Infisical vs. Azure Key Vault
Azure Key Vault is where Azure services read secrets, certificates, and keys, but managing them takes a vault per app and environment, rotation code you write, and certificates that renew on their own only from DigiCert or GlobalSign. Infisical manages secrets and certificates in one place on any cloud, with rotation and your own CAs, and syncs them into Key Vault so Azure keeps reading from it.
The Key Vault way
Vaults, role assignments, rotation code, and certificate requests to keep running.
- Create a key vault
- Add role assignment
- laptop
- Create Event Subscription
- laptop
- kv-orders-prod-weu: 429 Too Many Requests
- Create a certificate
- laptop
- Key Vault references: App Service picks up the new version within 24 hours, or on restart.
- Data team access to kv-orders-prod: Waiting on an Azure admin
- Sam, data team: Our AWS jobs need these secrets too. Do we copy them into Secrets Manager?
The Infisical way
Secrets and certificates in one place, rotated, renewed, and synced into Key Vault.
What's the difference between Infisical and Azure Key Vault?
Key Vault stores secrets, certificates, and keys on Azure. Infisical automates secrets, key, and certificate management on Azure and everywhere else with fewer workarounds.
Deploy/integrate
Infisical- Use managed cloud, or self-host on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, AWS ECS, or Google GKE
- Sync into Key Vault, including private-endpoint vaults through a gateway
Azure Key Vault- Create a vault for every app, region, and environment
- Set up role assignments and network rules on each one
Migrate/onboard
Infisical- Import the secrets from Key Vault
- Add secrets from .env files or other stores
Azure Key Vault- Give each new app a managed identity and a role on each of its vaults
Control access
Infisical- Scope roles to environments and folders inside one project
- Require approval before a secret changes
Azure Key Vault- Isolate teams with separate vaults
- Approve role activations in PIM, not secret changes
Operate
Infisical- See environments, projects, and folders in the dashboard
- Run apps locally with secrets injected by the CLI
Azure Key Vault- Switch between vaults to compare environments
- Wait for a new role assignment to apply
Automate
Infisical- Rotate secrets automatically
- Sync secrets to 40+ destinations, Key Vault included
- Renew certificates from your own CAs and sync each one into Key Vault
Azure Key Vault- Write an Azure Function for each rotation and subscribe every vault to it in Event Grid
- Script copies to AWS, GCP, and CI yourself
- Get certificates from any CA but DigiCert or GlobalSign signed and merged by hand
Audit
Infisical- Search audit logs in the dashboard or stream them to Sentinel, Splunk, or Datadog
- Find every certificate on your network in one inventory
Azure Key Vault- Add a diagnostic setting to every vault before anything is logged
- See only the certificates stored in each vault
Scale
Infisical- Give workloads on AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, or on-prem their own identities
- Manage privileged access, KMS, and AI agent access in the same platform
Azure Key Vault- Give every workload outside Azure an Entra identity and set up federation
Infisical vs. Azure Key Vault at a glance
Key Vault holds secrets, certificates, and keys for Azure services. Infisical manages secrets and certificates on Azure and beyond it for any team or environment.
