Softwr

Government · head to head

ArchiveSocial vs Teleport

ArchiveSocial logo

ArchiveSocial

Government

Social media archiving that captures public agency accounts as legally defensible open records

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Teleport logo

Teleport

Cybersecurity

Certificate-based access to servers, Kubernetes, databases and apps, replacing shared credentials and VPNs

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: ArchiveSocial coverage depends entirely on third party platform APIs, so when a network restricts or reprices its API the archive's completeness changes for reasons the vendor does not control.; Teleport pricing is not published and is described as active users plus protected resources, so an autoscaling estate cannot forecast the bill and finance teams discover the true cost only after the first true-up.
  • They diverge on capability: ArchiveSocial covers Continuous capture, Teleport covers Short-lived certificates.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ArchiveSocial and Teleport actually diverge.

Attributes where ArchiveSocial and Teleport differ
AttributeArchiveSocialTeleport
PlatformsWebLinux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in ArchiveSocial

  • Continuous capture
  • Deletion and edit capture
  • Authenticated records
  • Records request search
  • Litigation hold export
  • Multi platform coverage

Only in Teleport

  • Short-lived certificates
  • Protocol coverage
  • Session recording and replay
  • Access Requests
  • Device Trust
  • Identity provider integration
  • Machine identity
  • FIPS and FedRAMP builds

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

ArchiveSocial

  • A city whose legal department has flagged deleted social media comments as a records liabilitynot Teleport
  • A police department that must produce social media records under an open records requestnot Teleport
  • An agency under litigation hold needing authenticated social media evidence rather than screenshotsnot Teleport
  • A communications team operating many accounts across departments with no consistent archivingnot Teleport

Teleport

  • Removing long-lived SSH keys and shared database passwords so that offboarding an engineer takes one action in the identity providernot ArchiveSocial
  • Producing session recordings and per-user database audit trails as direct evidence for SOC 2 or FedRAMPnot ArchiveSocial
  • Giving contractors or on-call engineers time-boxed, approved access to production instead of standing admin rightsnot ArchiveSocial
  • Replacing a flat VPN with per-resource authorisation across servers, Kubernetes and internal web appsnot ArchiveSocial

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

ArchiveSocial

  • Coverage depends entirely on third party platform APIs, so when a network restricts or reprices its API the archive's completeness changes for reasons the vendor does not control.
  • Pricing scales with the number of archived accounts, so an agency where every department runs its own page pays repeatedly for the same compliance obligation.
  • It archives rather than governs, so it will faithfully preserve a policy violation without preventing it, and agencies still need social media policy and training.
  • Since the 2021 CivicPlus acquisition the product is part of a municipal suite, so buyers avoiding that vendor for other reasons are still buying from them.
  • The value is entirely insurance shaped, which makes it a perennial target during budget cuts right up until the first records request it would have answered.

Teleport

  • Pricing is not published and is described as active users plus protected resources, so an autoscaling estate cannot forecast the bill and finance teams discover the true cost only after the first true-up.
  • The proxy is a hard dependency on reaching production, so it needs its own high availability deployment and a tested break-glass path or an outage in Teleport becomes an outage in your ability to respond to outages.
  • The open source Community Edition omits Access Requests, Device Trust and the FIPS builds, which are exactly the controls an auditor asks about, so the free tier rarely survives a compliance review.
  • Self-hosting means running and upgrading a certificate authority and its backing store, and Teleport releases frequently enough that upgrade work becomes a standing operational commitment.
  • Coverage across protocols is uneven in depth, so teams with legacy systems, unusual databases or bespoke network appliances find gaps that still require the old VPN to remain in place alongside it.

Pricing, plan by plan

ArchiveSocial

On request
  • ArchiveSocial$undefined/year
    • Quoted annually, typically scaled by number of archived accounts
    • Additional accounts and platforms increase the subscription
    • Bundled pricing common for agencies already buying CivicPlus products

Teleport

On request
  • Teleport Community Edition$undefined/year
    • Open source, self-hosted
    • SSH, Kubernetes, database and app access
    • Session recording
  • Teleport Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Cloud-hosted or self-hosted
    • Access Requests and approval workflow
    • Device Trust and hardware key enforcement

Which should you pick?

Choose ArchiveSocial if

  • You need continuous capture.
  • You also want deletion and edit capture.
ArchiveSocial review

Choose Teleport if

  • You need short-lived certificates.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want protocol coverage.
Teleport review

Questions people ask

Is ArchiveSocial or Teleport better?
Neither clearly leads. ArchiveSocial starts at On request and Teleport at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ArchiveSocial or Teleport?
ArchiveSocial starts at On request and Teleport at On request.
Does ArchiveSocial or Teleport run on more platforms?
ArchiveSocial runs on Web. Teleport runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud.
What is ArchiveSocial best used for?
ArchiveSocial is most often used for a city whose legal department has flagged deleted social media comments as a records liability, a police department that must produce social media records under an open records request, an agency under litigation hold needing authenticated social media evidence rather than screenshots, a communications team operating many accounts across departments with no consistent archiving. Of those, a city whose legal department has flagged deleted social media comments as a records liability and a police department that must produce social media records under an open records request are not what Teleport is typically brought in for.
What can ArchiveSocial do that Teleport cannot?
ArchiveSocial covers Continuous capture, Deletion and edit capture, Authenticated records, Records request search. Teleport covers Short-lived certificates, Protocol coverage, Session recording and replay, Access Requests.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ArchiveSocial: Why not just export data from the platforms?

Platform exports do not reliably capture deleted or edited content and carry no chain of custody, which is what makes an archive usable as evidence.

Teleport: Is the open source edition usable in production?

Yes, but it lacks Access Requests, Device Trust and FIPS builds, which most compliance programmes end up requiring.

ArchiveSocial: Are public comments on our posts records?

In many United States jurisdictions yes, and deleted comments have been the subject of litigation against agencies.

Teleport: How is it priced?

Not publicly. The vendor prices on active users and protected resources and provides a quote after a sales conversation.

ArchiveSocial: Who owns ArchiveSocial?

CivicPlus, which acquired it in 2021 and sells it alongside its municipal website and communications products.

Teleport: What happens if Teleport goes down?

Nobody reaches the resources behind it, so you need a highly available deployment and a documented break-glass procedure.

ArchiveSocial: How is it priced?

By archived accounts, quoted rather than published. Comparable agency contracts are public records.

Teleport: Does it replace our VPN?

For anything you put behind it, yes. Legacy systems and appliances it does not support will keep the VPN alive.

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