AWS Private Certificate Authority vs step-ca
AWS Private Certificate Authority
aws.amazon.comstep-ca
smallstep.comSide by side
| Figure | AWS Private Certificate Authority | step-ca |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $50/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 3 |
| Spec score · Public Key Infrastructure Software | 8.3 (#6) | 8.2 (#7) |
| Integrations | The SCEP connector can work with mobile device management solutions such as Microsoft Intune and Jamf Pro. | Documented integrations include Kubernetes cert-manager, Envoy SDS, ACME clients, OIDC providers, PKCS#11, Google Cloud KMS, AWS KMS and YubiKey PIV. |
| Key protection | AWS Private CA protects CA keys with AWS-managed hardware security modules that adhere to FIPS 140-2 security standards. | It integrates with Google Cloud KMS, AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, PKCS#11 HSMs, TPM 2.0 and YubiKey PIV for CA signing-key protection. |
| Purpose | AWS Private CA is a managed service for issuing and managing private certificates and maintaining an organization's internal PKI. | step-ca is an online Certificate Authority for secure, automated X.509 and SSH certificate management. |
Plans
AWS Private Certificate Authority
- 30-day CA operation trialFree
- Short-lived private certificates$0.06, paid once
- General-purpose private certificates$0.75, paid once
- Short-lived certificate mode CA operation$50 a month
- General-purpose mode CA operation$400 a month
step-ca
- step-ca (open source)Free
- step-ca open sourceFree
- Smallstep PlatformPriced on request
In their own words
AWS Private Certificate Authority
AWS Private Certificate Authority has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
step-ca
step-ca is an online Certificate Authority for automating X.509 and SSH certificate management. It issues X.509 certificates for TLS, mutual TLS, document signing and authentication, as well as SSH certificates for users and hosts. Provisioners can authorize issuance through ACME challenges, OIDC tokens, cloud instance identity documents and short-lived JWK tokens. Automated issuance and renewal are supported for clients, servers and Kubernetes workloads, alongside passive revocation. Templates can customize SANs or OIDs, restrict domains or key sizes, and create longer certificate chains. For CA signing-key protection, step-ca integrates with Google Cloud KMS, AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, PKCS#11 HSMs, TPM 2.0 and YubiKey PIV. Its intended PKI design uses an offline root CA and a configured intermediate CA that issues end-entity certificates. Installation options include macOS, Windows, Linux, Kubernetes and Docker, and database choices include Badger, BoltDB, MySQL and PostgreSQL. The open-source plan costs nothing. Community help is available through Discord, with dedicated support contracts from Smallstep.