| Feature |  | Azure Key Vault |
|---|---|---|
| Open sourceWhether the source code is public and auditable for your team. | MIT-licensed, 29,000+ GitHub stars | |
| Self-hostingRunning the product in your dedicated cloud or on-premises infrastructure. | Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, AWS ECS, or Google GKE | Azure only |
| Managed cloudA version the vendor hosts and operates for you. | US and EU regions | |
| Product scopeWhat Infisical and Azure Key Vault cover beyond secrets management. | Secrets, certificates, privileged access, AI agents, and KMS | Secrets, keys, and certificates |
| Secret structureHow secrets are organized. | Projects with environments, folders, and references | A flat list per vault. Separate vaults per app, region, and environment |
| Secret rotationRevoking the old credential and issuing a new, valid one (on a schedule or on demand). | Built in for databases, cloud credentials, and SaaS API keys | An Azure Function you write for each kind of secret |
| Dynamic secretsShort-lived credentials created on demand and revoked automatically when they expire. | Entra ID, Azure SQL, AWS IAM, databases, and more | |
| Syncs and integrationsPushing secrets wherever apps run e.g. cloud secret stores and CI/CD. | 40+ destinations, Key Vault included | Read in place by Azure services |
| KubernetesDelivering secrets into workloads running on Kubernetes. | Operator, CSI provider, or agent injector | Secrets Store CSI driver |
| Access controlRules for who can see things or make changes. | Roles scoped to environments and folders, plus ABAC | Azure RBAC per vault, so teams get separate vaults |
| Workload authenticationHow apps and pipelines prove their identity. | Native AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, OIDC, and SPIFFE identities | Entra ID only, federated for workloads outside Azure |
| Approval workflowsRequiring sign-off for sensitive changes or access. | Approvals before a secret changes | PIM approves role activation, not secret changes |
| SAML SSOSigning in through an identity provider like Okta or Microsoft Entra ID. | Through Entra ID | |
| SCIMCreating and removing user accounts via your identity provider. | Through Entra ID | |
| Audit logsA record of who did what for security reviews and compliance. | Searchable, and streams to Sentinel, Splunk, or Datadog | Off until you add diagnostic settings |
| Certificate productWhether certificate management is a product of its own, or part of something else. | Full lifecycle management, with your own CAs and others | Stores and renews certificates |
| CAs and enrollmentWhich CAs issue certificates, and how servers, devices, and apps request them. | Private CAs and public ones, over ACME, EST, SCEP, or API | Self-signed, or DigiCert and GlobalSign |
| Discovery and inventoryFinding valid certificates from any CA on your infrastructure and keeping an inventory. | Finds every certificate on your network | |
| Renewal, alerts, and syncsAlerting when certificates will expire, renewing them automatically, and installing them where they're used. | Automatic from any CA, with alerts and syncs into Key Vault | Automatic only through DigiCert or GlobalSign |
| Key managementCreating, storing, and using keys that encrypt and sign data. | Encryption and signing keys in one KMS | Software and HSM-backed keys, plus Managed HSM |
| KMIPA standard protocol for databases, storage arrays, and backup tools to fetch encryption keys from a key manager. | Key Vault REST API and SDKs | |
| Agent security productWhether the vendor has a dedicated product built to secure AI agents. | Agent Vault, plus agent access in PAM | None in Key Vault |
| Credentials kept from the agentWhether an agent holds plaintext credentials or not. | A proxy adds the real credential to each call | Agents hold the secrets they read and their Entra tokens |
| Agent access to infrastructureHow agents reach sensitive infrastructure. | Databases, servers, and clusters, with approvals and session recording | Azure RBAC roles on an Entra agent identity |
Use Azure Key Vault and Infisical together
Keep Key Vault where Azure reads it, and manage what goes into it in Infisical.
Secrets sync in
Edit, review, and rotate secrets in Infisical, with syncs into Key Vault so App Service, Functions, and AKS keep reading as they used to.
Certificates sync in
Issue certificates from private or public CAs and renew them automatically. Infisical syncs each renewal into Key Vault, where Application Gateway, App Service, and Front Door pick it up.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know. Can't find an answer? Talk to our team.
On Azure, you can use both. Azure services read secrets, certificates, and keys from Key Vault. Infisical offers secrets management and certificate management products that can sync into Key Vault. This gives teams the native connection between Key Vault and Azure services as well as the upsides of Infisical, with every environment in one place, rotation and dynamic secrets out of the box, certificates from your own CAs, and access for workloads on any cloud.
Azure Key Vault bills per use: a charge per 10,000 operations, a monthly fee for each HSM-protected key, a charge for each certificate renewal, and an hourly rate for Managed HSM. The larger cost is usually the work around it: the vaults, Azure Functions, Event Grid subscriptions, and role assignments a team builds and maintains to manage secrets across apps, regions, and environments. Infisical works out of the box and has a free tier.
Key Vault can rotate keys and renew some certificates, but rotating a secret takes an Azure Function you need to write, deploy, and maintain. Infisical rotates Azure client secrets, database passwords, AWS IAM credentials, and more out of the box, and syncs each new value into Key Vault.
Key Vault only stores and renews its own certificates or those from DigiCert or GlobalSign. It is not a certificate authority. A certificate from your own CA requires a signing request in Key Vault, getting it signed, and merging it back for every renewal. Infisical runs private CAs, issues over ACME, EST, SCEP, or API, renews automatically, and syncs each certificate into Key Vault.
