HashiCorp Boundary vs HashiCorp Vault
HashiCorp Boundary
HashiCorp Boundary is an identity-aware session broker for remote access to infrastructure. It pairs naturally with HashiCorp Vault to provide just-in-time credential brokering: users authenticate with Boundary using their identity provider, Boundary requests short-lived credentials from Vault, and injects them into the session without exposing them. Boundary is open source (MPL 2.0) with a commercial HCP Boundary cloud offering.
Pros
- Natural fit for teams already running HashiCorp Vault
- Open source core with no license cost
- Terraform-native workflow for declarative access policies
- HCP option removes operational overhead
Things to check
- Younger product; smaller community than Teleport
- Session recording requires Enterprise tier
- Best value comes bundled with Vault. Less compelling standalone
- Fewer enterprise integrations than legacy PAM
Pricing: Free and open source; paid tiers on the vendor site.
HashiCorp Vault
HashiCorp Vault is a widely adopted open-source secrets management tool. It provides a unified interface for managing secrets, encrypting data in transit, and controlling access to sensitive information across distributed infrastructure. Vault supports dynamic secrets, leasing, and revocation.
Pros
- Massive community and ecosystem
- Highly extensible with plugins
- Strong enterprise features
- Multi-cloud and hybrid support
- Free open-source tier
Things to check
- Steep learning curve
- Complex to operate at scale
- Requires dedicated infrastructure
- Enterprise features require paid license
Pricing: Free self-managed Community edition (Business Source License, not true OSS); HCP Vault Dedicated managed cloud from $0.03/hr (about $22/mo) Development tier (HCP rates as of 2022; tiers have since been renamed, verify current pricing), production tiers from about $1.58/cluster-hr plus per-client fees; Vault Enterprise self-managed license is quote-only (contact sales).