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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to AxKeyStore

Hi HN, I built AxKeyStore, an open-source CLI tool for managing secrets that uses your own private GitHub repository as encrypted storage. The idea is simple: → All encryption happens locally. → Secrets are stored as encrypted blobs in your private repo. → GitHub is treated as untrusted storage. → No plaintext secrets ever leave your machine. → No plaintext secrets are stored on disk. Most secret managers either require a hosted backend, a self-hosted server, or trusting a SaaS provider. I wanted something that: → Requires zero infrastructure → Uses tooling developers already have → Keeps…

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

  1. 1

    Finally open sourced an internal tool we've been using for managing secrets. It's similar to SOPS, but more opinionated, easier to configure/use correctly, and produces nicer git diffs. It also supports one-way encryption, so you don't have to know the private key to add secrets.

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    A secret manager backed by Keybase and KBFS. Contribute to kbsecret/kbsecret development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3
  4. 4

    enject: Hide .env secrets from prAIng eyes: secrets live in local encrypted stores (per project) and are injected directly into apps at runtime, never touching disk as plaintext. - GreatScott/enject

    Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    Encrypt your on-premise server disks and save the keys in the cloud securely - randomvariable/kms-cryptsetup

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6
    Closet▲65

    User owned and encrypted password manager

    2019 · its alternatives →

  7. 7KS

    Hi HN! I built KeyPub.sh to solve the problem of user verification for CLI applications. It's essentially OAuth for the terminal, but using SSH keys that developers and users already have. - No installation needed - works with existing SSH setup - Privacy-focused: users control what email info is shared - Simple email verification process - Free public service - Perfect for CLI app developers who don't want to build user verification Try it with: `$ ssh keypub.sh about` Source code: https://github.com/skariel/keypub

    2024 · keypub.sh · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Hi! I got tired of setting up tools I can't explain to a team in a few words like sops or git-crypt, just to store few files with environment variables or secrets, so I built lockenv as a simple alternative. It's basically a password-protected vault file you commit to git. No gpg keys, no cloud, just lockenv init, set a password, and lock/unlock the secrets. This tool integrates with OS keyring, so you're not typing passwords constantly. Should work on Mac/Linux/Windows, but I tested it only on linux so far. I am not trying to replace any mature / robust solution, just…

    Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9CS

    Crypt : Store and retrieve encrypted configuration parameters from etcd or consul

    2014 · xordataexchange.github.io · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    encrypted git on s3. Contribute to nathants/git-remote-aws development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    I tend to create a private certificate authority for every side project, in order to create TLS certs for local development. I find it useful to have local development closely resemble production when at all possible, and "real" certificates are an important element. Anyway I got tired of having these CA private keys on my local machine, especially as I started thinking about setting up a private CA for my company (https://riza.io). So I started thinking about what the simplest way to host a private CA might be. You really only need two things: 1) secret storage, to hold the CA's…

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  12. 12
    Secli▲85

    A CLI to store secrets locally

    2022 · crates.io · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Keeper is an embeddable secret store (Argon2id, XChaCha20-Poly1305 by default). Four security levels, audit chains, crash-safe rotation. Vault is overkill for most use cases. This is for when you ge paranoid about env and need encrypted local storage that doesn't suck. No security through obscurity, hence, It's still early, so now's the best time to find weird edge cases, race conditions, memory leaks, crypto misuse, anything that breaks. The README has a full security model breakdown if you want to get adversarial.

    Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14
    EnvKey▲79

    Protect api keys and credentials. Keep config in sync.

    2017 · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    Develop faster, eliminate complexity, protect your secrets

    2022 · 1password.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16
  17. 17

    Easy, secure crypto storage

    2021 · gridlock.network · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Save API keys, .env and secrets locally. Free & Open Source.

    Apr 2026 · passstore.makio.app · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    A secret manager backed by Keybase and KBFS. Contribute to kbsecret/kbsecret development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20IB
  21. 21

    Share your confidential data with ease

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22SH

    I have written a passwords/secrets manager for my personal needs. Maybe it solves some of your problems too. It is written in Go and is a self-contained executable for a small web-app: https://github.com/jarmo/secrets-web There is also a CLI version if that is your taste: https://github.com/jarmo/secrets-cli To read about more technical details, look into the core repository at https://github.com/jarmo/secrets Any questions/comments/suggestions are welcome in here or via GitHub pull requests.

    2020 · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Hey everyone, English is not my native language. This post was polished with AI, but the content is mine. I run a small dev agency in Germany. Every week someone shares database credentials, API keys, or a .env file via Slack or email. Not because they don’t care: because there’s no frictionless alternative. Vault setups are heavy. Enterprise tools are expensive. I just needed: upload → share link → done. But encrypted before leaving the browser. So I built SecretDrop.dev. What it does Files encrypted client-side (AES-256-GCM, PBKDF2 600k iterations) Built entirely on WebCrypto No…

    Feb 2026 · secretdrop.dev · its alternatives →

  24. 24PE

    Hi HN! I wrote a tool that partially encrypts files based on the presence of a HEREDOC. Check it out: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;higgins&#x2F;privatize When added to a git repo, it will automatically transparently encrypt&#x2F;decrypt files you want privatized. For example if you configured your repo to privatize the file `example.txt`, you could write: ``` Today I a burrito. <<PRIVATE I was on the toilet for hours. PRIVATE I got a lot of reading done. ``` but when git-commit'ed would become: ``` Today I a burrito. <<PRIVATE xuJ0fld2vmNWaVLogTIufmWsiFso PRIVATE I got a lot of reading…

    2022 · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →