AI visibility report for Akeyless
Vertical: Secrets Management & Vault
AI search visibility benchmark across 5 platforms in Secrets Management & Vault.
Presence Rate
Top-3 citations across 125 prompt × platform pairs
Sentiment
Peer Ranking
Key Metrics
Platform Breakdown
Grok
Google AI Mode
Perplexity
ChatGPT
Gemini SearchOverview
Akeyless is a cloud-native SaaS identity security platform specializing in secrets management, certificate lifecycle management, privileged access, and AI agent security. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Ramat Gan, Israel, the company pioneered a Vaultless® architecture that eliminates the need for dedicated vault infrastructure through its patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC), a FIPS 140-2 certified zero-knowledge approach in which even Akeyless cannot access customer encryption keys. The platform manages over 220 billion machine interactions and serves Fortune 100 enterprises across technology, finance, retail, and manufacturing verticals. Akeyless is increasingly positioned as a unified identity security platform for machines, AI agents, and humans, with recent expansions into agentic runtime governance and post-quantum cryptography. The company has raised approximately $80M in funding from investors including JVP, Team8, NGP Capital, and Deutsche Bank.
Akeyless provides a unified, SaaS-native Identity Security Platform that secures credentials, certificates, encryption keys, and access for machines, AI agents, and humans. Its core innovation is the Vaultless® architecture powered by patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC), eliminating the need for on-premises vault clusters while delivering zero-knowledge security. The platform encompasses secrets management (static, dynamic, rotated), certificate lifecycle management, modern PAM with just-in-time access, multi-vault governance across cloud providers, multi-cloud KMS, and AI agent identity security including agentic runtime authority. It integrates natively across CI/CD, Kubernetes, DevOps toolchains, and cloud IAM systems.
Key Facts
- Founded
- 2018
- HQ
- Ramat Gan, Israel
- Founders
- Oded Hareven, Shai Onn, Refael Angel
- Employees
- 51-200
- Funding
- ~$80M+
- Status
- Private
Target users
Key Capabilities9
- Vaultless® Secrets Management: static, dynamic (JIT), and rotated secrets without dedicated vault infrastructure
- Patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC) with FIPS 140-2 certified zero-knowledge encryption
- Multi-Vault Governance (Universal Secrets Connector) across AWS, Azure, GCP, HashiCorp Vault, and Kubernetes
- Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) with automated issuance, renewal, and ACME protocol support
- Modern PAM with just-in-time access and zero standing privilege enforcement
- Multi-Cloud KMS with post-quantum (hybrid) key management and BYOK support
- AI Agent Identity Security: SecretlessAI™, Agentic Runtime Authority, and AI agent discovery/mapping
- Password Manager for teams via browser extensions (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) and mobile
- Full audit logging, RBAC, and SIEM/log forwarding integrations for compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, FIPS, DORA)
Key Use Cases8
- Replacing HashiCorp Vault or cloud-native secrets managers with a maintenance-free SaaS alternative
- Centralizing secrets management across multi-cloud and hybrid environments (AWS, Azure, GCP, on-prem)
- Eliminating hardcoded secrets and credentials from CI/CD pipelines and source code
- Securing AI agent and machine identity access at runtime without embedding secrets
- Automating certificate lifecycle management and PKI across enterprise infrastructure
- Enforcing just-in-time privileged access to replace standing credentials in DevOps workflows
- Achieving compliance with FIPS 140-2, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, SOC 2, and DORA across regulated industries
- Consolidating fragmented vault tooling under a single governance and policy layer
Akeyless customer outcomes
70% cost reduction; 270% higher adoption vs. prior solution
Cimpress (Vistaprint parent, 10,000+ employees, $2B+ revenue) replaced HashiCorp Vault with Akeyless to centralize secrets management across 13 subsidiaries and a multi-cloud environment, eliminating vault cluster overhead and manual credential rotation.
