Knox vs OpenBao
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted password managers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
OpenBao
Open-source secrets management forked from Vault
| Feature | Knox | OpenBao |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 65 · Good | 91 · Excellent |
| Category | Password Managers | Password Managers |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,271 | ★ 7,472 |
| First released | 2016 | 2024 |
| Replaces | HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager | AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault |
What are Knox and OpenBao?
Knox
Knox is an open-source secret management service developed at Pinterest. It stores, rotates and provides access control for sensitive keys, passwords and certificates used by applications.
- Centralized secret storage
- Key rotation and versioning
- Access control lists
- Audit logging
OpenBao
OpenBao is a community-driven, open-source fork of HashiCorp Vault maintained under the Linux Foundation. It manages, stores and tightly controls access to secrets such as tokens, passwords and certificates.
- Truly open-source Vault alternative
- Dynamic secrets generation
- Encryption as a service
- Community governed under Linux Foundation
Knox vs OpenBao: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Knox versus MPL-2.0 for OpenBao. Knox is the more established project (first released 2016), while OpenBao arrived in 2024. OpenBao has the considerably larger community, at 7,472 GitHub stars versus 1,271.
Why pick each one
Choose Knox if…
- Battle-tested at Pinterest
- Simple Go service
Watch out for
- Smaller community
Choose OpenBao if…
- MPL-2.0 licensed
- Compatible with Vault tooling
Watch out for
- Young fork still stabilizing
Frequently asked questions
Is Knox or OpenBao better?
Neither is universally better. OpenBao has the larger community, while Knox is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Knox and OpenBao free and open-source?
Yes. Knox is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenBao under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Knox and OpenBao with Docker?
Knox: yes. OpenBao: yes.