CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Akeyless vs HashiCorp

Akeyless is an Identity Security Platform for securing machine, AI agent, and human identities across cloud, hybrid, and on-prem environments. HashiCorp sells The Infrastructure Cloud, an integrated platform that turns Infrastructure Lifecycle Management and Security Lifecycle Management into code. CISO Tribune files both under Non-human identity security and Privileged access management. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Akeyless
  • HashiCorp
Akeyless vs HashiCorp: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
AkeylessAkeyless is an Identity Security Platform for securing machine, AI agent, and human identities across cloud, hybrid, and on-prem environments.akeyless.ioHashiCorpHashiCorp sells The Infrastructure Cloud, an integrated platform that turns Infrastructure Lifecycle Management and Security Lifecycle Management into code.hashicorp.com
What it sells
  • SecretlessAI®[4]Brokers just-in-time access without exposing credentials to the agent.
  • Agentic Runtime Authority[4][6][10]Controls and audits runtime agent access to supported Dynamic Secrets.
  • Vault[1][4][7][8][9]Vault is used for secrets management operations.
  • Boundary[1][7][8]Boundary brokers credentials to targets through external credential sources such as HashiCorp Vault.
  • HCP Terraform[4][6][10][11]HCP Terraform provisions cloud resources through automation.
  • Terraform Enterprise[10]Terraform Enterprise is an infrastructure as code tool.
  • Infragraph[4]Infragraph gives a view of a hybrid estate through a knowledge graph.
  • Packer[8]Packer workflows are used for image compliance in Azure.
  • HashiCorp Cloud PlatformHCP is a unified suite of SaaS products for infrastructure and security lifecycle management.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Founded
Not stated on its pages2012[2]
Ownership and funding
Privately held[3]Owned by IBM since 2025[3][6][11][12][15][16]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • October 26, 2026Akeyless announced its first inclusion in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Privileged Access Management.[11]
  • March 31, 2026Akeyless announced Agentic Runtime Authority, a runtime control capability for AI agents, and Agentic Identity Intelligence, extending its AI Agent Identity Security solution.[10]
  • October 27, 2026HashiCorp introduced the Terraform Developer Portal in public preview, according to a post listed on its Terraform blog.[15]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[3]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[16]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Akeyless describes a clientele that ranges from startups to multinational corporations. Akeyless is designed for cloud, multi-cloud, hybrid and on-prem environments, with a SaaS control plane and customer-deployed Gateways. Akeyless provides deployment guidance for organizations that deploy Gateway on cloud-managed compute platforms.Organizations can implement The Infrastructure Cloud through the HashiCorp Cloud Platform, self-managed solutions, or a combination, across a hybrid environment. Customers named on its pages include a company that partners with medical organizations and an Italian telecommunications company. HCP Terraform is described with minimum privileges for developers, cloud engineers, and operations managers.
Last verified
October 7, 2026October 21, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Akeyless and HashiCorp are both filed under Non-human identity security and Privileged access management.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Akeyless's primary category is Non-human identity security; HashiCorp's is Privileged access management.
  • Akeyless is also filed under Machine identity and PKI and Encryption, tokenization and key management. HashiCorp is also filed under Secrets detection.
  • Akeyless lists SecretlessAI® and Agentic Runtime Authority. HashiCorp lists Vault, Boundary, HCP Terraform, Terraform Enterprise, Infragraph and 2 more.
  • HashiCorp was founded in 2012.
  • Akeyless is privately held. HashiCorp is owned by IBM, since 2025.

What it sells: Akeyless

What SecretlessAI® does[4]
SecretlessAI® brokers just-in-time access without exposing credentials to the agent. Akeyless keeps credentials out of AI agents and governs their access to enterprise systems.
What Agentic Runtime Authority does[4][6][10]
Agentic Runtime Authority controls and audits runtime agent access to supported Dynamic Secrets. Agentic Runtime Authority evaluates and enforces what agents are allowed to do at runtime. Akeyless tracks every agent session from prompt to action.

