R4

R4 is a cloud-based platform for managing software licenses and secrets. Its Beetle component handles encrypted passwords, licenses, and secrets for people and agents, while Pincer supports license acquisition and lifecycle work across marketplaces, contracts, and renewals. A unified control plane covers agents, vaults, and licenses, with identity-aware access, human-approved scopes, and audit-ready events. Agent runtimes can retrieve shared vault items and decrypt secrets locally through the MCP server, SDK, or machine API. R4 says vault field values are end-to-end encrypted; vault names, item names, field labels, and website metadata are not. The agent's private key stays on its runtime host, while R4 stores its matching public key and rotation metadata. The product also offers a documented machine API and links to quickstart, CLI, SDK, and API resources. R4 is in private beta and invites access requests. It has a free plan, with paid usage-based pricing from $0.20/mo; listed monthly free tiers include 10,000 secret access events and 500 secret write events.

R4 combines license workflows with vault and agent secret management, including locally decrypted field values. Consider its metadata encryption limits and private beta availability before requesting access.

R4 suits teams managing licenses and secrets for people and agent runtimes, especially those needing local decryption, API access, and audit-ready events. Access is currently through a private beta request.

Overview

R4 is a cloud platform that brings license workflows and encrypted secret management for people and software agents into one system. It is best suited to teams that need both, especially those integrating agents through an API, SDK, or MCP server. Its locally decrypted vault values and usage-based free tiers are appealing, but metadata encryption is limited and access is currently by private beta request.

Key features

R4 divides its offering between Beetle, for encrypted password, license, and secret management, and Pincer, for acquiring licenses and handling marketplace, contract, and renewal operations. That pairing makes it a more natural fit for teams managing software entitlements alongside credentials than for buyers seeking only a basic secrets store.

A unified control plane covers agents, vaults, and licenses. Identity-aware access uses human-approved scopes, and audit-ready events support oversight. For agent workflows, runtimes can retrieve shared vault items and decrypt secrets locally through the MCP server, SDK, or machine API. The runtime keeps its private key on its own host; R4 stores the corresponding public key and rotation metadata.

R4 says vault field values are end-to-end encrypted and decrypted locally. Vault and item names, field labels, and website metadata are not end-to-end encrypted, a meaningful boundary for teams whose exposure concerns include identifying information as well as secret contents. A machine API supports programmatic vault management and secret retrieval, with CLI, SDK, agent quickstart, and API documentation linked from the site. Audit logs and CI/CD injection are supported.

Pricing

R4 is freemium, with paid usage starting at $0.20/mo. Its Usage-based pricing plan is billed monthly by usage; rates apply after the listed free allowances. Each month includes 10,000 secret access events, 500 secret write events, 1,000 average active secret values, 1 GB-month of binary backup storage, and 1 GB of data transfer out at no charge.

Those allowances give teams room to evaluate or run modest workloads without an upfront subscription price. Buyers with heavier activity should account for usage charges beyond each tier; the plan is not a fixed-cost option. The free plan is available, but its caps matter if secrets, writes, storage, or transfer grow. The private beta is live and invites users to request access.

Platforms

R4 lists Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, and web platforms, along with API and extension support. Its cloud deployment model suits teams connecting applications and runtimes without a self-hosted deployment option identified.

Who it's for

R4 is a strong candidate for teams coordinating software licenses and secrets, or enabling agents to retrieve shared credentials under human-approved scopes. Its local decryption and runtime-held private keys will matter to teams designing agent access carefully. Organizations that need end-to-end encryption for labels and other vault metadata, or that require self-hosting, should look elsewhere.

Pros and cons

• Pro: License acquisition and lifecycle workflows sit alongside vaults and agent controls, reducing the need to treat those jobs as wholly separate systems.
• Pro: Vault field values decrypt locally, while agent private keys remain on runtime hosts.
• Pro: Monthly free allowances cover access, writes, active values, backup storage, and data transfer.
• Con: Names, labels, and website metadata are not end-to-end encrypted, so sensitive context can remain exposed even when field values are protected.
• Con: Usage charges apply after the free tiers, making costs less predictable as activity grows.
• Con: Private beta access requires a request, which may not suit teams needing immediate adoption.

Alternatives

Browse Secrets Management Tools for more options. Choose Infisical if a free secrets plan with five identities, unlimited projects, and 100+ integrations is a better match. Keyway may suit teams that want priced Pro or Team plans with private repositories, environments, and collaborators. For a free, open-source option designed to run on Kubernetes, consider VMware Secrets Manager. AWS Secrets Manager is another option, with a free tier tied to AWS credits and account age. dotenvx offers a free and open-source CLI and SDK approach to encrypting secrets. Envshed has a free Developer plan for up to two members and three projects, with unlimited secrets and CLI and API access. Buyers seeking paid remote support can consider BeyondTrust Remote Support; Delinea Identity Threat Protection is a paid alternative with quote-based pricing.

Verdict

R4 is best for teams that want license operations and agent-ready secret management in a single cloud platform, with local decryption for vault values and useful monthly free allowances. Its clearest reasons to choose another product are the metadata encryption boundary, usage-based costs beyond the free tiers, or the need for access beyond a private beta.