# Akeyless vs External Secrets Operator

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Akeyless

| Attribute | Akeyless | External Secrets Operator |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 66.7 (69% (medium)) | 54.8 (42% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 58 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 5 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 6,903 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A cloud-native SaaS platform that manages secrets and machine identities across environments, enabling organizations to use short-lived ephemeral credentials instead of static secrets for secure access. It is indexed under Secrets Management Tools.","source":"https://www.akeyless.io/pricing/","question":"What is Akeyless?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Akeyless offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.akeyless.io/pricing/","question":"Is Akeyless free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Akeyless. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.akeyless.io/pricing/","question":"What platforms does Akeyless support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Akeyless can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.akeyless.io/pricing/","question":"Can Akeyless be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 5 integrations for Akeyless, including AWS Secret Manager, Azure Key Vault, GCP Secret Manager, Kubernetes Secrets and HashiCorp Vault. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.akeyless.io/pricing/","question":"What does Akeyless integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR for Akeyless. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Akeyless not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.akeyless.io/blog/access-control-enhancing-compliance-and-security/","question":"What security certifications does Akeyless have?","confidence":0.7}]` | `[{"answer":"External Secrets Operator integrates Kubernetes with third-party secret management services like AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, and others, automatically fetching and injecting secret values into native Kubernetes Secrets. It is indexed under Secrets Management Tools.","source":"https://external-secrets.io/","question":"What is External Secrets Operator?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"External Secrets Operator is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://external-secrets.io/","question":"Is External Secrets Operator free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"External Secrets Operator supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://external-secrets.io/","question":"What platforms does External Secrets Operator support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. External Secrets Operator can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://external-secrets.io/","question":"Can External Secrets Operator be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 8 integrations for External Secrets Operator, including AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, Google Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, IBM Cloud Secrets Manager, Akeyless, CyberArk Secrets Manager and Pulumi ESC. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://external-secrets.io/","question":"What does External Secrets Operator integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. External Secrets Operator is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets","question":"Is External Secrets Operator open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A secrets management solution that provides access control capabilities for securing credentials and sensitive data within organizational systems. | External Secrets Operator integrates Kubernetes with third-party secret management services like AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, and others, automatically fetching and injecting secret values into native Kubernetes Secrets. |
| features.capabilities | `{"pki_ca":true,"hosting":"both","tool_type":"store","hsm_support":true,"audit_logging":true,"fips_validated":true,"dynamic_secrets":true,"secret_rotation":true,"kubernetes_native":true,"fine_grained_policy":true,"encryption_as_a_service":true}` | `{"hosting":"both","tool_type":"sync_inject","secret_rotation":true,"open_source_core":true,"kubernetes_native":true,"fine_grained_policy":true}` |
| integrations.count | 6 | 18 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"AWS Secret Manager"},{"name":"Azure Key Vault"},{"name":"GCP Secret Manager"},{"name":"Kubernetes Secrets"},{"name":"HashiCorp Vault"},{"name":"Kubernetes Secrets Store CSI Driver"}]` | `[{"name":"AWS Secrets Manager"},{"name":"HashiCorp Vault"},{"name":"Google Secrets Manager"},{"name":"Azure Key Vault"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Secrets Manager"},{"name":"Akeyless"},{"name":"CyberArk Secrets Manager"},{"name":"Pulumi ESC"},{"name":"1Password"},{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Google Secret Manager"},{"name":"Yandex Lockbox"},{"name":"Conjur"},{"name":"SecretServer"},{"name":"BeyondTrust"},{"name":"OpenBao"},{"name":"ngrok"},{"name":"Infisical"},{"name":"VolcEngine"},{"name":"AWS Certificate Manager"},{"name":"OpenStack Barbican"},{"name":"Azure AD"},{"name":"Pulumi"},{"name":"Webhook"},{"name":"DVLS"}]` |
| language.primary | - | Go |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"web":true}` | `{"cli":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"subscription","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.akeyless.io/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T23:06:41.300Z","billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Free, open source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://external-secrets.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-10-15T20:25:43.513Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 2 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.12.0","date":"2026-10-06T08:44:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/helm-chart-2.12.0","date":"2026-10-06T11:40:43Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart-2.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/helm-chart-2.11.0","date":"2026-09-21T12:12:54Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart-2.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.11.0","date":"2026-09-18T14:38:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.10.0","date":"2026-08-28T11:49:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/helm-chart-2.10.0","date":"2026-08-28T13:09:40Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart-2.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/helm-chart-2.9.0","date":"2026-08-08T12:43:21Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart-2.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.9.0","date":"2026-08-07T16:37:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/helm-chart-2.8.0","date":"2026-07-18T16:52:08Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart-2.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.8.0","date":"2026-07-18T05:36:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.7.0","date":"2026-06-26T12:05:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/helm-chart-2.7.0","date":"2026-06-26T13:35:17Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart-2.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/helm-chart-2.6.0","date":"2026-06-07T06:20:46Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart-2.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.6.0","date":"2026-06-05T17:56:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.5.0","date":"2026-05-15T12:27:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/helm-chart-2.5.0","date":"2026-05-15T13:06:51Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart-2.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.4.1","date":"2026-04-28T10:26:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/helm-chart-2.4.1","date":"2026-04-28T11:07:11Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart-2.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.4.0","date":"2026-04-24T15:15:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/helm-chart-2.4.0","date":"2026-04-24T18:43:56Z","type":"stable","version":"helm-chart-2.4.0"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 8.2 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.trust_center | https://www.akeyless.io/blog/access-control-enhancing-compliance-and-security/ | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":6,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fexternal-secrets%2Fexternal-secrets&per_page=100","last_12m":4,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` |

## Capabilities (Secrets Management Tools)

| Capability | Akeyless | External Secrets Operator |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool type | Secret store / engine | Sync / injection |
| Dynamic (short-lived) secrets | ✓ | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Cloud + self-hosted |
| **Lifecycle** |  |  |
| Automatic secret rotation | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Crypto** |  |  |
| Encryption as a service (transit) | ✓ | - |
| **Compliance** |  |  |
| FIPS 140-2/3 validated crypto | ✓ | - |
| HSM support | ✓ | - |
| **Access** |  |  |
| Fine-grained / identity-based policy | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Governance** |  |  |
| Audit logging | ✓ | - |
| **Integration** |  |  |
| Kubernetes native (CRD / CSI / K8s auth) | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Scope** |  |  |
| PKI / certificate authority | ✓ | - |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Open-source core | - | ✓ |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| CNCF maturity | - | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:08:32.381Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*