1Password (Business) vs HashiCorp Vault

HashiCorp Vault is the industry-standard open-source secrets management platform with dynamic secrets, 300+ plugins, and deep infrastructure integration. 1Password Business combines consumer-grade password management with developer secrets automation, offering a simpler experience but less infrastructure depth. Vault is purpose-built for infrastructure secrets, while 1Password is better for teams wanting one tool for both human passwords and machine credentials.

Choose 1Password Business if your team needs combined password management and basic secrets automation with a simple, familiar interface and no infrastructure overhead. Choose HashiCorp Vault if you need a purpose-built infrastructure secrets platform with dynamic secrets, extensive plugin support, and the flexibility of self-hosted or cloud deployment — and your team can handle the operational complexity.

HashiCorp Vault starts at Free (OSS) / Enterprise from $0.03/hr (open source + enterprise). 1Password (Business) starts at Business from $7.99/user/month (per-user). As always, the sticker price only tells part of the story. Factor in add-ons, implementation costs, and what's actually included at each tier.

It depends on how deeply 1Password (Business) is embedded in your stack. Most teams run both in parallel for a few weeks before cutting over. Check whether HashiCorp Vault supports importing your existing configs or policies. That's usually the biggest time sink.