Company
Date Published
Author
Asaolu Elijah
Word count
2120
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

In 2025, managing non-human identities (NHI) has become a critical security priority due to the rise of machine identities and associated breaches. Gartner has recognized this as a distinct category, and significant investment is flowing into startups addressing these challenges. NHI platforms are essential for managing secrets, tokens, and machine identities, as traditional IAM tools are inadequate for the scale and speed required. These platforms are evaluated based on their ability to manage secrets' lifecycle, access scope, developer experience, integration capabilities, and audit features. Among the top platforms, Doppler offers a developer-friendly experience with strong security controls, while HashiCorp Vault provides comprehensive features but requires more setup and maintenance. Infisical is noted for its open-source flexibility, Akeyless for its cloud-native management without infrastructure overhead, and CyberArk for its enterprise-grade identity and certificate management. Selecting the right NHI platform involves assessing the specific needs and infrastructure of a team, considering factors such as speed, compliance requirements, and scalability.