Akeyless Alternatives — Secrets Management Tools Compared
Looking for an Akeyless alternative? Akeyless is a SaaS-based secrets management platform known for its zero-knowledge architecture and centralized credential management. But it's not the only option.
Whether you need an open-source alternative, deeper cloud-native integration, or enterprise PAM capabilities, we've compared the 9 best Akeyless alternatives to help you find the right secrets management tool for your team.
Each Akeyless alternative excels in different scenarios. Here's a quick guide to the best option for your specific needs.
Each Akeyless alternative evaluated on feature completeness, transparent pricing, deployment flexibility, and developer experience.
Below are the 9 best Akeyless alternatives for 2026. Open-source tools like HashiCorp Vault and Infisical offer self-hosting with no license cost. Cloud-native solutions from AWS, Azure, and Google provide managed services with deep provider integration. Enterprise platforms like CyberArk Conjur and Delinea focus on privileged access management and compliance. Developer-first platforms like Doppler and 1Password prioritize ease of use and CI/CD workflows.
Industry-standard open-source secrets management platform
Free (OSS) / Enterprise from $0.03/hr
Teams needing flexible, self-hosted secrets management with extensive plugin ecosystem
Native AWS secrets management service with automatic rotation
$0.40/secret/month + $0.05/10k API calls
Teams already on AWS who want native integration
Microsoft Azure's managed secrets, keys, and certificate service
Secrets: $0.03/10k operations / Keys: from $1/key/month
Microsoft and Azure-centric organizations
GCP-native secrets storage with versioning and audit
Free for 6 active versions + $0.06/10k access ops
Teams running workloads on Google Cloud Platform
Enterprise privileged access and secrets management platform
Open source (Community) / Enterprise pricing on request
Large enterprises with complex compliance and PAM requirements
Developer-first universal secrets management platform
Free for individuals / Team from $6/user/month
Development teams wanting a simple, modern secrets workflow
Open-source end-to-end encrypted secrets management for teams
Free (self-hosted) / Cloud from $6/user/month
Teams wanting open-source with a modern developer experience
Enterprise password and privileged credential vault
Starting from $10,000/year
Enterprises focused on privileged access management and compliance
Secrets automation and password management for teams and CI/CD
Business from $7.99/user/month
Teams wanting combined password management and developer secrets automation
Compare all 9 Akeyless alternatives side-by-side across pricing, deployment, and key capabilities.
| Feature | HashiCorp Vault ★★★★ 4.7 | AWS Secrets Manager ★★★★ 4.5 | Azure Key Vault ★★★★ 4.4 | Google Cloud Secret Manager ★★★★ 4.3 | CyberArk Conjur ★★★★ 4.2 | Doppler ★★★★ 4.6 | Infisical ★★★★ 4.5 | Delinea Secret Server ★★★★ 4.1 | 1Password (Business) ★★★★ 4.4 |
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| Pricing Model | Open Source + Enterprise | Per-secret | Per-operation | Per-operation | Enterprise license | Per-user | Per-user | Annual license | Per-user |
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| Best For | Teams needing flexible, self-hosted secrets management with extensive plugin ecosystem | Teams already on AWS who want native integration | Microsoft and Azure-centric organizations | Teams running workloads on Google Cloud Platform | Large enterprises with complex compliance and PAM requirements | Development teams wanting a simple, modern secrets workflow | Teams wanting open-source with a modern developer experience | Enterprises focused on privileged access management and compliance | Teams wanting combined password management and developer secrets automation |
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Key criteria for evaluating Akeyless alternatives and choosing the best secrets management tool for your organization.
Decide whether you need a fully managed cloud service, a self-hosted solution, or a hybrid approach. Cloud-native Akeyless alternatives like AWS Secrets Manager require zero infrastructure but lock you into a vendor. Open-source options like HashiCorp Vault give you full control but require operational expertise.
Evaluate the total cost of ownership beyond the sticker price. Per-secret pricing (AWS, GCP) can scale unpredictably. Per-user models (Doppler, Infisical) are more predictable for budgeting. Self-hosted open-source Akeyless alternatives like Vault and Infisical are free to use but factor in the cost of infrastructure and operations staff.
