Boundary vs The Bastion
Boundary
developer.hashicorp.comThe Bastion
ovh.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | Boundary | The Bastion |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 1 |
| Spec score · SSH Server Software | 9.0 (#1) | 7.6 (#22) |
| Access controls | Boundary supports just-in-time and least-privilege network access, role-based authorization, and single sign-on through OIDC and LDAP. | It provides personal and group access schemes with delegated group roles. |
| Automation | Boundary supports Terraform for automated deployment and configuration and provides a REST API, CLI, and SDK. | An optional Puppet module handles configuration and prerequisites. |
| Founded | 2020 | 1999 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States | Roubaix, France |
| Purpose | Boundary provides identity-based, authenticated access to infrastructure without requiring users to access the underlying network directly. | The Bastion is a single entry point for operational teams to securely connect to infrastructure machines, usually over SSH. |
Plans
Boundary
- Boundary Community EditionFree
- Boundary Community EditionFree
- HCP Boundary PlusFree
- HCP Boundary StandardFree
- Boundary EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Boundary
Boundary provides authenticated, identity-based access to infrastructure without requiring users to connect directly to its underlying network. It supports just-in-time and least-privilege access, role-based authorization, and single sign-on through OIDC or LDAP. Users can reach TCP, SSH, RDP, HTTPS, RDS, Kubernetes, and database targets through familiar clients such as SSH tools, PuTTY, Remote Desktop, database clients, and web browsers. Boundary can broker credentials and integrate with HashiCorp Vault for short-lived dynamic credentials and credential injection. Target discovery can be automated, with dynamic host catalogs for AWS, Azure, and GCP available in HCP Boundary. Deployment options include managed HCP Boundary, optionally with customer-run workers, and self-managed Boundary Enterprise. The Community Edition is listed at free. HCP Boundary Standard and Plus have usage-based billing, with monthly rates per user depending on edition; Standard includes Vault credential injection and audit-log streaming, while Plus adds session recording. Enterprise is self-managed and has full feature parity with HCP Boundary. Boundary supports Terraform, a REST API, CLI, and SDK.
The Bastion
The Bastion has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.