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Cybersecurity · head to head

Infisical vs Semperis

Infisical logo

Infisical

Cybersecurity

Security infrastructure for developers and AI agents

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Semperis logo

Semperis

Cybersecurity

Identity threat detection and Active Directory forest recovery for AD, Entra ID and Okta, from a privately held US vendor.

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Infisical has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Infisical free tier limited to 5 identities, suitable only for small teams or evaluation; Semperis scope is limited to Active Directory, Entra ID and Okta, so an organisation whose critical identity lives elsewhere gets little from it, and the recovery value declines in direct proportion to how much has already moved off on-premises AD.
  • They diverge on capability: Infisical covers Secrets management, Semperis covers Active Directory Forest Recovery.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Infisical and Semperis actually diverge.

Attributes where Infisical and Semperis differ
AttributeInfisicalSemperis
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, CLI, Cloud, Self-HostedWeb

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).

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 Semperis

  • Active Directory Forest Recovery
  • Malware-free restore
  • Replication-stream monitoring
  • Automated rollback
  • Attack indicator scoring
  • Entra ID and Okta coverage
  • Purple Knight
  • Forest Druid

What people use each for

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

Infisical

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

Semperis

  • An organisation that cannot answer an auditor or insurer asking how long it would take to rebuild Active Directory after a destructive attacknot Infisical
  • Post-incident recovery where domain controllers are compromised and restoring from system-state backup would reintroduce the attacker's footholdnot Infisical
  • Continuous detection of privileged group changes and directory-level tampering that domain controller security logs missnot Infisical
  • Hybrid estates where AD, Entra ID and Okta all matter and no single tool currently shows changes across the threenot 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

Semperis

  • Scope is limited to Active Directory, Entra ID and Okta, so an organisation whose critical identity lives elsewhere gets little from it, and the recovery value declines in direct proportion to how much has already moved off on-premises AD.
  • The licence buys tooling, not a proven runbook: forest recovery is only worth what your last rehearsal demonstrated, and a plan that has never been executed end to end in a lab is an untested assumption regardless of what was purchased.
  • It overlaps with backup and directory management products from Quest, Veeam, Commvault and others, so the buyer must argue internally why a dedicated product is needed alongside a backup contract that already claims to protect Active Directory.
  • Running Directory Services Protector well requires someone who understands AD internals, replication metadata and Tier 0 attack paths, and without that person the alerts on privileged changes are either ignored or auto-reverted in ways that break legitimate administration.
  • Licensing is driven by identity object counts, so directories carrying years of stale user accounts and service principals pay for objects that should have been deleted, and the cleanup project that would reduce the bill is the one nobody has time for.

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

Semperis

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Semperis review.

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 Semperis if

  • You need active directory forest recovery.
  • You also want malware-free restore.
Semperis review

Questions people ask

Is Infisical or Semperis better?
Neither clearly leads. Infisical starts at Free and Semperis at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Infisical or Semperis?
Infisical has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Infisical and On request for Semperis.
Does Infisical or Semperis run on more platforms?
Infisical runs on Web, CLI, Cloud, Self-Hosted. Semperis runs on Web.
Can I use Infisical for free?
Yes. Infisical has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Semperis starts at On request.
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 Semperis is typically brought in for.
What can Infisical do that Semperis cannot?
Infisical covers Secrets management, Certificate management, Privileged access management, Secret versioning. Semperis covers Active Directory Forest Recovery, Malware-free restore, Replication-stream monitoring, Automated rollback.

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
Semperis: Does this replace my backups?

No. It replaces the Active Directory recovery procedure specifically. You still need backups for everything else, and the point of Semperis is that a generic system-state backup of a domain controller is a poor way to recover a forest because it restores the operating system along with whatever compromised it.

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
Semperis: Is it useful if we are cloud-only on Entra ID?

Partly. Directory Services Protector covers Entra ID and Okta for change tracking and posture, but the forest recovery product, which is the strongest reason to buy, applies to on-premises Active Directory. A genuinely cloud-only organisation should weigh it against Microsoft's own tooling.

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
Semperis: Are Purple Knight and Forest Druid really free?

Yes, both are free downloads with no licence requirement, and they are widely used by organisations that are not Semperis customers. They are also, transparently, the top of the sales funnel.

Semperis: How long does forest recovery actually take?

The honest answer is whatever your rehearsal took. The vendor's case is hours instead of days, and automation genuinely removes most manual steps, but the number that matters for your board is the one from a test in your own environment.

Semperis: Does it require agents on domain controllers?

It collects directory changes from the AD replication stream, which is what lets it see changes that bypass the security log. Deployment details vary by product and version, so confirm the exact architecture against your domain controller change-control rules.

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