70% reduction in maintenance and provisioning time
Progress Software adopted Akeyless to address secrets sprawl and fragmented tooling across AWS, Azure, and GCP following acquisitions including Chef, gaining unified DevOps-integrated secrets management without infrastructure burden.
100+ applications transitioned to centralized secrets management
Constant Contact replaced fragmented legacy secrets management tools with Akeyless's SaaS platform, enabling multiple teams to centralize secrets governance and scale their digital marketing platform securely.
Wix adopted Akeyless as the foundation of its zero-trust security model, replacing static passwords with JIT credentials and achieving unified secrets management and full audit visibility for millions of users across multi-cloud infrastructure.
Recent Trend
How AI describes Akeyless3
...The tools most commonly used successfully at that scale are: 1. HashiCorp Vault 2. AWS Secrets Manager 3. Akeyless Vault 4. CyberArk Conjur 5. Infisical 6. Doppler 7. Google Secret Manager 8. Azure Key Vault...
What secrets management tools handle millions of secret reads per day without becoming a performance bottleneck for high-traffic services?
...| Yes | Common abstraction layer | | Doppler | Kubernetes Operator, sidecar injection | Yes | Yes | Developer-focused | | Akeyless | CSI provider and sidecar injection | Yes | Yes | SaaS-first architecture | | Infisical | Kubernetes Operator and sidecar...
What secrets management platforms integrate directly with container orchestration platforms to inject secrets as environment variables or mounted files?
\[1\] | | Akeyless Vault Platform | Strong | Dynamic DB creds, cloud creds, runtime secrets | SaaS-first alternative emphasizing less operational overhead.
What secrets vault tools support dynamic secrets — generating short-lived credentials on demand rather than storing long-lived tokens?
Most cited sources8
147Top Secrets Management Tools for 2026 | Akeyless
akeyless.io·Comparison
- 24
Akeyless: Developer-Focused Secrets Management for Modern Teams | Akeyless
akeyless.io·Comparison
- 23
What is Secrets Management? Tools & Best Practices | Akeyless
akeyless.io·Comparison
- 21
Secrets Management Software & Platform
akeyless.io·Comparison
- 20
Akeyless vs. Infisical: The Enterprise Alternative for Secrets ...
akeyless.io·Comparison
- 17
A HashiCorp Vault Alternative: How Akeyless Simplifies Your Security and Cuts Costs | Akeyless
akeyless.io·Comparison
Alternatives in Secrets Management & Vault6
Akeyless competes primarily as a SaaS-native, infrastructure-free alternative to HashiCorp Vault and legacy PAM tools.
- Its core differentiation is the patented Vaultless® / Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC) architecture, which eliminates the need for dedicated vault clusters while providing zero-knowledge encryption—meaning even Akeyless itself cannot access customer secrets.
- The company emphasizes lower TCO (claiming up to 70% cost reduction vs.
- Vault), rapid deployment without vault maintenance, and a unified platform spanning secrets management, certificate lifecycle, modern PAM, multi-vault governance, and AI agent identity security.
- Akeyless is increasingly targeting the emerging AI agent security segment with its SecretlessAI™ and Agentic Runtime Authority capabilities, seeking to differentiate from both traditional secrets managers and PAM vendors who lack native machine/AI identity features.
Reviews
Praised
- Ease of use and intuitive interface
- Fast SaaS onboarding with no infrastructure setup
- Strong zero-knowledge / zero-trust encryption model
- Responsive and knowledgeable customer support
- Centralized management across multi-cloud environments
- Easy integrations with CI/CD and DevOps tools
- Automated secret rotation and JIT access
- Comprehensive audit trail and access logging
Criticized
- Documentation quality and completeness
- Limited depth of audit/log information
- UI polish compared to competitors
- Learning curve for advanced configurations
- Authentication setup complexity
- Non-Kubernetes deployment documentation gaps
Reviewers on Gartner Peer Insights and G2 consistently praise Akeyless for its ease of use, fast SaaS onboarding, strong zero-knowledge security model, and responsive customer support. Users highlight the simplicity of centralized secrets management, ease of integration with CI/CD and cloud platforms, and the elimination of vault infrastructure overhead. Recurring criticisms include documentation gaps (particularly for non-Kubernetes environments), a UI that some find less polished than expected, a moderate learning curve for advanced configurations, and limited detail in audit log outputs. Overall sentiment is positive, with enterprise customers citing meaningful reductions in operational overhead and improved security posture.
