head to head · open source
PayloadsAllTheThings vs HashiCorp Vault
PayloadsAllTheThings has 80,984 GitHub stars, 17,384 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 24 days ago. HashiCorp Vault has 36,267 stars, 4,763 forks, 1,435 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. PayloadsAllTheThings leads on adoption by 123% (80,984 vs 36,267 stars). PayloadsAllTheThings is written in Python under MIT; HashiCorp Vault is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. PayloadsAllTheThings has attracted 21% 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.
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
| PayloadsAllTheThings | HashiCorp Vault | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 36K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-08-27 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 17K | ⑂ 4.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PayloadsAllTheThings if
- You weight community size — 81K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- 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 PayloadsAllTheThings
Payloads All The Things is an MIT licensed, community maintained collection of web application security payloads, bypass techniques and pentest methodology notes, written for penetration testers, bug bounty hunters, CTF players and red teamers who need a reference they can copy from during an engagement.
read the full PayloadsAllTheThings overview →
About HashiCorp Vault
Vault is a secrets management tool built in Go, designed to securely store, control access to, and manage sensitive data such as API keys, passwords, certificates, and encryption keys. It operates as a centralized service that abstracts secret access across diverse systems, providing unified APIs and enforcing strict access policies. Vault lives in the HashiCorp ecosystem and integrates with infrastructure tools like Consul for storage backends and Terraform for provisioning workflows.
read the full HashiCorp Vault overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PayloadsAllTheThings or HashiCorp Vault more popular?
PayloadsAllTheThings has 80,984 GitHub stars and HashiCorp Vault has 36,267. PayloadsAllTheThings has the larger community by that measure.
Are PayloadsAllTheThings and HashiCorp Vault free?
Both are open source. PayloadsAllTheThings is licensed under MIT, and HashiCorp Vault has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between PayloadsAllTheThings and HashiCorp Vault?
PayloadsAllTheThings is written in Python 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, PayloadsAllTheThings or HashiCorp Vault?
Choose PayloadsAllTheThings if you want the larger community (80,984 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose HashiCorp Vault if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.