DevOps Secrets Management Tools -- Akeyless Alternatives
DevOps secrets management tools integrate directly into your development workflow — from local development through CI/CD to production. They eliminate hardcoded secrets, enforce least-privilege access, and provide audit trails across your entire software delivery lifecycle.
Migrate hardcoded secrets from .env files, CI/CD variables, and configuration files into your secrets manager. Create a single source of truth for all credentials across environments.
Set up environment-based secret scoping (development, staging, production) so each environment gets the right credentials automatically. Most tools support inheritance and override patterns.
Add the secrets manager plugin or CLI to your CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins). Secrets are injected at build time without being stored in pipeline configuration.
Install the CLI tool for local development. Developers pull secrets for their environment without storing them in .env files that could be accidentally committed to version control.
Configure automatic credential rotation for databases and services. Enable audit logging to track who accessed which secrets and when across your entire delivery pipeline.
Free for individuals / Team from $4/user/month
Purpose-built for DevOps workflows with universal environment variable management, automatic syncing across dev/staging/production, and 20+ platform integrations.
Free (OSS) / Enterprise from $0.03/hr
The most powerful DevOps secrets tool with dynamic secrets, extensive CI/CD plugins (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI), and Terraform/Ansible integration.
Free (self-hosted) / Cloud from $6/user/month
Modern DevOps secrets with CLI-first workflow, native CI/CD integrations, automatic secret rotation, and point-in-time recovery for rollbacks.
Business from $7.99/user/month
Combined password and secrets automation with service account tokens, CLI tools, and Connect server for programmatic access in CI/CD pipelines.
Open source (Community) / Enterprise pricing on request
Enterprise DevOps secrets with policy-as-code, native Jenkins and Ansible plugins, and machine identity management for automated workflows.
Developer-first universal secrets management platform
Free for individuals / Team from $4/user/month
Development teams wanting a simple, modern secrets workflow
Industry-standard open-source secrets management platform
Free (OSS) / Enterprise from $0.03/hr
Teams needing flexible, self-hosted secrets management with extensive plugin ecosystem
Open-source end-to-end encrypted secrets management for teams
Free (self-hosted) / Cloud from $6/user/month
Teams wanting open-source with a modern developer experience
Secrets automation and password management for teams and CI/CD
Business from $7.99/user/month
Teams wanting combined password management and developer secrets automation
Enterprise privileged access and secrets management platform
Open source (Community) / Enterprise pricing on request
Large enterprises with complex compliance and PAM requirements
DevOps teams handle credentials across multiple environments (dev, staging, production), CI/CD pipelines, containers, and cloud services. Without proper secrets management, credentials end up hardcoded in code, stored in plaintext .env files, or embedded in CI/CD variables — creating security risks, making rotation difficult, and lacking audit trails.
A .env file is a local plaintext file that stores credentials for one environment on one machine. A secrets manager provides centralized storage with encryption, access control, audit logging, automatic rotation, environment-based scoping, and the ability to share secrets securely across teams and systems. Secrets managers eliminate the risk of accidentally committing credentials to version control.
Doppler and Infisical are widely regarded as having the best developer experience. Doppler's CLI and dashboard make it easy to manage secrets across environments with automatic syncing. Infisical offers a similar experience with the added benefit of open source self-hosting. HashiCorp Vault is more powerful but has a steeper learning curve.
Yes. Most secrets managers support gradual migration. You can start by importing your .env files into the secrets manager, then update one service at a time to pull from the new source. Tools like Doppler and Infisical can generate .env-compatible output, so you can update your workflow without changing application code.
Developer-first universal secrets management platform
ComparisonIndustry-standard open-source secrets management platform
ComparisonOpen-source end-to-end encrypted secrets management for teams
CategoryCompare the best open source secrets management tools in 2026. HashiCorp Vault, Infisical, CyberArk Conjur and more — features, pricing, and deployment compared.
CategoryCompare the best cloud secrets management services in 2026. AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, GCP Secret Manager — pricing, features, and integrations compared.
Use CaseCompare the best Kubernetes secrets management tools in 2026. External Secrets Operator, Vault CSI, Infisical K8s operator — features and integrations compared.
Use CaseCompare the best CI/CD secrets management tools in 2026. Vault, Doppler, AWS Secrets Manager — GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins integration compared.
Use CaseCompare the best multi-cloud secrets management tools in 2026. Vault, Doppler, Infisical — cross-cloud sync, unified policies, and provider integrations compared.