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Government · head to head

Clariti vs Cosign

Clariti logo

Clariti

Government

Permitting, licensing and land management for local government, built natively on Salesforce

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Cosign logo

Cosign

Cybersecurity

Signs and verifies container images and artifacts, with or without managing keys

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Cosign has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Clariti salesforce platform licences sit underneath the subscription and are not always visible in the initial quote, so the fully loaded cost can be materially higher than the comparison against Accela or Tyler suggests.; 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: Clariti covers Permitting workflows, Cosign covers Keyless signing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Clariti and Cosign actually diverge.

Attributes where Clariti and Cosign differ
AttributeClaritiCosign
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidmacOS, Linux, Windows, Docker
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity

Identical on both: 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 Clariti

  • Permitting workflows
  • Business licensing
  • Inspections
  • Code enforcement
  • Public portal
  • Salesforce platform tooling

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.

Clariti

  • A city already standardised on Salesforce that wants permitting inside the same platformnot Cosign
  • An agency replacing a legacy permitting system whose vendor was acquired and whose roadmap stallednot Cosign
  • A county needing configurable workflows across permits, licensing and code enforcementnot Cosign
  • An IT department that wants to configure and report on its own permitting workflows without vendor ticketsnot Cosign

Cosign

  • Signing container images in a build pipeline without managing long-lived private keysnot Clariti
  • Attaching a signed bill of materials to a release so consumers can verify its provenancenot Clariti
  • Meeting a customer or regulatory requirement for signed artifactsnot Clariti
  • Verifying third-party images before they enter an internal registrynot Clariti

Where each one falls short

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

Clariti

  • Salesforce platform licences sit underneath the subscription and are not always visible in the initial quote, so the fully loaded cost can be materially higher than the comparison against Accela or Tyler suggests.
  • Building on Salesforce means the agency inherits Salesforce release cycles and pricing changes, neither of which Clariti controls.
  • It has far less accumulated edge case handling than the incumbents, so unusual fee schedules, historic district rules or state mandated reporting can become configuration projects.
  • Professional services dominate the first year cost, as with every permitting implementation, and agencies that budget only for licence are the ones whose projects stall.
  • The install base is smaller than Accela or Tyler, so there are fewer peer agencies to call for reference and fewer trained implementation consultants in the market.

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

Clariti

On request
  • Clariti$undefined/year
    • Quoted by agency size and module scope
    • Salesforce platform licences are a separate cost underneath the subscription
    • Implementation and configuration services typically exceed first year licence cost

Cosign

Free
  • CosignFree
    • Apache-2.0
    • Public Sigstore infrastructure free to use
    • No usage limits published

Which should you pick?

Choose Clariti if

  • You need permitting workflows.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want business licensing.
Clariti review

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.
Cosign review

Questions people ask

Is Clariti or Cosign better?
Neither clearly leads. Clariti starts at On request and Cosign at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Clariti or Cosign?
Cosign has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Clariti and Free for Cosign.
Does Clariti or Cosign run on more platforms?
Clariti runs on Web, iOS, Android. Cosign runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
Can I use Cosign for free?
Yes. Cosign has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Clariti starts at On request.
What is Clariti best used for?
Clariti is most often used for a city already standardised on salesforce that wants permitting inside the same platform, an agency replacing a legacy permitting system whose vendor was acquired and whose roadmap stalled, a county needing configurable workflows across permits, licensing and code enforcement, an it department that wants to configure and report on its own permitting workflows without vendor tickets. Of those, a city already standardised on salesforce that wants permitting inside the same platform and an agency replacing a legacy permitting system whose vendor was acquired and whose roadmap stalled are not what Cosign is typically brought in for.
What can Clariti do that Cosign cannot?
Clariti covers Permitting workflows, Business licensing, Inspections, Code enforcement. Cosign covers Keyless signing, Key and KMS signing, Registry-native storage, In-toto attestations.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Clariti: Do we need Salesforce licences as well?

Yes. Clariti runs on the Salesforce platform, and those licences are a separate line item. Insist on a fully loaded quote.

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.

Clariti: How does it compare with Accela?

Accela has far deeper accumulated handling of edge cases. Clariti offers a more modern and configurable platform, at the price of Salesforce underneath.

Cosign: Is signing alone enough?

No. Verification is a command somebody runs. Without an admission controller enforcing it, an unsigned image still runs.

Clariti: Can we see what other agencies paid?

Yes. Permitting contracts are public records and award notices routinely list implementation and annual subscription values.

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.

Clariti: Is it suitable for a small town?

Usually not. The platform cost and implementation effort suit mid sized and larger agencies.

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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