HashiCorp Vault
vaultproject.ioBuild Difficulty: 4/5
A few focused days to build a solid replacement
Manage, store, and tightly control access to tokens, passwords, certificates, and encryption keys for protecting secrets and other sensitive data using a UI, CLI, or HTTP API.
How to Replace HashiCorp VaultOverview
Features
44 features across 12 categories
Access Control(9)
Authenticate applications using role-based credentials for secure machine-to-machine access.
Support multiple auth methods including LDAP, OAuth, JWT, Kubernetes, and cloud-native integrations.
Control who can access what secrets through fine-grained policy definitions.
Unify identity across multiple auth methods with entities and groups.
Authenticate services using JWT tokens for modern microservices architectures.
Authenticate Kubernetes pods using service account tokens.
Integrate with LDAP directories for enterprise identity management.
Authenticate users via OIDC providers for seamless SSO integration.
Create and manage tokens with configurable TTL, policies, and metadata.
Cloud(5)
Generate temporary AWS access credentials based on IAM policies.
Generate temporary Azure service principal credentials and manage Azure resources.
Generate temporary GCP service account credentials and manage GCP resources.
Generate Kubernetes authentication tokens and service accounts.
Use AWS S3 for cost-effective, scalable secret storage.
Compliance(1)
Track all requests and responses to Vault with detailed audit trails for compliance.
Core(3)
Generate temporary credentials on-demand with automatic expiration and revocation.
Automatic credential lifecycle management with lease tracking and renewal.
Securely store and manage passwords, API keys, and other secrets with encryption at rest.
Enterprise(4)
Isolate secrets and policies across multiple teams and projects within a single Vault cluster.
Scale read performance with standby replicas that handle non-mutating operations.
Enable multi-region disaster recovery and performance replication for high availability.
Enforce fine-grained policy decisions using Vault's policy language for advanced access control.
Extensibility(1)
Extend Vault functionality with custom plugins for auth, secrets, and database engines.
Infrastructure(5)
Automatically authenticate Vault Agent using configured auth methods.
Deploy Vault in HA configuration with automatic failover for fault tolerance.
Deploy Vault Agent Proxy for transparent request proxying and secret injection.
Use integrated Raft consensus for clustering without external storage dependencies.
Dynamically render configuration files with secrets from Vault.
Integrations(3)
Store Vault data in Consul for distributed, highly available deployments.
Dynamically generate database credentials with automatic rotation and least privilege.
Generate and manage SSH certificates and one-time passwords for secure access.
Interface(3)
RESTful HTTP API for programmatic access and integration with applications.
Command-line interface for managing secrets and Vault configuration.
User-friendly web interface for managing secrets, policies, and audit logs.
Monitoring(1)
Monitor Vault usage metrics and access patterns for security insights.
Performance(2)
Process multiple API requests in a single batch operation for improved performance.
Cache secret responses to reduce load and improve performance.
Security(7)
Encrypt and decrypt data using Vault-managed keys without storing sensitive data in applications.
Automatically rotate encryption and authentication keys on a defined schedule.
Support KMIP protocol for key management interoperability with external systems.
Immediately revoke credentials and invalidate secrets for quick response to security events.
Enforce multi-factor authentication for enhanced security.
Generate and manage X.509 certificates and private keys for TLS/SSL implementations.
Secure key management with configurable seal mechanisms including HSM support.
Pricing
Community Edition
- ✓Core secrets management
- ✓single server
- ✓community support
HCP Vault Plus
Popular- ✓Managed cloud service
- ✓high availability
- ✓audit logging
- ✓HA storage
HCP Vault Premium
- ✓All Plus features
- ✓namespaces
- ✓replication
- ✓MFA
- ✓Sentinel
Enterprise
- ✓Self-managed
- ✓unlimited nodes
- ✓performance replication
- ✓custom terms
Cost Calculator
Keep Paying HashiCorp Vault
Build It Yourself
Total Cost Comparison
DIY hosting estimate based on Vercel + Supabase free/pro tiers (~$20/mo). Build time estimated from 44 features at easy complexity.
Build vs Buy
Should you build a HashiCorp Vault alternative or buy the subscription? Estimate based on 44 features.
Buy HashiCorp Vault
Build Your Own
Better ValueBuilding could save ~$304,560 over 3 years.
Estimates based on 44 features and a BuildScore of 4/5. Actual costs vary.
Integrations
25 known integrations