Best Self Hosted Alternatives to GitGuardian Honeytokens

Canarytokens is a honeytoken service that lets you create “tripwires” (tokens) and place them in files, documents, credentials, and network locations to detect unauthorized access. When a token is triggered, it generates an alert so you can investigate potential compromise quickly.

Key Features

• Generates multiple token types (for example: web/URL tokens, documents, credentials, and other bait artifacts)
• Immediate alerting when a token is accessed, opened, or executed
• Simple token management for creating, naming, and tracking deployed tokens
• Designed to work as a lightweight breach-detection layer alongside existing security controls

Use Cases

• Detect unauthorized access to internal file shares, documentation, or secrets
• Place decoy links or documents to identify phishing or lateral movement
• Monitor for misuse of planted credentials or high-value data locations

Limitations and Considerations

• Tokens provide detection and investigation signals, not prevention or containment
• Effectiveness depends on careful placement and operational follow-up when alerts trigger

Canarytokens is useful as a low-friction way to add early breach detection across common attacker touchpoints. It complements traditional monitoring by turning sensitive locations and decoy assets into actionable security alerts.