VAULT comparison №2

Hashicorp VS OpenShift

Intro
Deployment and setup
Scalability and flexibility
Functionality
Pricing
Summary

Sometimes we need to improve the secrets management capability on a container infrastructure level, sometimes on a application level. For those who consider managing secrets on the container infrastructure layer here is our comparison of Hashicorp and OpenShift secret management options.

Hashicorp is a stronger name in secrets management, but OpenShift is a leading commercial container management solution and has its vault called "secrets" out-of-the-box (OOTB).

Which solution is better?

Deployment and setup

Hashicorp offers two major options - Open Source and Enterprise. Second is easier to implement, but overall due to flexibility of use cases and special implementation procedures (seal \ unseal the vault!) its implementation is not a cup of tea.

On the other side, OpenShift secrets comes as built-in OpenShift capability and needs very limited implementation.

Scalability and flexibility

Hashicorp Vault is a proven solution that is used by hundreds of orgs and scales well, especially Enterprise version.

OpenShift secrets scales even better - as it scales with your OpenShift installation seamlessly.

Hashicorp and OpenShift: Key Differences

Pricing

Hashicorp has an Open Source edition, but the Enterprise option is quite costly, and it comes with a fixed price that is not competitive. However, its pricing model is suitable for IT companies that want to get some open source tooling literally for free and pay a fixed fee in the future when their business scales.

In contrast, OpenShift at its core is a commercial solution. Since 2019 OpenShift became part of IBM offering so you might benefit from IBM package discounts and existing relationships or agreements with IBM. Also, OpenShift secrets itself comes for free as part of OpenShift Platform.

Summary

Hashicorp is definitely a more universal and flexible solution there, but it comes with a price tag attached - you'd have to implement and maintain it. If you consider getting help with this - check out our DevSecOps as a Service.

OpenShift secrets is a great starting point in managing secrets on the container infrastructure layer and is a very practical and scalable option.

If you are not ready to consider implementation of a tool - you can check out our Kubernetes Penetration Testing Service.

Still looking? Check our other secret management comparisons:

Cyberlands.io Team