Conjur Review, Pricing & Features

Conjur is CyberArk's open-source secrets management platform with policy-based access control. Free and self-hosted, with a commercial enterprise tier.

Category
Security
Pricing
Free/Open Source (core); commercial tier via CyberArk Secrets Manager, from Free (open source); commercial pricing is custom/quote-based
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
July 18, 2026
Founded
2017
Headquarters
Newton, Massachusetts, USA (CyberArk; now part of Palo Alto Networks)
APIOpen SourceSelf-Hosted

Overview

Conjur is an open-source secrets management and machine-identity platform acquired by security vendor CyberArk in 2017 and open-sourced later that same year. It provides a policy-based access model, built around a YAML-based language called MAML, for securing secrets and non-human identities used by DevOps pipelines and cloud-native applications.

The server is licensed under LGPL v3.0, with API clients under Apache 2.0, and the codebase is written primarily in Ruby. CyberArk was itself acquired by Palo Alto Networks in a roughly $25 billion deal that closed in February 2026, placing Conjur within a much larger security portfolio.

Key Features

Conjur exposes a REST API for secret storage, retrieval, and identity lifecycle management, with built-in authenticators and rotators that support automatic credential rotation instead of static secrets. Secrets are encrypted with AES-256-GCM via CyberArk's Slosilo library, and multi-tenant account support allows multiple isolated environments in one deployment.

It integrates with major DevOps toolchains — Kubernetes, Docker, Ansible, Chef, Puppet, Terraform, and Jenkins — as well as leading cloud infrastructure platforms, positioning it as infrastructure for machine-to-machine authentication at scale rather than a simple key-value secrets store.

Pricing

Conjur Open Source is free to download, self-host, and modify under its LGPL v3.0/Apache 2.0 licensing, with community support available through the CyberArk Commons Discourse forum.

CyberArk also sells a commercial product, now branded CyberArk Secrets Manager (formerly Conjur Enterprise), that adds high-availability clustering, disaster recovery, vendor support, and certified integrations on top of the open-source core. Pricing for this commercial tier is custom and quote-based rather than publicly listed.

Key Features

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Free, open-source core with an enterprise-grade security model
  • Strong policy-as-code approach to machine identity and access control
  • Deep integrations across common DevOps and cloud toolchains
  • Backed by CyberArk's established security expertise

Cons

  • Steeper learning curve (Ruby-based, MAML policy language) than simpler tools like HashiCorp Vault or Doppler
  • Open-source edition lacks the high-availability clustering and disaster recovery in the commercial tier
  • Smaller open-source community (under 1,000 GitHub stars) than competing secrets managers
  • Commercial pricing is quote-based and enterprise-oriented, less accessible to small teams

Pricing

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Conjur free?

Yes, Conjur Open Source is free and self-hosted under LGPL v3.0/Apache 2.0 licenses.

Who owns Conjur?

CyberArk, which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks in a deal that completed in February 2026.

What's the difference between Conjur Open Source and CyberArk Secrets Manager?

The commercial tier adds high-availability clustering, disaster recovery, vendor support, and certified integrations on top of the free, open-source engine.

What language is Conjur written in?

Primarily Ruby, with a YAML-based policy language called MAML for access control.

Does Conjur integrate with Kubernetes?

Yes, along with Docker, Ansible, Chef, Puppet, Terraform, Jenkins, and major cloud platforms.

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