--- title: "Infisical vs. OpenBao" description: "How Infisical and OpenBao, the open-source fork of HashiCorp Vault, differ on running the cluster, rotation, syncs, approvals, certificates, and AI agents, and how to migrate from OpenBao." canonical: "https://infisical.com/compare/infisical-vs-openbao" last-reviewed: "2026-11-02" source-index: https://infisical.com/llms.txt ---

# Infisical vs. OpenBao

Comparing open-source secrets managers? OpenBao is complex like Vault, but without the same support. Infisical works out of the box for your whole team.

## What's the difference between Infisical and OpenBao?

Assembling and running OpenBao's building blocks requires specialized engineers. Infisical is open source too, but works out of the box.

| Stage | Infisical | OpenBao |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluate | Try the free tier from the dashboard, with nothing to set up; Self-host the MIT-licensed open-source version | Stand up a server and learn engines, auth methods, and policies before a real test |
| Deploy/integrate | Use managed cloud or self-host on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, AWS ECS, or Google GKE; Back with PostgreSQL and Redis your team already knows how to run | Run a Raft or PostgreSQL cluster, and unseal every node after a restart unless auto-unseal is set up; Host it yourself, or buy hosting and support from a third party |
| Migrate/onboard | Import secrets, Kubernetes auth, and policies from Vault with the built-in migration | Swap in place only from Vault Community on Raft, tested on one release; Lay out mounts and paths for every team; Build your own integrations and workarounds |
| Control access | Sign in with SAML, OIDC, or LDAP; Approvers get requests by email, Slack, or Microsoft Teams | OIDC or LDAP sign-in, with no SAML; Pass control group requests to approvers yourself, since OpenBao doesn't notify them |
| Operate | Edit secrets and values in the dashboard; Find secrets with search across environments, folders, and more; Run apps locally with secrets injected by the CLI | Browse secrets mount by mount in the web UI, once it's turned on; Debug "permission denied" errors from policy paths; Solve problems yourself or buy third-party support, since the OpenBao project doesn't offer support contracts |
| Automate | Automatically rotate database, cloud, and other credentials; Issue dynamic secrets on demand for 32+ targets out of the box; Sync secrets to 52+ destinations | Install plugins for AWS, Azure, and GCP credentials; Build custom logic for rotations beyond databases and LDAP; Script syncs to clouds and CI/CD, with no sync built in |
| Audit | Search audit logs in the dashboard or stream them to a SIEM | Keep an audit device writing, or OpenBao stops answering requests |
| Scale | Add certificate management, privileged access, AI agent security, and KMS in the same platform | Buy separate tools for certificate discovery, privileged access, and AI agents |

## Infisical vs. OpenBao at a glance

Both are open source, but Infisical is built for you while you need to assemble OpenBao.

### Platform and deployment

Where each product runs, what it's built on, and what it covers.

| Feature | Infisical | OpenBao |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | MIT-licensed core, 30,000+ GitHub stars | MPL-2.0, community-governed |
| Self-hosting | Standard app on PostgreSQL and Redis | A cluster to unseal, on Raft or PostgreSQL |
| Managed cloud | US and EU regions | None from the project |
| Expertise to run | Any engineer, via dashboard or CLI | Engineers who know Vault |
| Product scope | Secrets, certificates, privileged access, AI agents, and KMS | Secrets, a CA, and encryption |

### Secrets management

Storing credentials like API keys and database passwords, and delivering them to workloads and developer machines.

| Feature | Infisical | OpenBao |
|---|---|---|
| Secret structure | Projects, environments, and folders | Mounts and paths |
| Dashboard | Search, tags, and comments across environments | Basic web UI, off by default |
| Secret rotation | 30+ types out of the box | Databases and LDAP only |
| Dynamic secrets | 32+ targets | Databases, LDAP, SSH, and Kubernetes. Clouds via plugins |
| Syncs and integrations | 52+ destinations | No |
| Kubernetes | Operator, sidecar, or CSI mount | Sidecar or CSI provider, no operator |

### Access and governance

Defining who has what permissions: access requests, approvals, audit logs, etc.

| Feature | Infisical | OpenBao |
|---|---|---|
| Access control | Tightly-scoped RBAC and ABAC | Path policies in HCL |
| Approval workflows | Change and access approvals, with notifications | Control groups. Approvers aren't notified |
| SAML SSO | Yes | OIDC or LDAP only |
| SCIM | Yes | No |
| Audit log retention | Searchable, streams to any SIEM | Self-managed file, HTTP, syslog, or socket |

### Certificate management

Issuing, finding, renewing, and installing certificates.

| Feature | Infisical | OpenBao |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate product | Full lifecycle management, from any CA | Issuance engine, no discovery or inventory |
| CAs and enrollment | Certificates from any CA, over ACME, EST, SCEP, or API | Its own CAs, over ACME or API |
| Discovery and inventory | Discover every certificate on your infrastructure | No discovery, lists its own by serial number |
| Renewal, alerts, and syncs | Automatic, with alerts and 17+ sync destinations | Client-driven, no alerts, delivery scripted |

### AI agents

Keeping credentials out of AI agents and controlling what they can reach.

| Feature | Infisical | OpenBao |
|---|---|---|
| Agent security product | Agent Vault, plus agent access in PAM | No |
| Credentials kept from the agent | Agent never holds them | Agents hold secrets |
| Agent access to infrastructure | Databases, servers, and clusters, with approvals and session recording | No |

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the difference between OpenBao and Infisical?

