Cybersecurity · head to head
Authy vs Cosign
Authy
Cybersecurity
Twilio's free authenticator app with encrypted cloud backup, mobile only since the desktop clients were withdrawn in 2024.
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Cosign
Cybersecurity
Signs and verifies container images and artifacts, with or without managing keys
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Authy there is no export function for stored TOTP secrets, so moving to a different authenticator means disabling and re-enrolling two-factor authentication on every account individually, which is the reason most users stay rather than a reason anyone should choose it.; Cosign keyless signing inherits every weakness of the identity provider behind it. Sigstore’s own threat model states that if an identity provider is compromised, Sigstore will issue certificates to those identities, so a compromised account produces perfectly valid signatures.
- They diverge on capability: Authy covers Encrypted cloud backup, Cosign covers Keyless signing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Authy and Cosign actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).
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 Authy
- Encrypted cloud backup
- Multi-device sync
- Standard TOTP
- Offline code generation
- App lock
- Multi-device toggle
- Token organisation
- Free with no account tier
Only in Cosign
- Keyless signing
- Key and KMS signing
- Registry-native storage
- In-toto attestations
- Offline verification
- Trusted root and signing config
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Authy
- An individual who wants two-factor authentication on personal accounts and needs it to survive losing or replacing a phonenot Cosign
- A small team sharing access to a service account where the same tokens must be available on more than one handsetnot Cosign
- Replacing SMS-based codes with TOTP for someone who would abandon two-factor entirely if recovery were difficultnot Cosign
- Consolidating tokens scattered across several apps onto one device list with recognisable names and iconsnot Cosign
Cosign
- Signing container images in a build pipeline without managing long-lived private keysnot Authy
- Attaching a signed bill of materials to a release so consumers can verify its provenancenot Authy
- Meeting a customer or regulatory requirement for signed artifactsnot Authy
- Verifying third-party images before they enter an internal registrynot Authy
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Authy
- There is no export function for stored TOTP secrets, so moving to a different authenticator means disabling and re-enrolling two-factor authentication on every account individually, which is the reason most users stay rather than a reason anyone should choose it.
- The Windows, macOS and Linux desktop applications were discontinued in 2024 and stopped working, so any workflow that depended on copying codes on a computer now requires a phone in hand, and users who held tokens only on a desktop client had to restore from backup or re-enrol.
- The account is keyed to a phone number, so an attacker who takes over that number through a SIM swap can begin the device registration flow, and the only remaining control is the backup password that most users set once and cannot recall.
- In 2024 an unauthenticated Twilio endpoint allowed attackers to confirm which numbers from a supplied list were registered Authy accounts, exposing around 33 million phone numbers, which disclosed no codes but handed phishers a validated list of people known to use two-factor authentication.
- It is a free consumer application inside a company that has already retired the paid Authy developer API it once supported, so it carries no revenue of its own, and users should treat its continued existence as a business decision rather than a roadmap commitment.
Cosign
- Keyless signing inherits every weakness of the identity provider behind it. Sigstore’s own threat model states that if an identity provider is compromised, Sigstore will issue certificates to those identities, so a compromised account produces perfectly valid signatures.
- A signature proves who signed, never whether they should have. The documentation is explicit that Sigstore cannot determine authorisation, so every consumer must write and maintain their own identity and issuer policy or verification means nothing.
- Nothing is enforced without an admission controller. Signing changes what you can prove, not what runs, and the official policy controller has a small maintainer base for a component sitting in a cluster admission path.
- Upgrades break pipelines. Version 3 changed defaults, version 4 is announced as removing legacy functionality and roughly half the command line flags, and two official client libraries still lacked support for the new log format as of mid 2026.
- Signatures do not expire. An artifact signed before a maintainer account was compromised and one signed after are indistinguishable unless somebody is actively monitoring the transparency log, and almost nobody is.
Pricing, plan by plan
Authy
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Authy review.
Cosign
Free- CosignFree
- Apache-2.0
- Public Sigstore infrastructure free to use
- No usage limits published
Which should you pick?
Choose Authy if
- You need encrypted cloud backup.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want multi-device sync.
Choose Cosign if
- You need keyless signing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
- You also want key and kms signing.
Questions people ask
- Is Authy or Cosign better?
- Neither clearly leads. Authy starts at Free and Cosign at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Authy or Cosign?
- Authy starts at Free and Cosign at Free.
- Does Authy or Cosign run on more platforms?
- Authy runs on Web. Cosign runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
- Can I use Authy for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Authy best used for?
- Authy is most often used for an individual who wants two-factor authentication on personal accounts and needs it to survive losing or replacing a phone, a small team sharing access to a service account where the same tokens must be available on more than one handset, replacing sms-based codes with totp for someone who would abandon two-factor entirely if recovery were difficult, consolidating tokens scattered across several apps onto one device list with recognisable names and icons. Of those, an individual who wants two-factor authentication on personal accounts and needs it to survive losing or replacing a phone and a small team sharing access to a service account where the same tokens must be available on more than one handset are not what Cosign is typically brought in for.
- What can Authy do that Cosign cannot?
- Authy covers Encrypted cloud backup, Multi-device sync, Standard TOTP, Offline code generation. Cosign covers Keyless signing, Key and KMS signing, Registry-native storage, In-toto attestations.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Authy: Is Authy still supported?
The mobile apps for iOS and Android are still available and functional. The desktop applications were withdrawn in 2024 and the Authy developer API has been retired in favour of Twilio Verify, so the surrounding product has been shrinking.
Cosign: Does Cosign tell me if an image is vulnerable?
No. It has no vulnerability knowledge whatsoever. It can carry an SBOM as a signed attestation but never reads it. Pair it with a scanner.
Authy: Can I export my tokens?
No. There is no export of the underlying secrets, by design. Migrating to another authenticator means going to each service, disabling two-factor authentication and setting it up again with the new app.
Cosign: Is signing alone enough?
No. Verification is a command somebody runs. Without an admission controller enforcing it, an unsigned image still runs.
Authy: What happened to the desktop app?
Twilio announced its discontinuation in March 2024 and the applications stopped working later that year. There is no replacement desktop client; the mobile apps are the product now.
Cosign: What does a bare cosign verify actually prove?
Very little. Without a pinned certificate identity and OIDC issuer, it accepts a valid signature from any identity at all.
Authy: Is multi-device sync safe to leave on?
It is the feature most worth understanding. Leaving new device registration enabled means anyone who controls your phone number can attempt to add a device. The usual advice is to turn the multi-device setting off once your devices are registered and turn it on only when you need to add one.
Cosign: What is the risk of keyless signing?
Your OIDC provider becomes the root of trust. Compromise of that account yields genuine, verifiable signatures, so account security is the control that matters.
Authy: What if I lose my phone and forget the backup password?
The secrets are encrypted with that password and Twilio does not hold it, so they cannot be recovered. You would fall back to each individual service's account recovery process, which is exactly the situation the backup was meant to avoid.
Cosign: Should we expect breaking changes?
Yes. Version 4 is announced to remove roughly half the flags, and a post-quantum migration is named as a further breaking change after that.
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