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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs HashiCorp Vault

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
HashiCorp Vault logo

HashiCorp Vault

Cybersecurity

Manage secrets and protect sensitive data

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; HashiCorp Vault policies are written in HCL with no graphical user interface for policy management or editing
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, HashiCorp Vault covers Secret storage.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and HashiCorp Vault actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and HashiCorp Vault differ
AttributeEarthlyHashiCorp Vault
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websiteopen-source
PlatformsWeb, CLILinux, Windows, Mac, Api
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
Founded20202014

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Earthly

  • Policy as code
  • Multi-stage enforcement
  • AI agent governance
  • Repository-wide policies
  • Incident response automation
  • Compliance management
  • Earthfiles build tool
  • Satellites

Only in HashiCorp Vault

  • Secret storage
  • Dynamic secrets
  • Encryption as a service
  • Identity-based access
  • Audit logging
  • Leasing and renewal
  • Secret engines
  • Auth methods

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Earthly

  • Enforcing engineering standards across AI and human developersnot HashiCorp Vault
  • Automating incident response procedures across all repositoriesnot HashiCorp Vault
  • Embedding compliance requirements into development workflowsnot HashiCorp Vault
  • Standardizing build processes with Earthfilesnot HashiCorp Vault

HashiCorp Vault

  • Secrets managementnot Earthly
  • Database credentialsnot Earthly
  • API keysnot Earthly
  • SSH accessnot Earthly
  • PKI and certificatesnot Earthly

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Earthly

  • Pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • Earthly Lunar is a recent launch (2025) with limited track record
  • Primarily GitHub-focused; limited integration with other platforms
  • No public documentation on pricing or feature tiers

HashiCorp Vault

  • Policies are written in HCL with no graphical user interface for policy management or editing
  • Unsealing requires managing multiple key shares and coordinating a quorum of operators
  • Community Edition lacks enterprise features like namespaces and disaster recovery replication
  • Requires additional monitoring solutions for alerting and observability

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

HashiCorp Vault

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Secrets management
    • Encryption
    • Community support
  • Vault Enterprise$6000/year
    • Replication
    • HSM support
    • Advanced audit

Which should you pick?

Choose Earthly if

  • You need policy as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI.
  • You also want multi-stage enforcement.
Earthly review

Choose HashiCorp Vault if

  • You need secret storage.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
  • You also want dynamic secrets.
HashiCorp Vault review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or HashiCorp Vault better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and HashiCorp Vault at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or HashiCorp Vault?
Earthly starts at Free and HashiCorp Vault at Free.
Does Earthly or HashiCorp Vault run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. HashiCorp Vault runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
Can I use Earthly for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Earthly best used for?
Earthly is most often used for enforcing engineering standards across ai and human developers, automating incident response procedures across all repositories, embedding compliance requirements into development workflows, standardizing build processes with earthfiles. Of those, enforcing engineering standards across ai and human developers and automating incident response procedures across all repositories are not what HashiCorp Vault is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that HashiCorp Vault cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. HashiCorp Vault covers Secret storage, Dynamic secrets, Encryption as a service, Identity-based access.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Earthly: What is the difference between Earthfiles and Earthly Lunar?

Earthfiles is an open-source build tool that reached 12,000 GitHub stars and is used by companies like NVIDIA, Intel, and Databricks. Earthly Lunar is a separate governance platform launched in 2025 for enforcing standards across development workflows.

Source
HashiCorp Vault: Does HashiCorp Vault have a free version?

Yes. The open-source Community Edition is completely free and includes core secrets management, dynamic secrets, and encryption as a service. It is self-hosted with no licensing fees or secret count limits, but lacks enterprise features like namespaces, disaster recovery replication, and Sentinel policies.

Source
Earthly: How does Earthly Lunar enforce standards?

Lunar converts engineering standards, compliance requirements, and processes documented in AGENTS.md files, wikis, and incident postmortems into enforceable guardrails that apply consistently across repositories and development stages.

Source
HashiCorp Vault: Can I use HashiCorp Vault in production?

The Community Edition is suitable for non-production environments and small teams. For production deployments, organizations typically use HCP Vault Dedicated (managed cloud service starting at approximately 22 USD per month) or Vault Enterprise with custom pricing that includes disaster recovery, performance replication, and 24/7 support.

Source
Earthly: What is the pricing for Earthly Lunar?

Pricing is not published on the website. Interested customers should contact Earthly's sales team for current pricing and feature tiers.

Source
HashiCorp Vault: What are the main integrations available?

Vault integrates with AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Active Directory, Okta, and 80+ other platforms. It supports dynamic credential generation for cloud providers, database systems, and identity services, enabling centralized secret management across multi-cloud infrastructure.

Source
HashiCorp Vault: Does Vault work offline?

Vault requires network connectivity to function as it is a centralized secrets management server. However, it can be deployed on-premises for air-gapped environments, and clients can cache short-lived tokens for temporary offline access once authenticated.

Source
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