Comparison

External Secrets Operator vs Infisical

On the evidence we track, Infisical leads this comparison with a composite score of 69/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

External Secrets Operator full profile →Infisical full profile →

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External Secrets Operator55

★Infisical69

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	External Secrets Operator	InfisicalLeader
vioscaleAI score	55 / 100low · 42%	69 / 100medium · 67%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	open_source	freemium
Price levelpricing.price_level	free	low
Starting pricepricing.starting_price	-	$18
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	18	60
Security
Certificationssecurity.certifications	-	SOC 2, HIPAA, FIPS 140-3
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	-	✓
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	-	✓
Hipaasecurity.hipaa	-	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	8.2	-
Soc2security.soc2	-	✓
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.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	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Finfisical%2Finfisical&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Sla pctreliability.sla_pct	-	99.99
Status pagereliability.status_page	-	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	5	0
Github starsadoption.github_stars	6,903	29,735
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	58	100
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	2	1
Historyrelease.history	20 items	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	Apache-2.0	-
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Go	TypeScript
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	-	Available worldwide · Popular in US
Content
Faqcontent.faq	6 items	7 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

External Secrets Operator55 / 100low · 42%

Infisical69 / 100medium · 67%

Pricing

Free tier

External Secrets Operator✓

Infisical✓

Model

External Secrets Operatoropen_source

Infisicalfreemium

Price level

External Secrets Operatorfree

Infisicallow

Starting price

External Secrets Operator–

Infisical$18

Transparent

External Secrets Operator✓

Infisical✓

Integrations

Count

External Secrets Operator18

Infisical60

Security

Certifications

External Secrets Operator–

InfisicalSOC 2, HIPAA, FIPS 140-3

Disclosure policy

External Secrets Operator–

Infisical✓

Gdpr

External Secrets Operator–

Infisical✓

Hipaa

External Secrets Operator–

Infisical✓

Scorecard

External Secrets Operator8.2

Infisical–

Soc2

External Secrets Operator–

Infisical✓

Vulnerabilities

External Secrets OperatorCount: 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

InfisicalCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Finfisical%2Finfisical&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Sla pct

External Secrets Operator–

Infisical99.99

Status page

External Secrets Operator–

Infisical✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

External Secrets Operator5

Infisical0

Github stars

External Secrets Operator6,903

Infisical29,735

Activity

Commits last 30d

External Secrets Operator58

Infisical100

Release

Cadence days

External Secrets Operator2

Infisical1

History

External Secrets Operator20 items

Infisical20 items

License

Spdx

External Secrets OperatorApache-2.0

Infisical–

Language

Primary

External Secrets OperatorGo

InfisicalTypeScript

Market

Availability

External Secrets Operator–

InfisicalAvailable worldwide · Popular in US

Content

Faq

External Secrets Operator6 items

Infisical7 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for secrets management tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Secrets Management Tools
Capability	External Secrets Operator	Infisical
Core
Tool type	Sync / injection	Secret store / engine
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	-	-

Core

Tool type

External Secrets OperatorSync / injection

InfisicalSecret store / engine

Dynamic (short-lived) secrets

External Secrets Operator-

Infisical✓

Deployment

Hosting

External Secrets OperatorCloud + self-hosted

InfisicalCloud + self-hosted

Lifecycle

Automatic secret rotation

External Secrets Operator✓

Infisical✓

Crypto

Encryption as a service (transit)

External Secrets Operator-

Infisical✓

Compliance

FIPS 140-2/3 validated crypto

External Secrets Operator-

Infisical✓

HSM support

External Secrets Operator-

Infisical-

Access

Fine-grained / identity-based policy

External Secrets Operator✓

Infisical✓

Governance

Audit logging

External Secrets Operator-

Infisical✓

Integration

Kubernetes native (CRD / CSI / K8s auth)

External Secrets Operator✓

Infisical✓

Scope

PKI / certificate authority

External Secrets Operator-

Infisical✓

Licensing

Open-source core

External Secrets Operator✓

Infisical✓

Ecosystem

CNCF maturity

External Secrets Operator-

Infisical-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

External Secrets Operator

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.

Independently observed

Infisical

Leader

Open-source platform for centralizing and securing application secrets, certificate lifecycle, and privileged access management. Includes automatic secret rotation, dynamic secret generation, and integration with deployment tools and infrastructure platforms.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

External Secrets Operator

Open sourceFree tier

Free, open source

as of 2026-10-15verify ↗

Infisical

Leader

from $18/identity/moSubscriptionFree tier

Free self-hosted tier. Paid starting at $18/month per identity.

Community EditionFree
- KV secrets storage
- dynamic secrets
- transit encryption
- HTTP API
- CLI
Paid Tier$18/month per identity with up to 50 integrations
- fine-grained RBAC
- secret rotation
- dynamic secrets
- PKI and certificate management
- audit logging
- +1 more

as of 2026-09-10verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	External Secrets Operator	Infisical
WebPlatforms	✗	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✗	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓
On-premiseDeployment	✗	✓

Platforms

Web

External Secrets Operator✗

Infisical✓

CLI

External Secrets Operator✓

Infisical✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

External Secrets Operator✗

Infisical✓

Self-hosted

External Secrets Operator✓

Infisical✓

On-premise

External Secrets Operator✗

Infisical✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (1)

GitHub

External Secrets Operator

25 total - 24 not shared

AWS Secrets Manager
HashiCorp Vault
Google Secrets Manager
Azure Key Vault
IBM Cloud Secrets Manager
Akeyless
CyberArk Secrets Manager
Pulumi ESC
1Password
Google Secret Manager
Yandex Lockbox
Conjur
SecretServer
BeyondTrust
OpenBao
ngrok
Infisical
VolcEngine
AWS Certificate Manager
OpenStack Barbican
Azure AD
Pulumi
Webhook
DVLS

Independently observed

Infisical

Leader

26 total - 25 not shared

Checkly
Vercel
AWS
Datadog
Anthropic
Slack
Docker
Kubernetes
Terraform
GitLab
GitHub Actions
Okta
Active Directory
Jira
GCP Certificate Manager
LDAP
MCP
Heroku
Cloudflare
Google Cloud
Stripe
Keeper
Let's Encrypt
DigiCert
+1 more

Independently observed

Still deciding?

External Secrets Operator or Infisical: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.