Check that your secrets manager integrates with your CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration (Kubernetes), infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, Ansible), and cloud providers. Among Akeyless alternatives, HashiCorp Vault has the broadest ecosystem, while cloud-native tools offer the deepest integration within their own platforms.
For regulated industries, ensure your Akeyless alternative supports detailed audit logging, role-based access control, and meets compliance frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, or FedRAMP. Enterprise tools like CyberArk Conjur and Delinea Secret Server excel in this area.
Consider how the tool performs at scale. Managed Akeyless alternatives handle scaling automatically but may have API rate limits. Self-hosted solutions require capacity planning. Evaluate secret rotation capabilities, high availability options, and disaster recovery features for your expected workload.
Common questions about Akeyless alternatives and secrets management tools.
Akeyless is a SaaS-based secrets management platform that uses a zero-knowledge encryption architecture to secure credentials, API keys, and certificates. Teams look for alternatives due to pricing, preference for open-source solutions, need for deeper cloud-native integration, or specific compliance requirements that Akeyless may not fully address.
HashiCorp Vault is the most established open-source alternative with the largest community and plugin ecosystem. For a more modern, developer-friendly experience, Infisical is an excellent open-source option with end-to-end encryption and a clean UI. CyberArk Conjur also offers an open-source community edition for enterprise use cases.
AWS Secrets Manager is the best choice for teams fully committed to AWS. It offers native integration with AWS services like RDS, Redshift, and Lambda, automatic credential rotation, and pay-per-use pricing. If you use multiple clouds, HashiCorp Vault provides strong multi-cloud support.
Pricing varies significantly. Open-source tools like HashiCorp Vault and Infisical are free to self-host. Cloud-native options like AWS Secrets Manager charge per-secret ($0.40/month) and per-API call. Developer platforms like Doppler and 1Password charge per-user ($6-8/month). Enterprise solutions like Delinea start around $10,000/year.
Yes. HashiCorp Vault, Infisical, CyberArk Conjur, and Delinea Secret Server all support self-hosted deployment. The cloud-native options (AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, GCP Secret Manager) and Doppler are cloud-only. 1Password Business is also cloud-only.
Doppler and Infisical are the best choices for small teams. Doppler offers a free tier for individuals and an intuitive UI designed for developers. Infisical provides a free self-hosted option with a modern developer experience. Both integrate well with CI/CD pipelines and common development tools.
Key factors include: deployment model (cloud vs. self-hosted), pricing structure and total cost of ownership, integration with your existing cloud and DevOps tools, compliance and audit requirements, ease of setup and ongoing operations, secret rotation capabilities, and the strength of the community or vendor support.
Yes. AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, and GCP Secret Manager all meet rigorous security standards including SOC 2, ISO 27001, and FedRAMP certifications. They use hardware security modules (HSMs) for key protection and provide fine-grained access control through their respective IAM systems. The tradeoff is vendor lock-in.
Akeyless is a managed SaaS platform with zero-knowledge encryption, while HashiCorp Vault is open-source and typically self-hosted. Vault offers more flexibility and the largest plugin ecosystem (3000+ integrations) but requires operational expertise to run. Akeyless provides easier setup with less infrastructure burden but offers less customization and creates vendor dependency. Teams with strong DevOps capabilities often prefer Vault; teams wanting a managed experience lean toward Akeyless or Doppler.
Yes, several free Akeyless alternatives exist. HashiCorp Vault Community Edition and Infisical are fully free and open-source for self-hosting. CyberArk Conjur offers a free community edition. For managed services, Doppler has a free tier for individual developers, and Google Cloud Secret Manager includes 6 free active secret versions. AWS Secrets Manager and Azure Key Vault have no free tiers but charge low per-operation costs.
For managed services, Doppler is the easiest Akeyless alternative to set up — it takes minutes and requires no infrastructure. AWS Secrets Manager is similarly quick if you're already on AWS. For self-hosted options, Infisical has the most modern setup experience with Docker Compose deployment and an intuitive web UI. HashiCorp Vault is powerful but has a steeper learning curve.
HashiCorp Vault is the best Akeyless alternative for multi-cloud environments. It provides unified secrets management across AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premises infrastructure with a single control plane. Doppler also works well for multi-cloud since it's platform-agnostic and syncs secrets to any environment. Cloud-native tools (AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, GCP Secret Manager) are each limited to their own cloud.