Knox vs pass
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted password managers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Knox
Service for storing and rotating application secrets
VS
pass
The standard Unix password manager built on GPG and git
| Feature | Knox | pass |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Password Managers | Password Managers |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | bare-metal, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,268 | ★ 4,200 |
| First released | 2016 | 2012 |
| Replaces | HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager | 1Password, LastPass |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Knox or pass better?
Neither is universally better. pass has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Knox and pass free and open-source?
Yes. Knox is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pass under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Knox and pass with Docker?
Knox: yes. pass: check the project docs for container support.