Cybersecurity · alternatives
Alternatives to Chainguard
20 cybersecurity tools sit alongside Chainguard in this directory. Below is what separates each from Chainguard on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 20
- With a free tier
- 15
- Cheaper to start
- 8
- Chainguard starts at
- Free, then $19000/year
Why people look past Chainguard
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Chainguard entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
It costs more than the category median
Chainguard starts at $19000/year. Across the 8 cybersecurity tools listed beside it that publish a price, the median entry point is $23/month.
Cost climbs steeply across the tiers
Chainguard publishes 7 tiers, from Free up to On request. Teams that outgrow the entry plan can find the next rung a large step, the Chainguard pricing page breaks each one down.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Developer-first security platform
- Starts $18975 a month cheaper, at $25/month.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than Licensing by artifact type and team size.
- 4 tiers to Chainguard's 7.
Open-source authentication and two-factor portal for reverse proxies
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than Licensing by artifact type and team size.
- 1 tier to Chainguard's 7.
Vulnerability scanner for container images and filesystems
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than Licensing by artifact type and team size.
- 1 tier to Chainguard's 7.
Headless identity and user management API
- Sold on a Open-source self-hosted, with a paid managed network model rather than Licensing by artifact type and team size.
- 1 tier to Chainguard's 7.
Open-source identity provider with flexible authentication flows
- Sold on a Open-source core with a paid enterprise tier model rather than Licensing by artifact type and team size.
- 1 tier to Chainguard's 7.
Open-source vulnerability and misconfiguration scanner
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than Licensing by artifact type and team size.
- 1 tier to Chainguard's 7.
Every Chainguard alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chainguard (this page) | Free, then $19000/year | Licensing by artifact type and team size | 7 | |
| SnykVulnerability scanning and remediation but less focused on artifact hardening | Free, then $25/month | Freemium | 4 | vs Chainguard |
| Authelia | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Chainguard |
| Grype | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Chainguard |
| Ory Kratos | Free | Open-source self-hosted, with a paid managed network | 1 | vs Chainguard |
| authentik | Free | Open-source core with a paid enterprise tier | 1 | vs Chainguard |
| Trivy | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Chainguard |
| Aikido | Free | Subscription with free tier | 4 | vs Chainguard |
| Socket | Free, then $25/month | Per-developer monthly subscription with tiered access | 4 | vs Chainguard |
| Endor Labs | Free | Seat-based per contributing developer with volume discounts | 1 | vs Chainguard |
| Doppler | Free, then $21/month | - | 3 | vs Chainguard |
| Arnica | Free, then $300/year | Per-identity subscription with annual discount | 3 | vs Chainguard |
| Infisical | Free, then $20/month | - | 5 | vs Chainguard |
| Akeyless | Free | Usage-based pricing units that vary by product module | 2 | vs Chainguard |
| Windscribe | Free, then $3/month | Freemium | 3 | vs Chainguard |
| TunnelBear | Free, then $9.99/month | Freemium | 3 | vs Chainguard |
| Tenable | $3500/year | Subscription | 5 | vs Chainguard |
| Sysdig | On request | Custom pricing based on number of hosts, events processed, or time series data | - | vs Chainguard |
| Legit Security | On request | Contact sales for custom pricing | - | vs Chainguard |
| Tanium | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Chainguard |
| Veracode | On request | Quote | - | vs Chainguard |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Chainguard badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Cheaper than Chainguard (8)
Entry price under Chainguard's $19000/year. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Snyk , Free, then $25/month
- Socket , Free, then $25/month
- Doppler , Free, then $21/month
- Arnica , Free, then $300/year
- Infisical , Free, then $20/month
- Windscribe , Free, then $3/month
- TunnelBear , Free, then $9.99/month
- Tenable , $3500/year
What you would be giving up
Chainguard is most often brought in for deploying hardened container images with minimal attack surface, meeting supply chain security requirements for regulated industries, reducing cve exposure with contractual remediation guarantees, building secure language packages with automatic backports, verifying artifact provenance with sigstore signatures. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Chainguard is broadly right and the question is cost, the Chainguard pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Cybersecurity category lists everything the directory holds, and best cybersecurity tools ranks them.
Chainguard runs on cloud, container, vm. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Chainguard alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Chainguard?
- 20 other cybersecurity tools are listed in this directory, led by Snyk, Authelia, Grype, Ory Kratos. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Chainguard?
- 15 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Snyk, Authelia, Grype, Ory Kratos, authentik.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Chainguard?
- Yes. 8 of the alternatives below start under Chainguard's $19000/year: Snyk at Free, then $25/month, Socket at Free, then $25/month, Doppler at Free, then $21/month, Arnica at Free, then $300/year.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Chainguard?
- On the figures on record, 2 things stand out: it costs more than the category median; cost climbs steeply across the tiers. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Chainguard?
- Chainguard is most often brought in for deploying hardened container images with minimal attack surface, meeting supply chain security requirements for regulated industries, reducing cve exposure with contractual remediation guarantees, building secure language packages with automatic backports, verifying artifact provenance with sigstore signatures. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Chainguard?
- None of the cybersecurity tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Chainguard alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Cybersecurity, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Chainguard against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Chainguard covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every cybersecurity tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Cybersecurity category, 20 tools beside Chainguard. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.