Pricing
Akeyless offers a Free tier (up to 5 clients, 500 static secrets, 5 dynamic/rotated secrets, 3-day audit log retention, 1 gateway cluster) and an Enterprise tier with custom pricing. Enterprise pricing is subscription-based and metered by pricing units including: Clients (human users, apps, or servers initiating sessions), Connectors (for multi-vault governance across AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, HashiCorp Vault), Certificates (managed via CLM), Encryption Transactions, and Password Manager Users. Two deployment modes are offered: Pure SaaS (fully cloud-managed, no infrastructure overhead) and Hybrid SaaS (on-premise gateways with Zero-Knowledge encryption for compliance-heavy environments, with 1 gateway included for exploration). Enterprise pricing requires direct contact with Akeyless sales.
Limitations
- User reviews on G2 and Gartner Peer Insights note documentation quality as a recurring weakness, particularly for non-Kubernetes deployment scenarios and advanced integrations.
- Some users cite a learning curve for initial setup and a UI that can feel underdeveloped compared to expectations.
- Limited granularity in audit/log information has been flagged by reviewers.
- Authentication configuration complexity has been noted.
- As a relatively smaller vendor (est. ~100 employees), enterprise support depth and breadth of professional services may not match larger incumbents like CyberArk or BeyondTrust.
Frequently asked questions
Topic Coverage
Prompt-Level Results
| Prompt | Grok | Gemini Search | Google AI Mode | ChatGPT | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Capability5/5 cited (100%) | |||||
What secrets platforms support PKI and TLS certificate lifecycle management alongside API key and credential storage? | |||||
Which secrets management platforms support automatic secret rotation for database credentials and third-party API keys without service restarts? | |||||
What secrets vault tools support dynamic secrets — generating short-lived credentials on demand rather than storing long-lived tokens? | |||||
Which secrets management tools have a full audit log of every secret access event for SOC 2 compliance reporting? | |||||
I need a secrets manager with fine-grained access policies so different microservices only see the secrets they need — which platforms handle this well? | |||||
Developer Experience5/5 cited (100%) | |||||
Which secrets management tools give developers a great CLI experience for injecting secrets into local development without copying values manually? | |||||
What secrets vault tools do platform engineering teams prefer for their developer-friendliness and ability to manage secrets per environment and service? | |||||
What secrets platforms let developers sync environment-specific secrets to their local machine with a single command and automatic updates on rotation? | |||||
Which secrets management tools make it easy for non-DevOps engineers to request access to new secrets through a self-service UI? | |||||
Looking for a secrets manager that integrates with my IDE so I can reference secrets in code without ever seeing the actual values — what are my options? | |||||
Integrations & Ecosystem5/5 cited (100%) | |||||
Which secrets management tools support SSO and identity provider integration so access is tied to existing employee directory accounts? | |||||
What secrets management platforms integrate directly with container orchestration platforms to inject secrets as environment variables or mounted files? | |||||
Which secrets managers have native integrations with major CI/CD platforms so pipelines can pull secrets without custom scripting? | |||||
Looking for a secrets vault that syncs with major cloud provider secret stores so we can use a single interface across multi-cloud infrastructure — what are the options? | |||||
What secrets platforms work well with IaC tools so infrastructure provisioning can pull secrets dynamically rather than from static config files? | |||||
