A 25-person team could pay anywhere from $0 to $525 a month for essentially the same job — storing API keys and database passwords somewhere better than a plain .env file pasted into [Slack](/entry/slack-vs-github-picking-the-right-tool-for-chat-first-or-code-first-teams). The range is that wide because the three tools price on completely different units and assumptions.
| Free tier | Paid | Model | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infisical | up to 5 identities, 3 projects (Cloud); core is open source | Pro ~$18/identity/mo | per identity (people + machines); self-host free |
| Doppler | free up to 3 users | Team ~$21/user/mo; Business ~$18/seat (SCIM/SAML) | per seat |
| HashiCorp Vault | (self-host OSS) | managed from ~$1,152/mo before identity charges | per-client; Enterprise low six figures |
HashiCorp Vault is the enterprise standard and priced like it — managed tiers start over $1,000/month before per-identity charges, and IBM's acquisition has already meant a cut Starter tier and the sunset of HCP Vault Secrets, with users unhappy about short notice and renewal pricing. Self-hosting the open-source version is free but genuinely operationally heavy; it's a system you run, not a service you use.
Doppler is the polished developer-first option — clean UI, good CLI, syncs secrets everywhere your app runs — at $21/user on the Team plan, which is the most expensive per-seat rate here. Its free tier covers three users, fine for a very small team.
Infisical is the value play and the interesting one: its core is open source and free to self-host, its Cloud free tier covers five identities (a CI pipeline or a service account counts as an identity, not just a person), and Pro is $18 per identity. For a small team that's mostly machine identities and a few humans, that can work out much cheaper than per-seat pricing.
Small team, cost-sensitive: self-host Infisical, or use its free Cloud tier. Want a hosted product with a great DX and can absorb $21/user: Doppler. Only reach for Vault when compliance or scale genuinely demands it — and price the annual figure before you do.