What it sells: HashiCorp

What Boundary does[1][7][8]
Boundary integrates with external credential sources such as HashiCorp Vault to broker credentials to targets. HashiCorp describes using Boundary to automatically discover target hosts and services for access to on-demand infrastructure.
What HCP Terraform does[4][6][10][11]
HCP Terraform enables automated provisioning of cloud resources. Vodafone Italy uses HCP Terraform to create databases, set up its repository and team structure on GitHub, and create CI/CD pipelines.
What Terraform Enterprise does[10]
Terraform Enterprise helped AGL create configuration files to define infrastructure. AGL chose Terraform Enterprise over the community edition because of its enterprise-specific features.
What Infragraph does[4]
Infragraph delivers a single pane of glass view of a hybrid estate through a centralized, event-driven knowledge graph. HCP Terraform Standard and Premium customers now have access to Infragraph.
What HashiCorp Cloud Platform does
The HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP) is a unified suite of SaaS products that automate the lifecycle management of the infrastructure and security supporting critical applications. Organizations can implement The Infrastructure Cloud through HCP, self-managed solutions, or a combination of the two.

Questions about Akeyless and HashiCorp

What do Akeyless and HashiCorp sell?
Akeyless sells SecretlessAI® and Agentic Runtime Authority. HashiCorp sells Vault, Boundary, HCP Terraform, Terraform Enterprise, Infragraph and 2 more.
Are Akeyless and HashiCorp in the same category?
They share Non-human identity security and Privileged access management. Akeyless's primary category is Non-human identity security and HashiCorp's is Privileged access management.
When were Akeyless and HashiCorp founded?
HashiCorp was founded in 2012.
Who owns Akeyless and HashiCorp?
Akeyless is privately held. HashiCorp is owned by IBM, since 2025.
Who are Akeyless and HashiCorp sold to?
Akeyless describes a clientele that ranges from startups to multinational corporations. Organizations can implement The Infrastructure Cloud through the HashiCorp Cloud Platform, self-managed solutions, or a combination, across a hybrid environment.
What have Akeyless and HashiCorp announced recently?
October 26, 2026: Akeyless announced its first inclusion in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Privileged Access Management. October 27, 2026: HashiCorp introduced the Terraform Developer Portal in public preview, according to a post listed on its Terraform blog.

About Akeyless

Akeyless is an Identity Security Platform for securing machine, AI agent, and human identities across cloud, hybrid, and on-prem environments. Akeyless combines secrets management, Modern PAM, certificate lifecycle management, encryption and KMS, Multi-Vault Governance, and AI agent security in one platform. Akeyless manages secrets, keys, certificates and machine identities through a single policy engine, operational model and interface.[1][4][5]

Akeyless describes a situation in which AI agents, workloads and services now perform most system access, while security tools still assume a human behind the keyboard. Akeyless states that the result is secrets everywhere, standing privileges, and identities no one can fully track. Akeyless gives applications, workloads, automation and AI agents secure access to the resources they need without relying on long-lived credentials. Akeyless provides short-lived, identity-based access while centrally managing the secrets, certificates and keys that still need to exist across cloud, hybrid and on-prem environments.[4][5]

Akeyless includes enterprise secrets management, and the platform extends beyond storing and rotating secrets. Akeyless supports short-lived, identity-based access, privileged access, certificates, encryption keys, machine identities and AI agent security. Akeyless secures, stores and delivers secrets dynamically. Secretless access in Akeyless lets applications, workloads and other identities authenticate and access resources without storing long-lived credentials. Akeyless can issue short-lived, just-in-time credentials when access is required and automatically expire or revoke them afterward. Akeyless supports authentication and access for applications, workloads, services, automation and other non-human identities using methods including cloud identities, Kubernetes identities, certificates and SPIFFE/SPIRE. Akeyless centralizes and secures credentials, certificates and keys across the CI/CD pipeline.[1][4][5]

