Sealed Secrets vs SOPS
Sealed Secrets
Sealed Secrets is a Kubernetes controller from Bitnami that lets you store encrypted secrets directly in Git. You use the kubeseal CLI to encrypt a regular Kubernetes Secret into a SealedSecret custom resource, which only the controller running in your cluster can decrypt. This makes secret material safe to commit, review, and diff in version control without a separate secrets manager.
Pros
- No external secrets backend needed; just Git plus cluster
- Perfect fit for pure GitOps workflows
- Simple mental model: encrypt once, commit, done
- Backed by Bitnami (VMware) with stable release cadence
Cons
- Key rotation requires re-sealing every secret
- Lose the cluster key, lose every sealed secret
- No per-key RBAC; anyone who can create a SealedSecret can decrypt it once applied
- No rotation or lifecycle features like a real secrets manager
Pricing: Free (open source)
SOPS
SOPS (Secrets OPerationS) is a command-line tool for editing encrypted files. It uses KMS keys (AWS KMS, GCP KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault, age, or PGP) to encrypt only the values in YAML, JSON, ENV, or INI files — leaving the keys readable so you can diff changes in Git. Originally created at Mozilla and now a CNCF Incubating project, SOPS is a favorite for teams that want encrypted-in-Git secrets without adopting a full operator.
Pros
- Encrypted values + readable keys makes Git review actually work
- No server or operator to run; pure CLI tool
- Multi-key support makes sharing with teammates painless
- Works with almost every KMS; vendor-agnostic
Cons
- Requires discipline: anyone can commit an unencrypted secret by accident
- Key management is on you; rotating a compromised key is manual
- Not a secrets manager; no audit trail of accesses
- Only encrypts at rest in Git; runtime apps still need a way to decrypt
Pricing: Free (open source)