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.
The OpenBao way
Vault's building blocks, still yours to assemble and run.
- Create ACL policy
- laptop
- Approve control group request: Accessor pasted in Slack, approver offline
- bao-0
- bao-0
- Feature request: Secret synchronization for KV v2
- bao-2: Sealed
- bao-0
- bao-1: disk 100% full: No audit device can log, so OpenBao is refusing requests.
- OpenBao upgrade window: Followers first, leader last
- Sam, backend team: Where's the prod DB password? I can't find it in the UI.
The Infisical way
A secrets manager with rotation, access, and syncs out of the box.
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.
Evaluate
Infisical- Try the free tier from the dashboard, with nothing to set up
- Self-host the MIT-licensed open-source version
OpenBao- Stand up a server and learn engines, auth methods, and policies before a real test
Deploy/integrate
Infisical- 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
OpenBao- 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
Infisical- Import secrets, Kubernetes auth, and policies from Vault with the built-in migration
OpenBao- 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
Infisical- Sign in with SAML, OIDC, or LDAP
- Approvers get requests by email, Slack, or Microsoft Teams
OpenBao- OIDC or LDAP sign-in, with no SAML
- Pass control group requests to approvers yourself, since OpenBao doesn't notify them
Operate
Infisical- 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
OpenBao- 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
Infisical- Automatically rotate database, cloud, and other credentials
- Issue dynamic secrets on demand for 32+ targets out of the box
- Sync secrets to 52+ destinations
OpenBao- 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
Infisical- Search audit logs in the dashboard or stream them to a SIEM
OpenBao- Keep an audit device writing, or OpenBao stops answering requests
Scale
Infisical- Add certificate management, privileged access, AI agent security, and KMS in the same platform
OpenBao- 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.
| Feature |  | OpenBao |
|---|---|---|
| Open sourceWhether the source code is public and auditable for your team. | MIT-licensed core, 30,000+ GitHub stars | MPL-2.0, community-governed |
| Self-hostingRunning the product in your dedicated cloud or on-premises infrastructure. | Standard app on PostgreSQL and Redis | A cluster to unseal, on Raft or PostgreSQL |
| Managed cloudA version the vendor hosts and operates for you. | US and EU regions | None from the project |
| Expertise to runWhat you need to deploy and operate the tool. | Any engineer, via dashboard or CLI | Engineers who know Vault |
| Product scopeWhat Infisical and OpenBao cover beyond secrets management. | Secrets, certificates, privileged access, AI agents, and KMS | Secrets, a CA, and encryption |
| Secret structureHow secrets are organized. | Projects, environments, and folders | Mounts and paths |
| DashboardA visual UI interface to see and change everything. | Search, tags, and comments across environments | Basic web UI, off by default |
| Secret rotationRevoking the old credential and issuing a new, valid one (on a schedule or on demand). | 30+ types out of the box | Databases and LDAP only |
| Dynamic secretsShort-lived credentials created on demand and revoked automatically when they expire. | 32+ targets | Databases, LDAP, SSH, and Kubernetes. Clouds via plugins |
| Syncs and integrationsPushing secrets wherever apps run e.g. cloud secret stores and CI/CD. | 52+ destinations | |
| KubernetesDelivering secrets into workloads running on Kubernetes. | Operator, sidecar, or CSI mount | Sidecar or CSI provider, no operator |
| Access controlRules for who can see things or make changes. | Tightly-scoped RBAC and ABAC | Path policies in HCL |
| Approval workflowsRequiring sign-off for sensitive changes or access. | Change and access approvals, with notifications | Control groups. Approvers aren't notified |
| SAML SSOSigning in through an identity provider like Okta or Microsoft Entra ID. | OIDC or LDAP only | |
| SCIMCreating and removing user accounts via your identity provider. | ||
| Audit log retentionHow long audit logs are kept and where. | Searchable, streams to any SIEM | Self-managed file, HTTP, syslog, or socket |
| Certificate productWhether certificate management is a product of its own, or part of something else. | Full lifecycle management, from any CA | Issuance engine, no discovery or inventory |
| CAs and enrollmentWhich CAs issue certificates, and how servers, devices, and apps request them. | Certificates from any CA, over ACME, EST, SCEP, or API | Its own CAs, over ACME or API |
| Discovery and inventoryFinding valid certificates from any CA on your infrastructure and keeping an inventory. | Discover every certificate on your infrastructure | No discovery, lists its own by serial number |
| Renewal, alerts, and syncsAlerting when certificates will expire, renewing them automatically, and installing them where they're used. | Automatic, with alerts and 17+ sync destinations | Client-driven, no alerts, delivery scripted |
| Agent security productWhether the vendor has a dedicated product built to secure AI agents. | Agent Vault, plus agent access in PAM | |
| Credentials kept from the agentWhether an agent holds plaintext credentials or not. | Agent never holds them | Agents hold secrets |
| Agent access to infrastructureHow agents reach sensitive infrastructure. | Databases, servers, and clusters, with approvals and session recording | |
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know. Can't find an answer? Talk to our team.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
- 01
Inventory your mounts
List mounts, engines, and auth methods in OpenBao and what reads from each.
- 02
Recreate the structure and import
Map mounts and paths to Infisical projects, then move them over via the dashboard, CLI, or API.
- 03
Connect your workloads
Turn OpenBao policies into project roles and give workloads Infisical machine identities that pull secrets from Infisical.
- 04
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.
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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