It’s time to level up.

GitHub Secrets provides a simple, built-in way to manage secrets within your Github repositories without additional costs or configuration.

The prospect of a free, integrated solution seems enticing at first glance. But like most free tools, there are limitations that become apparent as your organization grows.

For those seeking a more robust, versatile, and team-oriented approach to managing secrets, Onboardbase is a solid alternative.

The transition to Onboardbase is not just a lateral move but an upgrade to a more secure, collaborative, and feature-rich environment that addresses many of the pain points found in GitHub Secrets.

Storing secrets? You bet.

With Onboardbase, secrets are stored in a secure, centralized vault, protected by end-to-end encryption. We use AES-256-GCM encryption for data at rest, and a combination of RSA encryption and SSL to protect data as it moves between your systems and the vault.

Just like GitHub Secrets, Onboardbase allows you to add secrets directly from the dashboard, through the CLI, or via API, offering flexibility to fit seamlessly into your existing workflows.

Github supports different environments for a same project. But replicating these secrets across projects can be cumbersome and prone to errors, while Onboardbase handles this with ease with secret and environment duplication. This feature is particularly valuable for teams working on multiple projects or those who need to manage secrets across various stages of development and production.

Unlike Onboardbase, each Github secret’s size cannot exceed 48kB, a restriction that might seem trivial until you encounter edge cases where larger secrets are essential, like configuration files or certificates.

Can it beat Github Secrets’ simplicity? Yep.

This level of security is paired with a collaborative user interface, making it easier for teams to work together in real-time, something that GitHub Secrets lacks.

GitHub Secrets are primarily accessible through GitHub Actions, which is effective but can become cumbersome when you need to interact with secrets outside of automated workflows.

After signing up for an Onboardbase account and creating a new project, you can easily start adding secrets to your project, which are then available for use in your development environment.

With a simple one-line install command, Onboardbase can be integrated into any project repository via CLI, making the setup quick and easy, while Github Secrets’ CLI is somewhat limited, offering only basic functions like listing, creating, and deleting secrets.

A particularly convenient feature of Onboardbase is the ability to inject secrets into your environment at runtime with a single command. After a brief local configuration step, you can simply use the run command, which executes your code with the necessary secrets automatically injected as environment variables:

onboardbase login # authenticate to your account
onboardbase setup # configure your project and environment
onboardbase run "node app.js" # run your code with secrets injected

Injecting secrets directly in local development environments via build commands is not straightforward with Github unless you’re using GitHub Actions or Codespaces, so building custom solutions to bridge this gap takes extra time. Same with their APIs and SDKs.

Onboardbase makes sure that no matter how you prefer to work, it has a solution that fits your needs out of the box.

This ease of use is complemented by integrations that tackle the issue of secret sprawl head-on. Whether you’re working with CI/CD tools, UI frameworks, serverless providers, or web frameworks, Onboardbase seamlessly integrates into your existing infrastructure, ensuring that your secrets are securely managed across the entire development lifecycle.

Collaboration? Of course.

Onboardbase is also designed for collaboration, making it an ideal choice for teams working across diverse deployment environments, regardless of the platforms or cloud services you rely on.

In contrast, GitHub Secrets becomes cumbersome in larger organizations where managing permissions and access control across multiple repositories and teams can lead to complications without dedicated resources: users often find themselves navigating a complex web of permissions, which can be challenging to configure.

Onboardbase offers a more straightforward approach to role-based access control. You have three default roles: Owner, Admin, and Employee, each with clear and distinct permissions.

The device management feature also ensures secrets are only accessible from trusted devices, particularly in environments where remote work or bring-your-own-device policies are prevalent.

Like this, even developers with low technical knowledge regarding cybersecurity can easily manage and work with secrets.

Usage monitoring? You get it.

GitHub Secrets offers additional features like secret scanning, which helps identify secrets that might have been committed to repositories by mistake.

While this feature is undoubtedly useful―Onboardbase also has a code secret scanner―it lacks the ability to provide deeper insights into how secrets are being used and whether they are being misused or exposed over time.

Onboardbase adopts a more proactive approach with real-time monitoring features that are designed for root-cause analysis and human-error prevention, which is crucial in today’s fast-paced development environments where secrets are constantly at risk of being exposed, either through negligence or malicious intent.

Whether you prefer to set up alerts via a webhook or manage them through a user-friendly graphical interface, Onboardbase ensures that you have the tools needed to keep your secrets safe:

Need even more? We got you covered.

We’re always working on new features and tools to improve your security posture, like recently Onboardbase Store, Hi, and our website security scanner.

Have a look at our website for more freebies and open-source tools!

For organizations looking for more control, Onboardbase also offers a self-hosted option, allowing you to manage your secrets in a more controlled environment.

What are you waiting for? Use both!

If you’re a developer, you’re likely familiar with the challenge of securing sensitive information like API keys, passwords, and other secrets in your codebase.

For many teams, GitHub Secrets is a go-to tool because of its seamless integration with GitHub repositories, where most software lives. But it’s far from a comprehensive solution, especially for startups or teams that need more than just a quick fix.

Onboardbase is built from the ground up with the needs of growing startups in mind, offering a low-code, user-friendly interface that allows any team member to manage and share secrets effortlessly.

But don’t let its simplicity fool you. Onboardbase is a robust platform that goes beyond just storing secrets. Give it a try if you don’t believe us, it’s really easy to setup and use with Github Actions too!

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