use Secrets Manager when the secret is highly sensitive or needs rotation.
Use Parameter Store for configs and secrets that rarely change.
Most platform teams end up using both. Secrets Manager handles core secrets like database credentials or third-party API keys. Parameter Store handles things like service endpoints (/prod/api/base_url) or operational settings (/dev/user-service/timeout). This hybrid approach gives strong security where needed and a low-cost configuration everywhere else.
Best Practices & Recommendations
- Keep things encrypted, even for non-sensitive values.
- Add a clear naming structure for all your parameters and secrets, as this prevents confusion across environments.
- Cache values inside applications instead of calling AWS on every request.
- And give your app runtime roles read-only access while keeping write and update permissions restricted to only allowed users or platforms.
Final Thoughts
Secrets Manager and Parameter Store are not competitors, but they complement each other. Secrets Manager shines when security and rotation matter. Parameter Store shines when you want a simple and organised configuration without high cost. Together, they form a clean and effective secrets management strategy for AWS platforms.
If you found this article helpful, please leave a like or comment and share it with others. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section.
Top comments (0)