Table 1: Credential Roaming, Roaming Profile, and Smart Card Comparison
| Feature | Credentials Roaming | Roaming Profiles | Smart Cards |
| Bandwidth impact | Low | Medium to high | None |
| Deployment and maintenance cost | Low | Low | High |
| Impact on time it takes to log on to domain | Low | Medium to high | Low |
| PKI credential | DPAPI—both for local and server-side storage | DPAPI—both for local and server-side storage | DPAPI and advanced smart card security features—credentials aren't stored on server |
| Recovery mechanism for complete set of PKI credentials | Yes, thanks to AD-based storage | yes, thanks to Windows Server-based profile storage | No recovery mechanism |
| Recovery mechanism for individual private keys | CA key archival and recovery service (if configured) | CA key archival and recovery service (if configured) | CA key archival and recovery service (if configured) |