cert-manager vs KeyTalk CKMS
cert-manager
cert-manager.io
KeyTalk CKMS
keytalk.comSide by side
| Figure | cert-manager | KeyTalk CKMS |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | €5/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 12 |
| Spec score · Certificate Management Software | 8.0 (#10) | 8.9 (#3) |
| Spec score · Public Key Infrastructure Software | 8.0 (#10) | 8.8 (#2) |
| Certificate authorities | The documentation lists Let's Encrypt, HashiCorp Vault, CyberArk Certificate Manager, and private PKI among certificate authority options. | The system supports multiple public and private CAs, including Microsoft AD CS, GlobalSign and DigiCert QuoVadis. |
| Integrations | Satellite projects include istio-csr, approver-policy, Kubernetes CSI drivers, csi-driver-spiffe, and trust-manager. | Documented integrations include Microsoft Intune, MobileIron, VMware Workspace ONE, JAMF, RADIUS, LDAP, MySQL and HSMs. |
| Support | Palo Alto Networks offers commercial support and FIPS builds as part of its Long Term Support offering. | KeyTalk says it offers customers 24/7 support. |
Plans
KeyTalk CKMS
- S/MIME on-premise€5 a month
- S/MIME hosted SaaS€6.50 a month
- CKMS 0–49 seatsPrice not published
- CKMS 100,000+ seatsPriced on request
- CKMS 10,000–24,999 seatsPrice not published
- CKMS 1,000–2,499 seatsPrice not published
- CKMS 25,000–49,999 seatsPrice not published
- CKMS 2,500–9,999 seatsPrice not published
- CKMS 250–999 seatsPrice not published
- CKMS 50,000–74,999 seatsPrice not published
In their own words
cert-manager
cert-manager is a free, open-source tool for obtaining and managing X.509 certificates on Kubernetes and OpenShift. It requests certificates from public or private issuers, keeps them valid, and attempts renewal before expiration. The project automates TLS certificate issuance for Kubernetes Ingress and supports private-PKI certificates for pod-to-pod mutual TLS. Documented authority options include Let’s Encrypt, HashiCorp Vault, CyberArk Certificate Manager, and private PKI. Installation can use kubectl-applied manifests, Helm, Flux, or Argo CD. Related projects include istio-csr, approver-policy, Kubernetes CSI drivers, csi-driver-spiffe, and trust-manager; trust-manager distributes X.509 trust bundles and can run independently. cert-manager publishes threat-model and hardening guidance covering secrets, RBAC, networking, and Kubernetes configuration. Its default Helm values prioritize installation ease and backward compatibility over hardened production security. The project has no LTS releases, though each release is supported until the second subsequent version.
KeyTalk CKMS
KeyTalk CKMS automates PKI implementation and the enrollment, distribution and management of digital certificates. It keeps certificates and keys in a central repository and supports automated or semi-automated deployment and renewal, alongside reporting, notifications and alerts. Smart Security Scan finds certificates and keys on a network so valid findings can be imported. The product includes a private certificate authority that can operate beneath an existing root or as a standalone root. Integrations and protocols include DigiCert, DigiCert QuoVadis, GlobalSign, Microsoft CA, Intune, MobileIron, load balancers, HSMs, Citrix, SCEP and ACME. Access controls include AD and Entra ID authorization, multifactor authentication and role-based controls. CKMS can run as a virtual machine on customer infrastructure, in private cloud environments such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, or as KeyTalk-managed PKI service. General CKMS pricing is on request, and a free trial is available. Separate S/MIME plans cost €5 a month for on-premise service and €6.50 a month for hosted SaaS, billed per user per month.