CertGuard vs. CyberArk Certificate Manager
The honest comparison. CyberArk's Certificate Manager (formerly Venafi TPP) is the enterprise gold standard for orgs with 10,000+ certs across multi-cloud + Kubernetes. For air-gapped DoW environments, small-to-mid AD CS deployments, and shops that need certificate management WITHOUT a $200K infrastructure build-out — CertGuard wins.
Four reasons CertGuard wins where CyberArk over-serves
Total air-gap
No telemetry. No license-server callback. No update channel. The .exe runs identically on day 1 and year 5. SHA-256 is the entire change-control artifact. CyberArk's TPP needs network connectivity for licensing + agents phone home. In a SCIF or behind an air-gap firewall, that's a non-starter.
Zero deployment footprint
No MSI. No service. No agent on production servers. No SQL backend. No load balancer. CyberArk needs a TPP host + SQL Server + agents on every cert-bearing target + ports opened end-to-end. That's a SWAB nightmare. CertGuard is one SWAB approval, ever.
Extremely portable
USB-stick deployable. Drop it on an air-gapped console. Run from a PAW. Carry it onto a vessel or SCIF visit. Move it between forests by copying one file. Portable mode keeps the config next to the binary — the entire install fits on a 64 MB USB drive.
Feature parity for the 80% case
Cert inventory, chain visualization, expiration monitoring, AD CS template management, multi-domain support, LDIF-driven template edits, EPA / CBT-aware NTLM, ICA discovery. The 20% CertGuard skips (K8s/SPIFFE, ServiceNow, multi-cloud) only matters at 10,000+ cert scale anyway.
3-year TCO — the slide for your CFO
CyberArk Certificate Manager
InfoRelay CertGuard
CertGuard's 3-year TCO is 20-50× lower for the same 80% of certificate operations needs.
Feature-by-feature, honestly
| Capability | CertGuard v0.1 | CyberArk CM |
|---|---|---|
| Single-binary, no installer, no admin rights to run | ✓ yes | ✗ requires server + agents |
| Air-gap / no telemetry / no license callback | ✓ yes | ✗ phones home |
| STIG-friendly install (no DA logon-locally, no MSI, no service) | ✓ yes | ✗ requires agents on every target |
| USB-portable deployment | ✓ yes | ✗ no |
| Local keygen + CSR (RSA / ECDSA, full DN + SANs + EKUs) | ✓ yes | ✓ yes (server-side) |
| Cert format conversion (PEM / DER / PKCS#7 / PKCS#12) | ✓ yes | ✓ yes |
| AD CS template discovery (LDAPS) | ✓ yes | ✓ yes |
| AD CS template modification (LDIF changetype:modify) | ✓ yes | ✓ yes (via console) |
| EPA / CBT-aware NTLM (Channel Binding Token) | ✓ yes (pyspnego) | ✓ yes |
| Cert expiration monitor with 30/60/90-day buckets | ✓ yes | ✓ yes |
| Visual chain map / cert architecture health view | ✓ front-and-center | 🟡 has it, buried in menus |
| Multi-domain / multi-forest support | ✓ yes | ✓ yes |
| AD CS HTTP enrollment (POST CSR + fetch cert + push) | ⏳ v0.2 (next release) | ✓ yes |
| Multi-CA orchestration (DigiCert, Sectigo, Let's Encrypt, …) | ⏳ AD CS-only today | ✓ 100+ CAs |
| Kubernetes cert-manager / SPIFFE-SPIRE workload identity | ✗ no | ✓ yes |
| ServiceNow / ITSM / PagerDuty integration | ⏳ v0.4 roadmap | ✓ yes |
| HSM / FIPS 140-2 Level 3 key escrow | ✗ no | ✓ yes |
| Multi-tenant / MSP deployment | ✗ single install | ✓ yes |
| 10,000+ cert scale, multi-cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP) | ⚠ designed for 50-2000 | ✓ enterprise scale |
⚖ When CyberArk IS the right answer (be honest in procurement)
We don't want to win contracts we can't deliver on. CyberArk genuinely wins when your org has:
- 10,000+ certificates across multi-cloud (AWS + Azure + GCP + on-prem)
- Kubernetes + cert-manager + SPIFFE/SPIRE as a hard requirement
- ServiceNow / ITSM workflow integration as a procurement gate
- HSM-backed / FIPS Level 3 key escrow for code-signing
- 24/7 vendor support contract for tier-1 incident response
- Multi-tenant / MSP deployment with per-customer isolation
For everything else, CertGuard wins on cost, footprint, and operational simplicity.
Want to slow-walk the CyberArk RFP?
Spin up CertGuard in your environment in <5 minutes. No install, no agents, no infrastructure. Show your procurement chain a working alternative before the PO is cut.