Softwr

Cybersecurity · head to head

Infisical vs Longhorn

Infisical logo

Infisical

Cybersecurity

Security infrastructure for developers and AI agents

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Longhorn logo

Longhorn

Cloud

Open source distributed block storage for Kubernetes, incubating at the CNCF

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Infisical free tier limited to 5 identities, suitable only for small teams or evaluation; Longhorn there is no vendor and no SLA, so a production incident at three in the morning is your own problem unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime support separately.
  • They diverge on capability: Infisical covers Secrets management, Longhorn covers Per-volume controllers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Infisical and Longhorn actually diverge.

Attributes where Infisical and Longhorn differ
AttributeInfisicalLonghorn
Pricing modelUnknownOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, CLI, Cloud, Self-HostedLinux, Kubernetes
CategoryCybersecurityCloud

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 Infisical

  • Secrets management
  • Certificate management
  • Privileged access management
  • Secret versioning
  • Dynamic secrets
  • SAML SSO
  • Open-source core
  • Secrets scanning

Only in Longhorn

  • Per-volume controllers
  • Synchronous replication
  • Snapshots and backups
  • Volume expansion
  • Disaster recovery volumes
  • Web interface

What people use each for

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

Infisical

  • Managing secrets across Kubernetes clustersnot Longhorn
  • Automating certificate lifecycle for internal PKInot Longhorn
  • Providing privileged database access with audit trailsnot Longhorn
  • Securing credentials for AI agents at runtimenot Longhorn

Longhorn

  • An on-premises Kubernetes cluster with local disks and no SAN that needs replicated persistent volumesnot Infisical
  • Edge sites where shipping a storage array is impractical and three nodes is the whole clusternot Infisical
  • A K3s deployment where the storage layer must be light enough to run alongside the workloadsnot Infisical
  • A team that wants snapshots and S3 backups of persistent volumes without paying per-node storage licencesnot Infisical

Where each one falls short

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

Infisical

  • Free tier limited to 5 identities, suitable only for small teams or evaluation
  • Pricing tiers are per-identity, which scales costs with team size
  • Certificate management requires Enterprise plan for advanced features like wildcards
  • Privileged access tier is separate billing from secrets management

Longhorn

  • There is no vendor and no SLA, so a production incident at three in the morning is your own problem unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime support separately.
  • Synchronous replication across nodes means write latency depends on the slowest replica and the network between nodes, which makes it a poor fit for latency-sensitive databases.
  • Every replica is a full copy, so three-way replication consumes three times the raw capacity, unlike erasure-coded systems that are far more space efficient.
  • It is designed for block storage on modest clusters and does not scale to the node counts or throughput that Ceph or a commercial array handles, so growth eventually forces a migration.
  • Recovery from certain degraded states, such as a volume stuck detaching or replicas failing to rebuild, requires manual intervention and knowledge of Longhorn internals that is not widely held.

Pricing, plan by plan

Infisical

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 5 identities
    • Unlimited projects
    • 3 environments
  • Pro - Secrets$20/month
    • Per-identity pricing
    • Unlimited identities
    • SAML SSO
  • Pro - Secrets (Annual)$20/year
    • Annual discount available
    • Unlimited identities
    • SAML SSO
  • Advanced - Secrets$40/month
    • Per-identity pricing
    • Dynamic secrets
    • Gateways

Longhorn

Free
  • LonghornFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed, no licence fee
    • Community support via GitHub and Slack only
    • No vendor SLA or escalation path

Which should you pick?

Choose Infisical if

  • You need secrets management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI, Cloud, Self-Hosted.
  • You also want certificate management.
Infisical review

Choose Longhorn if

  • You need per-volume controllers.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Kubernetes.
  • You also want synchronous replication.
Longhorn review

Questions people ask

Is Infisical or Longhorn better?
Neither clearly leads. Infisical starts at Free and Longhorn at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Infisical or Longhorn?
Infisical starts at Free and Longhorn at Free.
Does Infisical or Longhorn run on more platforms?
Infisical runs on Web, CLI, Cloud, Self-Hosted. Longhorn runs on Linux, Kubernetes.
Can I use Infisical for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Infisical best used for?
Infisical is most often used for managing secrets across kubernetes clusters, automating certificate lifecycle for internal pki, providing privileged database access with audit trails, securing credentials for ai agents at runtime. Of those, managing secrets across kubernetes clusters and automating certificate lifecycle for internal pki are not what Longhorn is typically brought in for.
What can Infisical do that Longhorn cannot?
Infisical covers Secrets management, Certificate management, Privileged access management, Secret versioning. Longhorn covers Per-volume controllers, Synchronous replication, Snapshots and backups, Volume expansion.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Infisical: How is pricing calculated for Secrets Management?

Pricing is per-identity per month. Free tier includes 5 identities. Pro tier is $20/identity/month, Advanced is $40/identity/month. All pricing in USD.

Source
Longhorn: Who do we call when it breaks?

Nobody, unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime, which includes commercial support for Longhorn. This is the decisive question for production use.

Infisical: Can I self-host Infisical?

Yes, Infisical's core is open-source under the MIT license and can be self-hosted. The managed cloud service is also available with additional features.

Source
Longhorn: How much capacity does replication cost?

Full copies, so three replicas means three times the raw capacity. Budget accordingly rather than assuming erasure coding efficiency.

Infisical: What is included in the Enterprise plan?

Enterprise plan includes SCIM, LDAP, approval workflows, external KMS/HSM support, and 99.99% SLA. Pricing is custom and determined by annual commitment.

Source
Longhorn: Is it suitable for production databases?

For modest workloads yes, but synchronous replication adds write latency and high-transaction databases usually want something faster.

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