head to head · open source
vaultwarden vs HashiCorp Vault
vaultwarden has 70,236 GitHub stars, 3,413 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped yesterday. HashiCorp Vault has 36,466 stars, 4,806 forks, 1,435 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vaultwarden leads on adoption by 93% (70,236 vs 36,466 stars). vaultwarden is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; HashiCorp Vault is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. vaultwarden has attracted 5% 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
| vaultwarden | HashiCorp Vault | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 70K | ★ 36K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 4.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vaultwarden if
- You weight community size — 70K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- 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 vaultwarden
An alternative server implementation of the Bitwarden Client API, written in Rust and compatible with official Bitwarden clients [disclaimer], perfect for self hosted deployment where running the official resource heavy service might not be ideal. %3D'svg'%5D%2F %5Blocal name()%3D'g'%5D%5B2%5D%2F %5Blocal name()%3D'text'%5D%5B4%5D&style=flat square&logo=rust&label=dependencies&color=005AA4) [!IMPORTANT] When using this server, please report any bugs or suggestions directly to us (see Get in touch), regardless of whatever clients you are using (mobile, desktop, browser...). DO NOT use the official Bitwarden…
read the full vaultwarden overview →
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 vaultwarden or HashiCorp Vault more popular?
vaultwarden has 70,236 GitHub stars and HashiCorp Vault has 36,466. vaultwarden has the larger community by that measure.
Are vaultwarden and HashiCorp Vault free?
Both are open source. vaultwarden is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and HashiCorp Vault has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between vaultwarden and HashiCorp Vault?
vaultwarden is written in Rust 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, vaultwarden or HashiCorp Vault?
Choose vaultwarden if you want the larger community (70,236 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose HashiCorp Vault if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.