CyberArk Conjur vs HashiCorp Vault

CyberArk Conjur and HashiCorp Vault are the two leading open-source secrets management platforms for securing machine identities and non-human access in modern infrastructure.

Both tools solve the same core problem: eliminating hard-coded secrets from applications, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure automation. They provide centralized vaults for credentials, API keys, and certificates with granular access control and audit trails.

Design focus

Conjur emphasizes policy-as-code RBAC with a declarative approach to access control. Security teams define policies in version-controlled files that specify which workloads can access which secrets. This approach integrates naturally with GitOps workflows.

Vault takes a more dynamic approach with its secret engines and authentication backends. It focuses on just-in-time credentials and dynamic secrets that are generated on-demand and automatically revoked. Vault's plugin architecture enables extensive customization.

Architecture differences

Conjur is built in Ruby and uses a policy language for configuration. It supports both certificate-based and JWT-based authentication for Kubernetes workloads. The open-source version requires additional components for high availability.

Vault is built in Go and uses a storage backend abstraction that supports multiple databases and cloud storage options. It has built-in high availability modes and supports a wider variety of authentication methods out of the box.

When to choose CyberArk Conjur

• Your organization prefers policy-as-code approaches to security
• You are already invested in the CyberArk ecosystem
• You need strong Kubernetes-native integration with minimal configuration
• Your team values simplicity over extensive customization options
• You want a clear upgrade path to enterprise support

When to choose HashiCorp Vault

• You need dynamic secrets and just-in-time credential generation
• Your infrastructure spans multiple clouds and requires diverse authentication methods
• You want a larger ecosystem of community plugins and integrations
• Your team has Go expertise and wants to extend the platform
• You need advanced features like PKI management and encryption-as-a-service

Can they coexist?

While both tools solve similar problems, they can coexist in large organizations with different teams preferring different approaches. Some organizations use Vault for dynamic infrastructure secrets and Conjur for application-level secrets management.