Choose Kryptic over HashiCorp Vault when you need secrets this week, without staffing a Vault cluster.
Kryptic injects secrets through a local daemon. Log in once. After that, npm run dev, dotnet run, and F5 receive secrets over a local socket. The daemon, CLI, SDKs, and encryption engines are open source (GPL-3.0 and Apache-2.0). The server stores ciphertext it cannot open. Machine identities are unlimited and never consume a seat.
github.com/dev-krypticHashiCorp Vault is secrets as infrastructure: policies, auth methods, dynamic database credentials, PKI, agent templates. That power is real. It is also a program. Without a platform team, the rollout becomes a project of its own.
| Kryptic | Vault | |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | OffersYes. Daemon and CLI are GPL-3.0. Encryption engines and SDKs are Apache-2.0, at github.com/dev-kryptic. The control plane is commercial. | OffersYes. You operate a cluster (or pay for a hosted control plane). |
| Blind store | OffersThe server stores ciphertext only. There is no decrypt path. | Does notThe cluster serves plaintext to authorized clients. |
| Self-hosting | OffersFull platform on Business and Enterprise. Docker Compose or Helm. | OffersYes. Self-managed Vault or a hosted control plane. |
| Nothing on disk | OffersDecrypted values live in daemon memory for at most five minutes, then inside the running process. | PartialLocal development commonly falls back to exported or synced files. |
| Kryptic | Vault | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first local secret | OffersInstall, login, run. | Does notCluster, auth method, policy, agent, then the app. |
| Daily workflow | OffersLogin once, then npm run dev, dotnet run, or F5. | Does notVault Agent, templates, or a custom sidecar. |
| Language packages | Offers.NET, Node.js, Python, Java, Go, Ruby, C++, Rust. One-line inject. | PartialAPI and community libraries. You design the local story. |
| Kryptic | Vault | |
|---|---|---|
| SSO on Free | OffersGoogle, Microsoft, and GitHub on every plan, including Free. | PartialIdentity is an auth method you configure. |
| Audit log on Free | OffersImmutable audit log on Free (7-day retention). Values are never logged. | PartialYou build the audit story on the cluster. |
| Machine identities | OffersUnlimited and free. They never consume a developer seat. | PartialCost is the people and infrastructure that run Vault. |
| CI/CD and Kubernetes | OffersMachine identities, CI export, REST API, and a Kubernetes operator on every plan. | PartialAvailable, often with identity or plan limits. |
Kryptic wrote this comparison. HashiCorp Vault details are as advertised on its public pricing and documentation pages in September 2026. Products change, so check HashiCorp Vault's current pages before you decide.
To get secrets into local apps, CI, and Kubernetes without a Vault program. Kryptic is a product: daemon, login, SDK line. The clients that see plaintext are open source. Vault remains the toolkit for dynamic credentials and PKI once you staff it.
Yes, for developer secrets, onboarding, and keeping .env files off laptops. No, if you need Vault as a low-level engine for dynamic database credentials and PKI. Many orgs will want Vault for infrastructure and Kryptic for developers.
The daemon, CLI, SDKs, and encryption engines are open source. The control plane is a commercial product you can self-host on Business and Enterprise. You get a licence, not a cluster you have to design.
Yes, on Enterprise (and self-host keys with dynamic-secrets). A customer-side connector mints and revokes. The control plane stores encrypted provider config and lease metadata only, so it stays a blind store.
