Vault Comparison №1

Hashicorp VS Akeyless

Intro
Deployment and setup
Scalability and flexibility
Functionality
Pricing
Summary

When it comes to secrets management, Hashicorp and Akeyless are some of the better-known names. These solutions provide a wide range of features to cater for the needs of different organisations. Many people consider Hashicorp vault to be the industry standard, while Akeyless is a new worthwhile contender.

Akeyless is known for offering new and improved features, providing a more streamlined service and approach to secrets management. This article will look at which service provided the best solutions and is more reliable and secure.

Which solution is better?

Deployment and setup

Many people who have had experience with Hashicorp report that its deployment process is complex and challenging to understand. As a result, it takes a lot of time and effort to deploy the solution properly. We have to note that most of these used Open Source version of Hashicorp Vault indeed.

On the other hand, Akeyless is quite the opposite. Unlike Hashicorp, Akeyless features a SaaS option. If you take this route, there is no need to deploy anything and install components to use it. Once the signup process is complete, the user can start utilising all the available features instantly.

SaaS packages' advantage is that a lot of time can be saved since there's no need to install anything on-premises. Additionally, having no on-premises component also means there is no need to run any updates or to maintain the software in any way. All that is taken care of in the cloud.

Scalability and flexibility

While both HashiCorp Vault and Akeyless Vault are scalable. Akeyless scores extra points due to its SaaS nature. The deployment process is smooth and instant, which means it's easier to utilise when you have a growing user base. All a user needs is a computer and internet access which make the entire process quite convinient.

With Hashicorp, there needs to be a new installation for every new org, maintenance services and regular updates. This is a cumbersome process, and that takes away points from scalability but is a plus if you need to have everything on-premise.

In terms of being flexible, both solutions are more or less on the same level. They can effectively handle the same types of secrets. Passwords, metadata, API keys and Database connection strings. Also, both secret managers can be used as internal certificate authorities.

Hashicorp and Akeyless: Key Differences

Pricing

Hashicorp has an Open Source edition, but Enterprise option is quite costly, and it comes with a fixed price that is not competitive. Most of the Hashicorp ads do not even display the price.

In contrast, Akeyless offers a free version that is limited to only three clients and has the ability to store a maximum of 50 secrets. From there, it is possible to pay for each client added which also increases the number of secrets stored. Akeyless additionally has a business plan that supports 100 clients and 5000 secrets. The other two packages are Enterprise and Corporate, with the Enterprise package supporting 250 clients and the Corporate packages having unlimited usage. The pricing model for Akeyless is more flexible and therefore allows it to cover a broader user range. But its pricing model is not suitable for IT companies that want to get some open source tooling literally for free.

Summary

Akeyless Vault shows a lot of promise and it comes with features that are a good match for Hashicorp. It enables users to enjoy a far simpler and faster-piloting process. It is a connect and go solution that has no deployment time since there is nothing to deploy.

Hashicorp Vault is a champion for corporations when you need strong on-premise capabilities, proven brand and professionals ready to deploy it at scale, as we do - check our DevSecOps as a Service offering.

Still looking? Check our other secret management comparisons:

Cyberlands.io Team