Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, compared head to head.
ActiveState Secure Containers is a commercial container security tool by ActiveState. Sealed Secrets is a free secrets management tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best container security fit for your security stack. Independent and vendor-neutral: our scores and rankings are earned, never bought — sponsored placement is always labeled.
Based on our analysis of core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:
Teams running Kubernetes who need to stop storing plaintext secrets in Git will find Sealed Secrets invaluable because it encrypts secrets at rest using asymmetric cryptography tied to each cluster, making accidental commits harmless. With 8,956 GitHub stars and adoption across thousands of clusters, the tooling is battle-tested and the encryption implementation is auditable. Skip this if you need secrets management across multiple clusters or cloud providers; Sealed Secrets' per-cluster key design forces operational overhead that centralized vaults like Vault or native cloud secret managers handle more elegantly.
Hardened, minimal container images with reduced CVE exposure and SBOM support.
Encrypt Kubernetes Secrets into SealedSecrets for safe storage and controlled decryption within the cluster.
Access NIST CSF 2.0 data from thousands of security products via MCP to assess your stack coverage.
Access via MCPExplore more tools in this category or create a security stack with your selections.
Common questions about comparing ActiveState Secure Containers vs Sealed Secrets for your container security needs.
ActiveState Secure Containers: Hardened, minimal container images with reduced CVE exposure and SBOM support. built by ActiveState..
Sealed Secrets: Encrypt Kubernetes Secrets into SealedSecrets for safe storage and controlled decryption within the cluster..
Both serve the Container Security market but differ in approach, feature depth, and target audience.
ActiveState Secure Containers is developed by ActiveState. Sealed Secrets is open-source with 8,956 GitHub stars. The vendor behind a product decides its roadmap, support, and longevity, so check each company's profile before you commit.
ActiveState Secure Containers and Sealed Secrets serve similar Container Security use cases. Key differences: ActiveState Secure Containers is Commercial while Sealed Secrets is Free, Sealed Secrets is open-source. Review the feature comparison above to determine which fits your requirements.
Get strategic cybersecurity insights in your inbox