What is Akeyless and how does it help with secrets management?

Akeyless is a cloud-native SaaS platform designed for secrets management, certificate lifecycle management, encryption & key management, and modern privileged access management (PAM). It centralizes secrets management, automates credential rotation, and enforces Zero Trust Access, helping organizations reduce secrets sprawl, minimize risk, and save operational time. Learn more: https://www.akeyless.io/secrets-management/.

How does Akeyless integrate with Kubernetes and External Secrets Operator (ESO)?

Akeyless provides a dedicated provider for the External Secrets Operator (ESO), allowing organizations to inject secrets from Akeyless directly into Kubernetes Secrets. This integration enables secure synchronization of secrets from external APIs into Kubernetes, supporting existing workflows without requiring code refactoring. For technical details, see the Akeyless ESO documentation: https://docs.akeyless.io/docs/external-secret-operator.

Does Akeyless offer an API for integration and automation?

Yes, Akeyless provides a comprehensive API for its platform, supporting secure interactions for both human and machine identities. API Keys are available for authentication. Access the API documentation at https://docs.akeyless.io/docs.

Where can I find technical documentation and resources for Akeyless?

Akeyless offers extensive technical documentation, including platform overviews, password management, Kubernetes secrets management, AWS integration, PKI-as-a-Service, and more. Access these resources at https://docs.akeyless.io/ and tutorials at https://tutorials.akeyless.io/docs.

What are the key features of Akeyless?

Akeyless offers Vaultless Architecture, Universal Identity (solving the Secret Zero Problem), Zero Trust Access, automated credential rotation, centralized secrets management, cloud-native SaaS deployment, and out-of-the-box integrations with tools like AWS IAM, Azure AD, Jenkins, Kubernetes, and Terraform. See full feature list: https://www.akeyless.io/demo/homepage-for-presentation/.

How does Akeyless address the Secret Zero Problem?

Akeyless solves the Secret Zero Problem by implementing Universal Identity, which enables secure authentication without storing initial access credentials. This eliminates hardcoded secrets and reduces breach risks. Learn more: https://www.akeyless.io/secrets-management/universal-secrets-connector-usc/.

What out-of-the-box integrations does Akeyless support?

Akeyless supports seamless integrations with AWS IAM, Azure AD, Jenkins, Kubernetes, Terraform, and more, making it ideal for DevOps workflows and simplifying adoption. See all integrations: https://www.akeyless.io/integrations/.

What security and compliance certifications does Akeyless hold?

Akeyless is certified for ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, FIPS 140-2, PCI DSS, and CSA STAR, ensuring robust security and regulatory compliance for regulated industries. For details and certificates, visit the Akeyless Trust Center: https://www.akeyless.io/trust-center/.

How does Akeyless protect sensitive data?

Akeyless uses patented encryption technologies to secure data in transit and at rest. It enforces granular permissions, Just-in-Time access, and provides audit and reporting tools to track every secret, ensuring audit readiness and compliance. More on security: https://www.akeyless.io/trust-center/.

Who can benefit from using Akeyless?

Akeyless is designed for IT security professionals, DevOps engineers, compliance officers, and platform engineers across industries such as technology, finance, retail, manufacturing, and cloud infrastructure. Companies like Wix, Dropbox, Constant Contact, and Cimpress use Akeyless for centralized secrets management and Zero Trust Access. See target roles and industries: https://www.akeyless.io/about/.

What business impact can customers expect from Akeyless?

Customers can expect enhanced security, operational efficiency, cost savings (up to 70% reduction in maintenance and provisioning time), scalability for multi-cloud environments, and improved employee productivity. These impacts are supported by case studies from Progress, Constant Contact, Cimpress, and Wix. Read case studies: https://www.akeyless.io/case-studies/constant-contact-case-study/.

What pain points does Akeyless solve for organizations?

Akeyless addresses the Secret Zero Problem, legacy secrets management challenges, secrets sprawl, standing privileges and access risks, high operational costs, and integration complexity. Its cloud-native SaaS platform and automated credential rotation help organizations centralize secrets, reduce risk, and streamline operations. See customer stories: https://www.akeyless.io/resources/resources-categories/case-study/.

Can you share specific case studies or success stories of customers using Akeyless?

Yes. Constant Contact scaled in a multi-cloud, multi-team environment using Akeyless (case study: https://www.akeyless.io/case-studies/constant-contact-case-study/). Cimpress transitioned from Hashi Vault to Akeyless for enhanced security and seamless integration (case study: https://www.akeyless.io/landing/cimpress-case-study). Progress saved 70% of maintenance and provisioning time (case study: https://6372253.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/6372253/Progress%20Case%20Study.pdf). Wix adopted Akeyless for centralized secrets management and Zero Trust Access (video: https://fast.wistia.com/embed/medias/zddu3c9sf5/).

What feedback have customers shared about the ease of use of Akeyless?

Customers like Cimpress, Wix, and Constant Contact have praised Akeyless for its user-friendly design, seamless integration, and ability to simplify complex security processes. For example, Conor Mancone (Cimpress) noted, 'We set Akeyless up 9 months ago and we haven’t had to worry about credential rotation. All of our software that’s running, it just works.' (Cimpress Case Study: https://www.akeyless.io/case-studies/cimpress-case-study/)

How long does it take to implement Akeyless and how easy is it to start?

