Akeyless versus HashiCorp Vault

Q: Is Akeyless secure?

Yes. Akeyless uses Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC) , ensuring zero-knowledge encryption.

Akeyless: A Better Way to Manage Secrets - No Vault Required

Cut complexity. Slash costs. Migrate from Vault with no downtime.

Why switch from HashiCorp Vault to Akeyless:

Instant SaaS deployment, no clusters to build or manage
Lower total cost with pay-as-you-grow pricing
Global scalability out-of-the box, no extra infrastructure
Zero-Knowledge encryption with patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC™)
Automatic rotation, dynamic credentials, and JIT access for true Zero Standing Privileges
Seamless integration across clouds, on-prem, and hybrid environments

Why now: Vault was built for yesterday’s challenges. Akeyless is cloud-native, SaaS-first, and built for whatever’s next, with no-downtime migration.

Key Limitations of HashiCorp Vault

Complex Setup & Risky Trust Model

Vault Enterprise is difficult to deploy and maintain.
HCP Vault (SaaS) shifts operations to HashiCorp, with secrets stored in their AWS environment. This raises concerns about data sovereignty, regulatory compliance, and potential third-party access.
Managing tokens, policies, and controls also requires significant expertise.

Akeyless solves these issues with a Zero-Knowledge model powered by Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC), ensuring that no third party—including Akeyless—can access your secrets.

High Cost & Scalability Challenges

Scaling Vault requires additional clusters, hardware, and costly enterprise licensing.
Expenses increase quickly as environments expand.

Limited Automated Secret Rotation

Vault requires a root account on each system to create dynamic secrets.
Rotation is manual, with no option to fully automate or schedule.

Akeyless vs. HashiCorp Vault: A review by former Hashicorp Solutions Engineer Sam Gabrail

Smarter Secrets Management with Akeyless

Most secret managers force you to choose between SaaS convenience and true control of your data. Akeyless is the only solution that gives you both.

SaaS-Based Zero Knowledge Architecture

No single point of failure and no need for complex HA setups.
Patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC™) encrypts and splits secrets so only authorized users can reconstruct them. Even Akeyless cannot access your data.
With Akeyless Gateways, encryption fragments stay inside your private network, letting you benefit from SaaS scale without sacrificing security or compliance.

Universal Secrets Connector

Integrates seamlessly with AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, GCP Secret Manager, and HashiCorp Vault.

Akeyless vs. HashiCorp Vault: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature

Akeyless

HashiCorp Vault

Ease of Use

Simple, intuitive, fast setup

Complex, requires deep expertise

Scalability

SaaS-based, scales seamlessly with stateless gateways

Expensive, infrastructure-heavy

Security Model

Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC)

Centralized vault-based approach

Secret Rotation for Root Accounts

Automated across multiple environments using Targets

Requires manual setup

Cost

Lower cost, no hardware dependency

High operational & licensing costs

Akeyless vs. HashiCorp Vault: A review by former Hashicorp Solutions Engineer Sam Gabrail

FAQs: Akeyless vs. HashiCorp Vault

Is Akeyless secure?

Yes. Akeyless uses Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC), ensuring zero-knowledge encryption.

How much does Akeyless cost compared to Vault?

Akeyless is more cost-effective, eliminating hardware and high licensing fees. Depending on the environment and set-up, customers have seen upwards of 70% cost savings when switching from Vault to Akeyless.

What is the alternative to HashiCorp Vault?

Akeyless is truly the top alternative to HashiCorp Vault; if this blog post hasn’t convinced you yet, check out this one called Akeyless: The Leading HashiCorp Vault Alternative.

Why is Akeyless considered a better alternative to HashiCorp Vault?

Because it takes the headache out of secrets management. Akeyless runs as a SaaS, so there’s no need to deal with clusters, infrastructure, or complicated replication. Yet, it delivers Vault-level capabilities with ease and automation.
Akeyless is also easy to deploy, scales effortlessly, and simplifies operations, which is why companies like Progress and Cimpress switched from HashiCorp Vault to Akeyless.
For teams looking to reduce costs and complexity without compromising security, Akeyless stands out as a smart Vault replacement.

How does Akeyless security technology compare to HashiCorp Vault’s?

Akeyless takes a different approach to security with its patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC). Instead of storing complete encryption keys in one place, DFC splits them into fragments, one of which always stays under the customer’s control, so no single party, not even Akeyless, can ever decrypt the full secret.
This zero-knowledge model is FIPS 140-2 certified and eliminates the central points of failure found in traditional vaults like HashiCorp Vault. It’s a more secure, modern way to protect sensitive data across cloud and hybrid environments.