Akeyless provides multiple AI-focused capabilities across the identity security platform. Akeyless keeps credentials out of AI agents and governs their access to enterprise systems. SecretlessAI® brokers just-in-time access without exposing credentials to the agent. Agentic Runtime Authority evaluates and enforces what agents are allowed to do at runtime, and Akeyless states that every agent action is validated, scoped and enforced in session. Agentic Runtime Authority controls and audits runtime agent access to supported Dynamic Secrets. Akeyless tracks every agent session from prompt to action. Akeyless AI Insights enables natural-language interaction with Akeyless resources. Identity and Secrets Intelligence provides AI-related visibility and governance surfaces in the Console. Akeyless MCP Server integrates MCP clients and tools with Akeyless services.[4][5][6]

Akeyless automates certificate issuance, renewal and compliance, and offers automated certificate lifecycle monitoring. Akeyless centralizes visibility and policy across all vaults and environments, and provides centralized governance across distributed secrets vaults. Akeyless offers a browser plugin for creating and securing employee passwords. Akeyless centralizes and automates encryption, tokenization and key management, with centralized encryption and key management across cloud platforms. Akeyless offers customers control of their encryption keys and encrypted data.[4][5]

Akeyless uses patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography™ as the foundation of its Zero-Knowledge Architecture. Akeyless includes hybrid post-quantum encryption alongside patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography™. Akeyless is designed for cloud, multi-cloud, hybrid, and on-prem environments, with a SaaS control plane and customer-deployed Gateways for local access, policy enforcement, and cryptographic operations. Akeyless provides deployment guidance for organizations that deploy Gateway on cloud-managed compute platforms. Across EKS, AKS, GKE, and Azure Container Apps, the core Gateway model is consistent. Akeyless provides a command, eventForwarderUpdateServiceNow, that updates a service now event forwarder.[4][5][7][8]

Akeyless describes a clientele that ranges from startups to multinational corporations. Akeyless offers applications, workloads, automation and AI agents secure access to resources without long-lived credentials.[1][2][4][5][9]

Akeyless on the record

Sources

Akeyless full record

  1. [1]akeyless.ioAkeyless · akeyless.io · undated page, accessed October 7, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Press releaseAkeyless · akeyless.io · published September 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Akeyless Identity Security Platform Reviews & Product Details - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier C
  4. [4]Akeyless DocumentationAkeyless · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Identity Security for Machines, AI Agents & Humans | AkeylessAkeyless · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]AI Security With AkeylessAkeyless · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Cloud-Managed Kubernetes PlatformsAkeyless · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]/event-forwarder-update-servicenowAkeyless · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Customer JourneysAkeyless · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Akeyless Launches Runtime Authority for AI Agents, Introducing Intent-Aware Security for Autonomous Systems | AkeylessAkeyless · published March 31, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Akeyless Recognized in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Privileged Access ManagementPRNewswire · published October 26, 2026 · Tier A

HashiCorp full record

  1. [1]hashicorp.comHashiCorp · hashicorp.com · undated page, accessed October 21, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]AboutHashiCorp · hashicorp.com · undated page, accessed October 21, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]PressHashiCorp · hashicorp.com · undated page, accessed October 21, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]HashiCorp | An IBM CompanyHashiCorp · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]HCP Brand Guidelines - Product LogosHashiCorp · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]HashiCorp Product PricingHashiCorp · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Topics in the Security categoryHashiCorp · published October 29, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Security with HashiCorp and Microsoft AzureHashiCorp · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]HashiCorp - athenahealthHashiCorp · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]HashiCorp - AGL EnergyHashiCorp · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]HashiCorp - Vodafone ItalyHashiCorp · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Privacy at HashiCorpHashiCorp · published April 20, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Security at HashiCorpHashiCorp · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Technical Support Services and PoliciesHashiCorp · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]The Stack by HashiCorpHashiCorp · published October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]IBM Terraform (formerly HashiCorp Terraform) Reviews 2026G2 · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier C

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