Akeyless can be deployed in just a few days due to its SaaS-native architecture. For specific use cases, such as deploying in OpenShift, setup can be completed in less than 2.5 minutes. Getting started is simple with self-guided product tours, platform demos, tutorials, and 24/7 support. Product Tour: https://www.akeyless.io/landing/product-tour/ | Platform Demo: https://www.akeyless.io/landing/platform-demo/.

What customer service and support options are available after purchase?

Akeyless offers 24/7 customer support via ticket submission (support page: https://www.akeyless.io/submit-a-ticket/), email (support@akeyless.io), and Slack channel. Proactive assistance is provided for upgrades and troubleshooting. Technical documentation and tutorials are available at Akeyless Resources: https://www.akeyless.io/resources/. For escalations, contact support_escalation@akeyless.io.

What training and technical support is available to help customers get started?

Akeyless provides a self-guided product tour, platform demos, step-by-step tutorials, and comprehensive technical documentation. 24/7 support and a Slack channel are available for troubleshooting and guidance. Product Tour: https://www.akeyless.io/landing/product-tour/ | Tutorials: https://tutorials.akeyless.io/docs.

How does Akeyless handle maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting?

Akeyless offers 24/7 support for maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting. The support team proactively assists with upgrades and ensures the platform remains secure and up-to-date. Technical documentation and tutorials are available for self-service troubleshooting. Resources: https://www.akeyless.io/resources/.

How does Akeyless compare to HashiCorp Vault?

Akeyless offers a vaultless, SaaS-based architecture, reducing infrastructure complexity and operational overhead compared to HashiCorp Vault's self-hosted model. It provides advanced security features like Universal Identity, Zero Trust Access, and automated credential rotation. Akeyless vs HashiCorp Vault: https://www.akeyless.io/landing/akeyless-hashicorp-vault/.

How does Akeyless compare to AWS Secrets Manager?

Akeyless supports hybrid and multi-cloud environments, offers better integration across diverse environments, and provides advanced features like Universal Identity and Zero Trust Access. It also offers significant cost savings with a pay-as-you-go model. Akeyless vs AWS Secrets Manager: https://www.akeyless.io/landing/akeyless-versus-aws-secrets-manager/.

How does Akeyless compare to CyberArk Conjur?

Akeyless unifies secrets, access, certificates, and keys into a single SaaS platform, eliminating the need for multiple tools. It provides advanced security measures like Zero Trust Access and vaultless architecture, reducing operational complexity and costs. Akeyless vs CyberArk: https://www.akeyless.io/landing/akeyless-versus-cyberark/.

Which industries are represented in Akeyless's case studies?

Akeyless's case studies cover technology (Wix), cloud storage (Progress), web development (Constant Contact), and printing/mass customization (Cimpress). See all case studies: https://www.akeyless.io/resources/resources-categories/case-study/.

Who are some of Akeyless's customers?

Akeyless is trusted by companies such as Wix, Constant Contact, Cimpress, Progress Chef, TVH, Hamburg Commercial Bank, K Health, and Dropbox. See customer list: https://www.akeyless.io/landing/akeyless-talk-to-us/.

When was this page last updated?

This page wast last updated on 12/12/2025 .

Using External Secrets Operator with Akeyless Secrets Orchestration

Posted by Jeremy Hess
October 12, 2022

As companies grow, systems expand and security requirements change. Many smaller organizations find that using something like Kubernetes Secrets is good enough for them. However, as we know, Kubernetes secrets are only base64 encoded and not really as secure as standard encryption.

As a company grows, it now has a security team that decides it’s time to make secrets more secure in the organization. When they choose an external secrets management platform such as Akeyless, the question becomes, “How do we seamlessly enable our third-party secret manager to work without refactoring the underlying code already in place?”

About the External Secrets project

External Secrets Operator (ESO) is an open source project that is aimed at making it easy to “synchronize secrets from external APIs into Kubernetes.” This project was built to make it easy for companies to bring their secrets from external secrets management tools and inject them into Kubernetes Secrets.

But why would you want to inject your secrets into Kubernetes Secrets?

Why use External Secrets

As mentioned in the introduction, organizations that are already using Kubernetes Secrets for their credential management need a more secure method for storing and managing the full lifecycle of their secrets with strong encryption. That is why the External Secrets Operator for Kubernetes was created.

But more than that, many companies that have already put in a lot of effort to work with Kubernetes Secrets for their current environment and don’t want to change their workflows which can be anything from updating small components within automation to large scale refactoring of code.

So the basic idea here is that as the organization starts to deal with many services and environments, keeping track of secrets, access, new service onboarding, and rotation can be quite cumbersome. It’s best to let a full-fledged secrets management platform take care of these for you.

Akeyless Provider for External Secrets

The last piece of the puzzle is integrating with your actual external platform in order to synchronize the secrets and have them injected into Kubernetes as needed. For this, users or organizations can build their Provider for ESO to interact with.

As you might have guessed, our team has contributed to ESO and has created the Akeyless Provider to easily inject your Akeyless secrets into Kubernetes Secrets.

Feel free to give it a try and let us know what you think!

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