CyberArk Secrets Manager vs OpenBao

CyberArk Secrets Manager centrally stores and governs credentials used by applications, containers, CI/CD pipelines and other workloads across cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments. It handles API keys, tokens, passwords, certificates and database credentials, with policies to rotate, expire and retire secrets while tracking ownership and expiration. Organizations can use managed SaaS or run it in a customer data center, including where data residency or air-gap requirements apply. Applications and containers can authenticate through application attributes and role-based controls, and key events are recorded in tamper-resistant audit logs. Its SaaS service assigns workloads cryptographic SPIFFE identities based on verified attributes; the identities expire in hours and cannot be shared or reused. Listed integrations span DevOps, CI/CD, automation, PaaS and public cloud tools. The product page describes a distributed, high-availability design. CyberArk was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Pricing is on request; the product page directs visitors to request a demo.

OpenBao is a free, open-source system for storing and controlling access to secrets such as API tokens, encryption keys, passwords, and certificates. Management is available through a web UI, CLI, or HTTP API. Key/value secrets are encrypted before persistent storage, while dynamic credentials can be generated for Kubernetes and SQL databases and revoked when leases expire. Leases can be renewed, and individual secrets or groups can be revoked. OpenBao also encrypts and decrypts data without retaining it. Authentication methods include GitHub, LDAP, and AppRole, with token-based policies. Its storage barrier uses AES-256-GCM and verifies authentication tags during decryption. High-availability configurations are supported. Deployment options include packages, containers, binaries, source builds, and Helm; documentation covers Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, and Windows. Releases provide GPG signatures and SBOMs. Integrated Storage defaults to a 1 MiB maximum entry size, configurable with max_entry_size.