Sirr vs HashiCorp Vault
Vault is the industry standard for secrets management, identity brokering, and PKI. Sirr is purpose-built for one thing: ephemeral secret sharing. Different tools for different jobs — here's how they compare.
At a glance
Sirr
- Ephemeral secret sharing
- Single Rust binary, ~30 second deploy
- AES-256-GCM + optional client-side encryption
- Self-hosted — data never leaves your network
- REST API with Node, Python, .NET SDKs
- BSL 1.1 (source available)
HashiCorp Vault
- •Full-featured secrets, identity, and PKI platform
- •Complex deployment (unsealing, HA, Consul backend)
- •AES-256-GCM (requires unsealing ceremony)
- •Self-hosted or HCP managed
- •SDKs for Go, Ruby, Java, Python, and more
- •BSL 1.1 (no longer open source since 2023)
Pricing comparison
Vault Enterprise list pricing is typically $50K+/year. HCP Vault Secrets charges per-secret. Sirr charges a flat monthly fee.
| Scenario | Sirr | Vault |
|---|---|---|
| 5 users, 10 secrets | $0 (free tier) | $0 (community / free tier) |
| 25 users, 50 secrets | $19/mo (Pro) | ~$25/mo (HCP Standard) |
| 100 users, 200 secrets | $49/mo (Team) | ~$190/mo (HCP Plus) |
| 500 users, 1000 secrets | $149/mo (Scale) | ~$950/mo (HCP Plus) |
| Self-hosted, unlimited | $49/mo (Team) | ~$50K+/year (Enterprise) |
Feature comparison
| Feature | Sirr | Vault |
|---|---|---|
| Burn-after-read | ||
| TTL on secrets | Dynamic secrets only | |
| Read-count limits | ||
| Client-side encryption | ||
| SSO / SAML | Business+ tier | Enterprise only |
| Audit logging | Business+ tier | Enterprise only |
| SDKs | Node, Python, .NET, CLI | Go, Ruby, Java, Python, and more |
| MCP (AI agents) | Coming soon | |
| Secret rotation | N/A (ephemeral) | |
| Dynamic DB credentials | ||
| PKI / Certificates | ||
| Identity / Auth broker | OIDC, LDAP, and more |
The hidden costs
Licensing fees are just the beginning. Running Vault in production requires dedicated engineers, complex infrastructure, and ongoing operational effort.
| Cost | Sirr | Vault |
|---|---|---|
| Ops overhead | Near zero — single binary, no unsealing | High — unsealing, HA, Consul, audit backends, policy management |
| Learning curve | REST API + SDKs, done in a day | Weeks to months (HCL policies, auth methods, secret engines) |
| Engineer time | 1 engineer, part-time | 1-2 dedicated engineers for production |
| Vendor lock-in | None — self-hosted, data on your infra | Medium — BSL license, HCP lock-in |
| Multi-region | Deploy another instance | Replication (Enterprise only) |
When Vault is the better choice
Sirr is not a Vault replacement. If you need any of the following, Vault is the right tool:
- Dynamic database credentials — Vault generates short-lived DB credentials on-demand. Sirr does not manage database access.
- PKI and certificate management — Vault can act as a certificate authority, issuing and revoking TLS certificates.
- Identity brokering — Vault integrates with OIDC, LDAP, SAML, and more to broker identity across systems.
- Automated secret rotation — Vault rotates secrets on a schedule. Sirr's model is ephemeral — secrets expire by design rather than being rotated.
When Sirr is the better choice
- Ephemeral secret sharing — Sharing passwords, API keys, tokens, or credentials that should expire. Sirr is purpose-built for this.
- Simple deployment — One binary, one Docker command, 30 seconds to production. No unsealing ceremonies, no Consul, no HA clusters.
- Budget-conscious teams — Sirr starts free and scales to $149/mo for 500 users. Vault Enterprise starts at ~$50K/year.
- No vendor lock-in — Self-hosted on your infrastructure. Your data, your rules. No cloud dependency.
- AI agent workflows (coming soon) — Sirr is building MCP support for just-in-time secret delivery to AI agents — fetch a token, use it, let it expire, fetch a fresh one. No standing access, no broad policy scope. Vault requires long-lived tokens with AppRole policies.
Frequently asked questions
The bottom line
Vault is a Swiss Army knife for secrets, identity, and encryption. Sirr is a scalpel for one job: sharing secrets that disappear. If your primary use case is sharing temporary credentials, API keys, or passwords between people or systems — you don't need a $50K/year platform. You need Sirr.