CyberArk's PAM is their core. Their secrets mgmt feels like an afterthought for the enterprise PAM suite. Not built for developers.
Key gaps vs a dedicated tool like Akeyless/Hashicorp:
* **No native GitOps.** Expect CLI/API only. No direct vault-operator for K8s or Terraform provider that doesn't feel bolted on.
* **Complexity tax.** You're managing the full PAM infrastructure. Overkill for a dev team needing API keys, database creds.
* **Lacking dev-centric features.** Dynamic secrets? Short-lived credentials? Not their primary design. Zero-trust machine identity for workloads is a second-class citizen.
* **SOC 2 Type II?** They have it, but for the *platform*. Their implementation guide dumps the operational controls on you. "Enterprise-grade" means you do the work.
For a pure dev secrets need, dedicated tools win. CyberArk only makes sense if you're already all-in on their PAM and accept the overhead.
No SOC2, no deal.