How Akeyless and HashiCorp Vault differ on scope, key custody, deployment and cost.
| Akeyless | HashiCorp Vault | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | SaaS vault | Secrets platform |
| Scope | Secrets, keys, PKI, PAM | Secrets, keys, PKI, dynamic credentials |
| Deployment | SaaS + hybrid gateway | Self-hosted + HCP |
| Key custody | Distributed Fragments Cryptography — no single complete key exists | HSM auto-unseal and seal wrap in Enterprise |
| How it works | Key material is split into fragments held in separate places and never assembled, so operations happen without a whole key existing anywhere — including on Akeyless infrastructure. Delivered as SaaS with an optional on-premise gateway, which removes the cluster you would otherwise run. | A secrets engine rather than a key store: it issues short-lived database credentials, cloud tokens and certificates on demand, so secrets expire instead of sitting in a config file. Transit lets it act as an encryption service too. Powerful, and heavy to run properly. |
| Pricing* | Free tier; enterprise by quote | Community free (BUSL); HCP by quote |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Licence | — | BUSL-1.1 — not OSI-approved |
| Best for | Vault capability without running Vault | Dynamic, short-lived credentials at scale |
Choose Akeyless for vault capability without running vault. Choose HashiCorp Vault for dynamic, short-lived credentials at scale.
* Published list pricing (vendor pricing pages, August 2026).