OpenBao is the open-source fork of HashiCorp Vault and runs the way Vault does. Infisical is open-source secrets management that works out of the box. With OpenBao, a team runs and unseals a cluster, writes HCL policies, and adds plugins or scripts for cloud credentials, syncs, and rotations. Infisical gives the whole team a dashboard with environments, rotation, syncs, and approvals, self-hosted or as Infisical Cloud.

### What is the best open-source alternative to HashiCorp Vault?

Infisical and OpenBao are both open-source alternatives to HashiCorp Vault. OpenBao keeps Vault's code and operating model under the MPL-2.0 license and community governance, for teams that want Vault without the Business Source License. Infisical, MIT-licensed at its core, replaces the model: a finished product with a dashboard, rotation, syncs, and access workflows that the engineers already doing the work can run.

### Is OpenBao a drop-in replacement for HashiCorp Vault?

Not for current Vault. OpenBao forked from Vault 1.14 and was API-compatible with that release, but its features, fixes, and settings have diverged since, and tools built for Vault, like HashiCorp's Terraform provider, increasingly don't fit it. Swapping in place works only from Vault Community on Raft storage. Infisical has a built-in migration from Vault that imports secrets, Kubernetes auth, and policies, so teams can move one application at a time.

### Is OpenBao hard to run?

OpenBao takes the same specialist knowledge as Vault. Teams operate a Raft or PostgreSQL cluster, unseal nodes after restarts unless auto-unseal is set up, keep an audit device writing or requests stop, and write HCL policies for every app. OpenBao can be more complex than Vault because there's no official vendor support nor hosted plans. As an open source project, OpenBao doesn't receive Vault updates and relies on open-source contributors, which means further product development requires professional services or in-house resources. Infisical runs as one app on PostgreSQL and Redis, or Infisical Cloud runs it for you.

### Does OpenBao have a managed cloud version?

No, the OpenBao project doesn't offer a hosted version, support contracts, or an SLA. Its development depends on the companies that fund its maintainers, several of which sell managed OpenBao and support separately, so no single vendor stands behind the product. Infisical Cloud is run by the team that builds Infisical, in US and EU regions, and the same product can be self-hosted.

### How is OpenBao priced compared with Infisical?

OpenBao is free, and so is Infisical's open-source core, so the license rarely decides the cost. The real cost of OpenBao is running it: engineers who specialize in it, infrastructure for the cluster, and the plugins and scripts it leaves you to maintain. Infisical works out of the box, has a free tier, and Infisical Cloud takes the operating work off your team.

### Can OpenBao secure AI agents?

OpenBao has no feature built to secure AI agents. An agent that reads a secret from OpenBao holds it and could leak it. Infisical Agent Vault uses a credential brokering approach to give agents access to services without holding credentials. For databases, servers, and clusters, Infisical PAM gives agents the same roles, approvals, and session recording as people.

## Start managing secrets, then add certificates, privileged access, KMS, or agent access.

- **[Secrets Management](https://infisical.com/platform/secrets-management)**: Store, rotate, and deliver secrets.
- **[Certificate Management](https://infisical.com/platform/certificate-management)**: Issue, renew, and track every certificate.
- **[Privileged Access Management](https://infisical.com/platform/pam)**: Time-bound access without shared credentials.
- **[KMS](https://infisical.com/docs/documentation/platform/kms/overview)**: Encrypt and sign data through an API.
- **[Agent Vault](https://infisical.com/platform/agent-vault)**: Give AI agents access without handing them credentials.

## How to migrate from OpenBao to Infisical

Most teams migrate one application at a time, so both systems run side by side until the last workload moves.

1. **Inventory your mounts.** List mounts, engines, and auth methods in OpenBao and what reads from each.
2. **Recreate the structure and import.** Map mounts and paths to Infisical projects, then move them over via the dashboard, CLI, or API.
3. **Connect your workloads.** Turn OpenBao policies into project roles and give workloads Infisical machine identities that pull secrets from Infisical.
4. **Cut over and retire OpenBao.** Move one application at a time and confirm it reads from Infisical. Then rotate the migrated secrets and decommission OpenBao.

Our team can help you plan and run the migration: [talk to an expert](https://infisical.com/talk-to-us).

## Get started

- Start free: https://app.infisical.com/signup
- Talk to an expert: https://infisical.com/talk-to-us
- All comparisons: https://infisical.com/compare.md