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OOpenBao
The community fork of Vault, made when the licence changed — same shape, genuinely open, no vendor above it.
OSS secrets platformSecrets, keys, PKIBy Linux FoundationSince 2023Licence: MPL-2.0
- Type
- OSS secrets platform
- How it works
- Forked from the last MPL-licensed Vault release and developed under Linux Foundation governance. The API and concepts are the ones your team already knows, which makes migration realistic rather than theoretical — the point of the project is that no single company can change the terms again.
- Scope
- Secrets, keys, PKI
- Deployment
- Self-hosted
- Hardware / key custody
- PKCS#11 auto-unseal in community builds
- Pricing*
- Free
- Free tier
- Yes
- Licence
- MPL-2.0
- Best for
- Vault semantics without licence risk
- Notable
- Forked at Vault 1.14, LF-governed
* Published list pricing at August 2026 (vendor pricing pages, August 2026), not a quote.
Strengths
- Actually open source, under neutral governance
- Migration path from Vault is short
- No licence clause that can be changed under you
- Some enterprise-gated features are open here
Trade-offs
- Smaller ecosystem and fewer integrations
- No vendor to buy support from
- You own operations entirely
- Younger project with a thinner track record
Visit OpenBao → Documentation
Listed for comparison as of August 2026 — not an endorsement, and OpenBao did not pay for placement. See disclosure.
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