External Secrets Operator (ESO) is an open-source service that facilitates the integration of Kubernetes with external secret managers by fetching data and syncing it with Kubernetes secrets. However, as of August 2025, ESO has paused development due to the unsustainably small size of its team, which has led to development burnout. This pause includes halting new features, patches, container images, and support, although community-submitted pull requests will still be merged. ESO's unique function as a bridge between Kubernetes and secret managers like AWS Secrets Manager and HashiCorp Vault has been a critical, lightweight solution for many organizations. Despite the pause, alternatives such as Infisical offer more comprehensive capabilities, including native Kubernetes integration, which could serve as a viable replacement for current ESO users. Infisical integrates with Kubernetes through multiple strategies, such as the Infisical Operator, Kubernetes Agent Injector, and Kubernetes CSI, allowing for centralized management of secrets with advanced support for certificate management and dynamic secret handling. Migrating from ESO to Infisical involves transitioning to Infisical as a centralized secrets manager and selecting the appropriate Infisical integration strategy suited to the user's needs.