head to head · open source
etcd vs HashiCorp Vault
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars, 10,552 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. HashiCorp Vault has 36,462 stars, 4,801 forks, 1,435 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd leads on adoption by 44% (52,441 vs 36,462 stars). etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0; HashiCorp Vault is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. etcd has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, HashiCorp Vault 13%. HashiCorp Vault was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (go), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| etcd | HashiCorp Vault | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 36K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 4.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick etcd if
- You weight community size — 52K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick HashiCorp Vault if
- You want the HashiCorp Vault feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and HashiCorp Vault fits your workflow better
About etcd
etcd Note : The main branch may be in an unstable or even broken state during development. For stable versions, see [releases][github release]. etcd is a distributed reliable key value store for the most critical data of a distributed system, with a focus on being: Simple : well defined, user facing API (gRPC) Secure : automatic TLS with optional client cert authentication Fast : benchmarked 10,000 writes/sec Reliable : properly distributed using Raft etcd is written in Go and uses the [Raft][] consensus algorithm to manage a highly available replicated log. etcd is used in production by many companies, and the…
About HashiCorp Vault
Vault Please note : We take Vault's security and our users' trust very seriously. If you believe you have found a security issue in Vault, please responsibly disclose by contacting us at security@hashicorp.com. Website: developer.hashicorp.com/vault Announcement list: Google Groups Discussion forum: Discuss Documentation: Tutorials: Certification exam: Documentation source: Vault is a tool for securely accessing secrets. A secret is anything that you want to tightly control access to, such as API keys, passwords, certificates, and more. Vault provides a unified interface to any secret, while providing tight…
read the full HashiCorp Vault overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etcd or HashiCorp Vault more popular?
etcd has 52,441 GitHub stars and HashiCorp Vault has 36,462. etcd has the larger community by that measure.
Are etcd and HashiCorp Vault free?
Both are open source. etcd is licensed under Apache-2.0, and HashiCorp Vault has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between etcd and HashiCorp Vault?
etcd is written in Go and HashiCorp Vault in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, etcd or HashiCorp Vault?
Choose etcd if you want the larger community (52,441 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose HashiCorp Vault if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.