AWS KMS or AWS CloudHSM: Choose the right key management solution
Brief
Choosing the right cryptographic key management service on Amazon Web Services (AWS) starts with understanding the difference between AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) and AWS CloudHSM . Both provide key storage backed by a hardware security module (HSM) but serve very different needs.
AWS KMS is a fully managed service that integrates with all AWS services and all AWS Regions, making it the right choice for most key management workloads. AWS CloudHSM is a specialized option for use cases where you have strict requirements for dedicated HSM instances or must support legacy applications built around traditional HSM interfaces.
Quick comparison
The following table shows the pricing, AWS Region availability, algorithms, and AWS service integrations as of July 2026.