Cybersecurity · head to head
Chainguard vs Cosign
Chainguard
Cybersecurity
Secure-by-default open source software with hardened container images and libraries
- 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: Chainguard containers Catalog at 19,000 USD/year expensive for teams under 10 people; 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: Chainguard covers Hardened container images, Cosign covers Keyless signing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Chainguard and Cosign actually diverge.
| Attribute | Chainguard | Cosign |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Licensing by artifact type and team size | Open source, no licence fee |
| Platforms | Cloud, Container, VM | macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker |
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 Chainguard
- Hardened container images
- CVE remediation SLA
- SLSA L2/L3 builds
- Sigstore signatures
- SBOM generation
- Language libraries
- VM images
- Artifact scanning
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.
Chainguard
- Deploying hardened container images with minimal attack surfacenot Cosign
- Meeting supply chain security requirements for regulated industriesnot Cosign
- Reducing CVE exposure with contractual remediation guaranteesnot Cosign
- Building secure language packages with automatic backportsnot Cosign
- Verifying artifact provenance with Sigstore signaturesnot Cosign
Cosign
- Signing container images in a build pipeline without managing long-lived private keysnot Chainguard
- Attaching a signed bill of materials to a release so consumers can verify its provenancenot Chainguard
- Meeting a customer or regulatory requirement for signed artifactsnot Chainguard
- Verifying third-party images before they enter an internal registrynot Chainguard
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Chainguard
- Containers Catalog at 19,000 USD/year expensive for teams under 10 people
- Per-image pricing for containers requires custom quotes with no transparency
- Free tier limited to 5 container images for testing
- Libraries pricing by ecosystem and developer count lacks transparent per-developer cost
- VM image catalog pricing opacity makes cost estimation difficult
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
Chainguard
Free- Free TierFree
- Five container images to test and deploy
- Containers Per-Image$undefined/custom
- Licensed by quantity and type
- Base images, application images, AI/ML images, FIPS variants
- Custom pricing per image
- Containers Catalog$19000/year
- For 10-person engineering teams
- 2,000+ container images
- Contractual CVE remediation SLAs
- Libraries Licensing$undefined/custom
- Licensed by ecosystem (Python, Java, JavaScript)
- Licensed by developer count
- Unlimited pulls with no metering
Cosign
Free- CosignFree
- Apache-2.0
- Public Sigstore infrastructure free to use
- No usage limits published
Which should you pick?
Choose Chainguard if
- You need hardened container images.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Cloud, Container, VM.
- You also want cve remediation sla.
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 Chainguard or Cosign better?
- Neither clearly leads. Chainguard 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, Chainguard or Cosign?
- Chainguard starts at Free and Cosign at Free.
- Does Chainguard or Cosign run on more platforms?
- Chainguard runs on Cloud, Container, VM. Cosign runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
- Can I use Chainguard for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Chainguard best used for?
- Chainguard is most often used 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. Of those, deploying hardened container images with minimal attack surface and meeting supply chain security requirements for regulated industries are not what Cosign is typically brought in for.
- What can Chainguard do that Cosign cannot?
- Chainguard covers Hardened container images, CVE remediation SLA, SLSA L2/L3 builds, Sigstore signatures. Cosign covers Keyless signing, Key and KMS signing, Registry-native storage, In-toto attestations.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Chainguard: How much is the Chainguard Containers Catalog?
The Containers Catalog is 19,000 USD per year for 10-person engineering teams, providing access to 2,000+ hardened container images.
SourceCosign: 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.
Chainguard: What SLAs does Chainguard offer?
Chainguard provides contractual CVE remediation SLAs: 7 days for critical vulnerabilities, 14 days for high/medium/low severity, all with priority support.
SourceCosign: Is signing alone enough?
No. Verification is a command somebody runs. Without an admission controller enforcing it, an unsigned image still runs.
Chainguard: Can I try Chainguard before purchasing?
Yes. The free tier includes five container images for testing and deployment, allowing hands-on evaluation.
SourceCosign: 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.
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.
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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