# Akeyless vs SOPS

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Akeyless

| Attribute | Akeyless | SOPS |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 66.7 (69% (medium)) | 45.4 (35% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 21 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 23,376 |
| 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":"A configuration encryption tool that encrypts sensitive values and comments while keeping keys and file structure readable, supporting multiple formats and key management methods. It is indexed under Secrets Management Tools.","source":"https://getsops.io/","question":"What is SOPS?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"SOPS is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MPL-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://getsops.io/","question":"Is SOPS free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"SOPS supports Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://getsops.io/","question":"What platforms does SOPS support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. SOPS can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://getsops.io/","question":"Can SOPS be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 9 integrations for SOPS, including AWS KMS, Google Cloud KMS, Azure KMS, HuaweiCloud KMS, HashiCorp Vault, OpenBAO, Age and PGP, plus 1 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://getsops.io/","question":"What does SOPS integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. SOPS is published under the MPL-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/getsops/sops","question":"Is SOPS 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. | A tool for encrypting and managing secrets stored in YAML, JSON, ENV, INI, and binary files, with support for multiple encryption backends including AWS KMS, Google Cloud KMS, Azure Key Vault, and PGP. |
| 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":"self","tool_type":"store","cncf_project":"sandbox","open_source_core":true,"fine_grained_policy":true,"encryption_as_a_service":true}` |
| integrations.count | 6 | 6 |
| 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 KMS"},{"name":"Google Cloud KMS"},{"name":"Azure KMS"},{"name":"HuaweiCloud KMS"},{"name":"HashiCorp Vault"},{"name":"OpenBAO"},{"name":"Age"},{"name":"PGP"},{"name":"GnuPG"},{"name":"GCP KMS"},{"name":"Azure Key Vault"}]` |
| language.primary | - | Go |
| license.spdx | - | MPL-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":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":"Open source and free","sourceUrl":"https://getsops.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T13:27:57.622Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 44 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.13.3","date":"2026-07-23T05:27:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.13.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.13.2","date":"2026-06-30T05:17:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.13.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.13.1","date":"2026-05-16T14:32:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.13.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.13.0","date":"2026-05-08T18:10:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.13.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.12.2","date":"2026-03-18T06:11:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.12.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.12.1","date":"2026-02-22T07:45:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.12.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.11.0","date":"2025-09-28T18:28:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.10.2","date":"2025-04-14T19:17:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.10.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.10.1","date":"2025-03-31T18:13:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.10.0","date":"2025-03-30T17:31:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.9.4","date":"2025-01-25T19:46:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.9.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.9.3","date":"2024-12-31T12:54:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.9.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.9.2","date":"2024-12-02T20:21:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.9.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.9.1","date":"2024-10-04T05:14:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.9.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.9.0","date":"2024-06-28T06:14:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.8.1","date":"2023-10-11T15:25:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.8.0","date":"2023-09-15T13:52:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.8.0-rc.1","date":"2023-08-25T11:33:42Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.8.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.7.3","date":"2022-05-09T17:37:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/tag/v3.7.2","date":"2022-03-09T19:26:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.2"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.trust_center | https://www.akeyless.io/blog/access-control-enhancing-compliance-and-security/ | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fgetsops%2Fsops%2Fv3%2Fstores&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Secrets Management Tools)

| Capability | Akeyless | SOPS |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool type | Secret store / engine | Secret store / engine |
| Dynamic (short-lived) secrets | ✓ | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Self-hosted only |
| **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 | - | Sandbox |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:22:05.460Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*