Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Smallstep Certificates VS OpenXPKI

Compare Smallstep Certificates VS OpenXPKI and see what are their differences

Smallstep Certificates logo Smallstep Certificates

A private certificate authority (X.509 & SSH) & ACME server for secure automated certificate management, so you can use TLS everywhere & SSO for SSH.

OpenXPKI logo OpenXPKI

OpenXPKI is a software stack that provides all necessary components to manage keys and certificates...
  • Smallstep Certificates Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-22
  • OpenXPKI Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-05

Smallstep Certificates features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

OpenXPKI features and specs

  • Open Source
    OpenXPKI is an open-source project, which means it is free to use and can be modified or extended by anyone to suit their specific needs.
  • Feature-Rich
    It offers a comprehensive set of features for certificate management, including support for multiple certificate authorities, automated workflows, and distributed operation.
  • Flexibility
    OpenXPKI is highly flexible, allowing users to customize workflows and policies to match their organizational requirements.
  • Community Support
    There is an active community of developers and users who contribute to the project, which helps in getting support and improving the platform.
  • Scalability
    The architecture of OpenXPKI is designed to be scalable, making it suitable for small to large installations.

Possible disadvantages of OpenXPKI

  • Complex Setup
    The initial setup and configuration of OpenXPKI can be complex and time-consuming, requiring a deeper understanding of PKI concepts.
  • Limited Documentation
    Although there is documentation available, some users may find it inadequate or challenging to navigate, especially for advanced configurations.
  • Maintenance Requirements
    As with many open-source projects, users need to manage updates and maintenance themselves, which can be resource-intensive.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Users unfamiliar with public key infrastructure (PKI) may encounter a steep learning curve when using OpenXPKI.
  • Potential for Configuration Errors
    Due to its flexibility and complexity, there is potential for errors in configuration, which can lead to security or operational issues.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Smallstep Certificates and OpenXPKI)
Identity And Access Management
Digital Signage
0 0%
100% 100
Web Development Tools
49 49%
51% 51
Password Management
39 39%
61% 61

User comments

Share your experience with using Smallstep Certificates and OpenXPKI. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Smallstep Certificates seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 10 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Smallstep Certificates mentions (10)

  • A convert from Judaism to Catholicism goes to r/Catholicism to ask if it would be appropriate to pass down a century old Jewish prayer shawl to his son. Not everyone is welcoming.
    Just a little heads up https://smallstep.com/certificates/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Looking for an open source certificate management solution.
    Step-ca: Not web based, but the CLI is pretty user friendly: https://smallstep.com/certificates/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Using k8s-apiserver as AAA server for microservices?
    I was just looking at https://smallstep.com/certificates a few days ago. It looks like they have an operator that fits your description as well as example docs for setting up inter-microservice mtls. Source: over 2 years ago
  • What are SSH Certificate Authority solutions?
    In the quick search I learned about Ssh cert authority which looks very manual and also like a dead project Smallstep's step-ca who put together very nice article about how to begin certificate authority process Netflix' BLESS is AWS only Cashier which also looks quite ok. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Quickly prototyping and testing TLS services with valid certs
    If you want something a little fancier (I.e. Get automatic certs with all that ACME goodness) check out SmallStep. This is next on my list of homelab projects. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

OpenXPKI mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of OpenXPKI yet. Tracking of OpenXPKI recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Smallstep Certificates and OpenXPKI, you can also consider the following products

BastionXP - BastionXP Identity Based Infrastructure Access Platform is a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) / Certificate Authority (CA) that creates, signs and distributes SSH, SSL X.509 certificates to servers and users upon successful SSO login via OAuth or SAML

EJBCA - EJBCA® is a PKI Certificate Authority software, built using Java (JEE) technology.

PKI.js - PKIjs is a pure JavaScript library implementing the formats that are used in PKI applications (signing, encryption, certificate requests, OCSP and TSP requests/responses). It is built on WebCrypto (Web Cryptography API) and requires no plug-ins.

Portecle - Portecle is a user friendly GUI application for creating, managing and examining keystores, keys...

Smallstep SSH - Single Sign-on SSH

TinyCA - TinyCA is a simple graphical userinterface written in Perl/Gtk to manage a small CA (Certification...