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Cloud · head to head

Koyeb vs Vault

Koyeb logo

Koyeb

Cloud

High-performance serverless infrastructure for APIs, inference, and databases

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Vault logo

Vault

Cloud

Manage Secrets and Protect Sensitive Data

From
Free
Rated
-

The short version

  • Only Vault has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Koyeb pricing starts at $29/month with additional compute costs; Vault vault 1.15.0 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1, not an OSI open source licence, with IBM Corporation as licensor
  • They diverge on capability: Koyeb covers Serverless containers, Vault covers Secrets management.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Koyeb and Vault actually diverge.

Attributes where Koyeb and Vault differ
AttributeKoyebVault
Starting price$29/monthFree
Pricing modelUnknownopen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, CLI, APILinux, Windows, Mac, Cloud
FoundedUnknown2015

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

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 Koyeb

  • Serverless containers
  • GPU support
  • Global distribution
  • Multi-protocol support
  • Serverless Postgres
  • Zero-downtime deployments

Only in Vault

  • Secrets management
  • Encryption
  • Authentication
  • Authorization
  • Audit logging
  • API access
  • High availability
  • Replication

What people use each for

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

Koyeb

  • Deploying AI inference models globally with GPU accelerationnot Vault
  • Building SaaS platforms with automatic scalingnot Vault
  • Running distributed AI agents and background workersnot Vault

Vault

  • Centrally storing and rotating secrets, API keys and database credentialsnot Koyeb
  • Issuing short-lived dynamic credentials to applications instead of static passwordsnot Koyeb
  • Encryption as a service and PKI certificate issuancenot Koyeb

Where each one falls short

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

Koyeb

  • Pricing starts at $29/month with additional compute costs
  • GPU compute is expensive at $0.75-$2.50 per hour
  • Limited customization for infrastructure configuration

Vault

  • Vault 1.15.0 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1, not an OSI open source licence, with IBM Corporation as licensor
  • The Additional Use Grant forbids offering Vault to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions of Vault
  • Each version only converts to MPL 2.0 four years after that version is published, and the Change Date is tracked per version
  • Replication, HSM support, namespaces, performance standby nodes, FIPS builds, control group authorisation, multi-factor authentication, secrets sync and lease count quotas all require a Vault Enterprise licence
  • A Vault Enterprise licence must be applied to the cluster before any Enterprise feature can be used

Pricing, plan by plan

Koyeb

$29/month
  • Pro$29/month
    • $10 included compute
    • 10 users
    • 100 services
  • Scale$299/month
    • $100 included compute
    • 50 users
    • 1,000 services
  • Enterprise$1000/month
    • Unlimited users
    • Custom resources
    • SSO/RBAC

Vault

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Secrets management
    • Encryption as a service
    • Identity management
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Advanced features
    • Premium support
    • Dedicated updates

Which should you pick?

Choose Koyeb if

  • You need serverless containers.
  • You work on Web, CLI, API.
  • You also want gpu support.

Choose Vault if

  • You need secrets management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud.
  • You also want encryption.

Questions people ask

Is Koyeb or Vault better?
Neither clearly leads. Koyeb starts at $29/month and Vault at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Koyeb or Vault?
Vault has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Koyeb and Free for Vault.
Does Koyeb or Vault run on more platforms?
Koyeb runs on Web, CLI, API. Vault runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud.
Can I use Vault for free?
Yes. Vault has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Koyeb starts at $29/month.
What is Koyeb best used for?
Koyeb is most often used for deploying ai inference models globally with gpu acceleration, building saas platforms with automatic scaling, running distributed ai agents and background workers. Of those, deploying ai inference models globally with gpu acceleration and building saas platforms with automatic scaling are not what Vault is typically brought in for.
What can Koyeb do that Vault cannot?
Koyeb covers Serverless containers, GPU support, Global distribution, Multi-protocol support. Vault covers Secrets management, Encryption, Authentication, Authorization.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Koyeb: What are Koyeb's subscription plans?

Pro plan is $29/month with $10 included compute, Scale plan is $299/month with $100 included compute and 99.9% SLA, and Enterprise starts at $1,000/month with unlimited users and 99.99% SLA.

Source
Vault: Is HashiCorp Vault free to use?

Yes, Vault is available as a free, open-source project. The community version includes secrets management, certificate generation and rotation, encryption services, and credential management. Vault Enterprise is a commercial offering with additional features.

Source
Koyeb: How much does GPU compute cost?

GPU pricing is per-second: RTX-A6000 costs $0.75/hour, A100 costs $1.60/hour, H100 costs $2.50/hour, and 8x H100 costs $20.00/hour.

Source
Vault: What are the differences between open-source Vault and Vault Enterprise?

Open-source Vault is free and self-hosted. Vault Enterprise includes additional features and commercial support. HashiCorp also offers Vault Dedicated on the HashiCorp Cloud Platform as a fully managed cloud option.

Source
Koyeb: What database options are available?

Koyeb offers serverless Postgres starting at free (0.25 vCPU, 1GB RAM) up to 3XL at $1.28/hour with 8 vCPU and 32GB RAM. Storage costs $0.50/month per GB.

Source
Vault: Can I try HashiCorp Cloud Platform Vault without payment?

Yes, HashiCorp offers a free trial option for HCP Vault Dedicated. New users also receive a $500 credit to use across HashiCorp Cloud Platform services.

Source
Vault: What does Vault manage and protect?

Vault provides identity-based secrets management for users, machines, services, and AI agents. It automates authentication and authorization for access to secrets, passwords, certificates, encryption keys, and other sensitive data across your infrastructure.

Source
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