Microsoft recommends one key vault per application, region, and environment, so a few apps across two regions and three environments quickly sprawl. Infisical keeps each app in one project with separate environments and folders. It syncs into any number of key vaults.
Workloads outside Azure can read from Key Vault with a Microsoft Entra identity through workload identity federation or a service principal. Syncing Key Vault with AWS Secrets Manager or GCP Secret Manager requires manually building the glue between the services. Infisical authenticates AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, and OIDC workloads natively and syncs secrets to 40+ destinations, AWS, GCP, and Key Vault included.
Key Vault has no feature to secure AI agents. An agent reading from a vault holds the credential and could leak it. Microsoft offers Entra Agent ID, which gives agents an identity. 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.
Yes. Infisical's core is MIT-licensed and can be self-hosted on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, AWS, or GCP, or used as Infisical Cloud. Azure Key Vault is a Microsoft service that runs only in Azure.
How to migrate from Azure Key Vault to Infisical
Most teams keep Key Vault in place for Azure and move secret management to Infisical one app at a time.
- 01
Connect Key Vault
Add an Azure Key Vault connection in Infisical, with a gateway for private-endpoint vaults.
- 02
Import one app
Create a sync for a first, non-critical app and import the secrets its vaults already hold.
- 03
Manage it in Infisical
Edit and rotate the app's secrets in Infisical. The sync keeps its vaults current, so the app doesn't change.
- 04
Repeat for every app
Bring the other apps over the same way. Workloads outside Azure read from Infisical directly.
Our team can help you plan and run the migration.
Start managing secrets, then add certificates, privileged access, KMS, or agent access.
Add products when you need them, on the platform you already run.
- OpenAI: API, Codex
- Let's Encrypt
- Vercel
- Gemini CLI
- Apache Airflow
- Spring Boot
- OpenCode
- DigiCert
- Jenkins
- Terraform: Terraform, Terraform Cloud
- Render
- Azure: Key Vault, App Configuration, DevOps, Entra ID, CLI
- NetScaler
- Databricks
- KMIP
- GoDaddy
- Pulumi
- Okta
- Ansible
- Cloudflare: Workers, Pages, Custom certificates
- Sectigo
- Laravel
- Hermes
- SAP HANA
- ClickHouse
- OpenRouter
- Supabase
- Docker
- Snowflake
- Venafi
- Rails
- Humanitec
- Tailscale
- 1Password
- OpenClaw
- Cassandra
- Northflank
- Redis
- Datadog
- Google Cloud: Secret Manager, Certificate Manager, IAM, KMS
- Dell PowerEdge
- Bitbucket
- Claude Code
- Railway
- dbt Cloud
- Windows Server
- Chef
- .NET
- PostgreSQL
- AWS: Secrets Manager, Parameter Store, Certificate Manager, Elastic Load Balancing, Private CA, IAM, KMS, CloudHSM, ECS, Amplify
- Linux servers
- Auth0
- Oracle: Oracle Database, OCI Vault
- Octopus Deploy
- Fly.io
- MySQL
- F5 BIG-IP
- LDAP
- TeamCity
- Qovery
- Nutanix Prism Central
- Microsoft: Active Directory, AD CS
- Windmill
- LiteLLM
- Netlify
- RabbitMQ
- Spacelift
- Kubernetes
- CircleCI
- GitLab
- SQL Server
- Stripe
- DigitalOcean
- GitHub: GitHub, GitHub Actions
- Couchbase
- MongoDB: MongoDB, MongoDB Atlas
- Heroku
- SSH
- Salesforce
- HashiCorp Vault
- Travis CI
- Kemp LoadMaster
- Next.js
- Django
- Sigstore Cosign
- Elasticsearch
- Secrets ManagementToday
- Certificate ManagementWhen you need it
- Privileged Access ManagementWhen you need it
- KMSWhen you need it
- Agent VaultWhen you need it
Talk to our team
Starting with Infisical is simple, fast, and free.
- Secures 10 billion secrets every day
- SOC 2, HIPAA, and FIPS 140-3 compliant
- Open source, in our cloud or yours
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