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StackHangar vs Infisical: secrets management for solo founders
Infisical is open-source secrets management you can host yourself. StackHangar is a zero-knowledge vault that tracks everything each of your products depends on and warns you before it expires. Every fact about Infisical below links to its source. We last checked them on 2026-11-09.
What each tool is for
Infisical describes itself as security infrastructure for managing secrets, certificates and privileged access. Its secrets product centralises application secrets across environments, with syncs to platforms such as GitHub and Vercel, rotation, dynamic secrets and a Kubernetes operator (repository).
StackHangar is for a founder who runs several products. It groups API keys, logins, domains, certificates and subscriptions by project and environment, emails you before dates arrive, and walks you through the fix. It doesn't inject secrets into running apps.
Side by side
| Infisical | StackHangar | |
|---|---|---|
| What it stores | Application secrets and config across environments, plus certificates and privileged access as separate products (source). Domains and subscriptions: Not stated. | API keys, logins, domains, certificates, memberships, subscriptions, databases and notes, grouped by project and environment. |
| Who it's for | Its site lists platform and infrastructure engineers, developers or founders on small teams, security engineers, AI agent platform teams and founding engineers (source). | A founder running several products, on their own. |
| Encryption model | Server-side. The server encrypts with AES-256-GCM under keys derived from a root key you supply, and decrypts data before answering a request. The docs don't claim zero-knowledge or end-to-end encryption (source). | Zero-knowledge. Values, item names and project names are encrypted on your device with a key your passkeys unlock. Our servers hold ciphertext. How it works. |
| Expiry alerts | Secret reminders: a repeat interval in days and a note, sent by email to chosen project members, or all members if none are chosen (source). Machine-identity credential expiry alerts can go to email, Slack, PagerDuty or a webhook (source). Certificate management can notify you when certificates are issued, renewed, revoked or about to expire (source). | Email reminders 30, 7 and 1 days before a date, and on the day, for keys, domains, certificates and memberships. Fixed schedule, email only. Details. |
| Domains and subscriptions | Not stated. | Domains get renewal reminders. Subscriptions appear in a renewal calendar and don't send email. |
| AI agents and MCP | Agent Vault brokers credentials: the agent calls APIs and MCP servers through a proxy that attaches the real credentials, so the agent doesn't hold them (source). A separate MCP server serves Infisical's documentation and doesn't expose secrets (source). | An MCP server whose tools never return a value. You approve each request with a passkey, and the agent gets a reference ID and your answer. Details. |
| Pricing for a solo founder | Secrets Management Free: 5 identities, unlimited projects, 3 environments, 10 secret syncs. Pro is $20 per identity per month billed annually, or $23 monthly. Advanced is $40 annually, or $46 monthly. Rotation isn't on Free, and Pro rotates public databases only (source). | Free for 2 projects. Solo is $12 a month, or $99 a year. Priced per project, never per key. Pricing. |
| License and self-hosting | MIT licence, except the ee directories, which need an Infisical licence. Runs on Docker, Kubernetes, a Linux package, or AWS and GCP. The core platform is free to self-host. SAML SSO is on Pro and up, SSO and MFA enforcement and gateways on Advanced and up (repository, docs, pricing). | Hosted only. Not open source. |
Infisical facts checked on 2026-11-09 from infisical.com, its docs and its public repository. Plans and prices change; check their pricing page before you decide.
Where Infisical is stronger
- Self-hosting and open source. You can read the code and run it on your own servers. StackHangar can't be self-hosted.
- Runtime delivery. Syncs, an agent and a Kubernetes operator get secrets to running apps. StackHangar doesn't do this.
- Rotation and dynamic secrets. Full rotation and dynamic secrets start on Advanced; Pro rotates public databases only (source). StackHangar guides rotation; on Solo it pushes the new key to Vercel, GitHub or Netlify.
- Team features and breadth. It also covers certificates and privileged access. StackHangar has no shared vaults yet.
Choose Infisical if…
- You want open-source software you can run yourself.
- Your apps and CI need secrets delivered at runtime from one source.
- You want dynamic secrets, or automatic rotation for databases and cloud credentials.
- You have a team that needs roles, SSO or audit trails.
- You're comfortable with a server that decrypts secrets, because you run it or trust the host.
Choose StackHangar if…
- You run several products and lose track of which account owns which key.
- You also need to track domains, logins and subscriptions, not only environment variables.
- You want a host that can't read your values.
- You want an email before a key, domain or certificate expires, with the steps to fix it.
- You want AI agents to ask for keys, with you approving each one by passkey.
You can use both
The two don't connect. There is no sync between them, so a new value goes into each by hand. Use StackHangar as the record of what each product depends on, who owns it and when it expires, and as the place you rotate from. Use Infisical to hand the current values to running apps.
One trade-off: a value stored in Infisical is stored where the server can decrypt it. Keep only what your apps need at runtime there.