Performance & Reliability4/5 cited (80%) | |||||
What secrets management tools handle millions of secret reads per day without becoming a performance bottleneck for high-traffic services? | |||||
What secrets vault platforms offer client-side caching so applications don't hammer the vault on every request? | |||||
Which cloud-hosted secrets managers have the best uptime SLA and automatic failover for teams that can't tolerate secrets service downtime? | |||||
Which secrets management tools maintain performance at enterprise scale with thousands of services and tens of thousands of secrets? | |||||
Which secrets vault platforms are built for high-availability with multi-region replication so secret reads never block a production deployment? | |||||
Setup & First Run5/5 cited (100%) | |||||
Which self-hostable secrets vault platforms are easiest to get running in an air-gapped enterprise environment with active directory integration? | |||||
Which secrets vault platforms can a small DevOps team deploy and configure in a day to replace hardcoded credentials across services? | |||||
I'm evaluating cloud-hosted secrets managers for a 20-person team — which ones offer the smoothest developer onboarding with a CLI and IDE plugin? | |||||
What secrets management tools work out of the box with a container orchestration platform without needing custom sidecar configurations? | |||||
What's the easiest secrets management tool to set up for a startup currently storing API keys in environment variable files committed to version control? | |||||
Strengths3
I need a secrets manager with fine-grained access policies so different microservices only see the secrets they need — which platforms handle this well?
Avg # 2.5 · 2 platforms
Which secrets management tools give developers a great CLI experience for injecting secrets into local development without copying values manually?
Avg # 3.7 · 3 platforms
What secrets management tools work out of the box with a container orchestration platform without needing custom sidecar configurations?
Avg # 4.7 · 3 platforms
Gaps5
Which secrets management tools support SSO and identity provider integration so access is tied to existing employee directory accounts?
Competitors on 4 platforms
What secrets vault tools do platform engineering teams prefer for their developer-friendliness and ability to manage secrets per environment and service?
Competitors on 4 platforms
Which secrets managers have native integrations with major CI/CD platforms so pipelines can pull secrets without custom scripting?
Competitors on 4 platforms
What secrets vault tools support dynamic secrets — generating short-lived credentials on demand rather than storing long-lived tokens?
Competitors on 4 platforms
Which secrets vault platforms are built for high-availability with multi-region replication so secret reads never block a production deployment?
Competitors on 4 platforms
Vertical Ranking
| # | Brand | PresencePres. | Share of VoiceSoV | DocsDocs | BlogBlog | MentionsMent. | Avg PosPos | Sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Infisical | 56.0% | 26.3% | 0.0% | 49.6% | 53.6% | #25.5 | +0.27 |
| 2 | HashiCorp | 50.4% | 23.4% | 24.0% | 1.6% | 50.4% | #18.2 | +0.26 |
| 3 | Akeyless | 41.6% | 16.9% | 5.6% | 39.2% | 40.8% | #28.2 | +0.22 |
| 4 | Doppler | 34.4% | 13.3% | 7.2% | 25.6% | 33.6% | #27.4 | +0.26 |
| 5 | CyberArk | 15.2% | 6.8% | 0.0% | 5.6% | 15.2% | #34.9 | +0.26 |
| 6 | Keeper Security | 14.4% | 3.1% | 5.6% | 8.0% | 14.4% | #23.0 | +0.15 |
| 7 | Bitwarden, Inc. | 10.4% | 3.1% | 0.8% | 5.6% | 10.4% | #27.1 | +0.34 |
| 8 | 1Password | 8.0% | 4.3% | 4.0% | 4.0% | 8.0% | #47.5 | +0.42 |
| 9 | Delinea | 4.8% | 2.4% | 4.0% | 0.0% | 4.8% | #50.9 | +0.10 |
| 10 | Fortanix | 1.6% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1.6% | #17.0 | +0.00 |
| 11 | BeyondTrust | 0.8% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.8% | 0.8% | #15.0 | +0.00 |
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