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Cloud Native Buildpacks vs Very Good Security

Cloud Native Buildpacks logo

Cloud Native Buildpacks

Developer Tools

Specification and tooling that turns source code into OCI images without Dockerfiles

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Cloud Native Buildpacks has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Cloud Native Buildpacks the operational cost is real: you own builder images, base image refresh cadence and migrations between specification versions, which currently sit at Buildpack API 0.10 and Platform API 0.12 with published migration guides, so breaking changes are a recurring chore.; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • They diverge on capability: Cloud Native Buildpacks covers Detect and build lifecycle, Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cloud Native Buildpacks and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Cloud Native Buildpacks and Very Good Security differ
AttributeCloud Native BuildpacksVery Good Security
Starting priceFree$1000/month
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feePer month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Docker, KubernetesWeb, API
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

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 Cloud Native Buildpacks

  • Detect and build lifecycle
  • Image rebasing
  • Reproducible layers
  • Builder images
  • Automatic SBOM output
  • pack CLI

Only in Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

What people use each for

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

Cloud Native Buildpacks

  • Patching a base image once and rebasing hundreds of application images rather than rebuilding and redeploying eachnot Very Good Security
  • Removing per-team Dockerfiles at an organisation where inconsistent base images have become an audit findingnot Very Good Security
  • Giving application teams a supported path to a hardened image without teaching every team container securitynot Very Good Security
  • Choosing a build system that a risk committee will accept because governance is vendor neutral rather than single vendornot Very Good Security

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot Cloud Native Buildpacks
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot Cloud Native Buildpacks
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot Cloud Native Buildpacks
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot Cloud Native Buildpacks

Where each one falls short

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

Cloud Native Buildpacks

  • The operational cost is real: you own builder images, base image refresh cadence and migrations between specification versions, which currently sit at Buildpack API 0.10 and Platform API 0.12 with published migration guides, so breaking changes are a recurring chore.
  • A cold build with no warm cache is noticeably slower than a well layered Dockerfile, and because the cache lives in a cache image or volume, ephemeral continuous integration runners pay full price on every run unless you deliberately warm them.
  • Reproducibility depends on discipline rather than defaults, because buildpacks resolve runtime patch versions at build time unless you pin them and stability is only as good as the builder image tag you point at.
  • The specification is neutral but the buildpacks are not, and in practice you depend on Paketo, Heroku or Google, whose roadmaps, support levels and update cadences differ; CNCF also records contributing organisations down 12 per cent year on year.
  • Native dependencies, unusual monorepo layouts and non-standard project structures push you into writing custom buildpacks or extensions, which is a genuine engineering investment and not a configuration change.

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cloud Native Buildpacks

Free
  • Cloud Native BuildpacksFree
    • Apache-2.0, hosted by the CNCF
    • No commercial edition from the project itself
    • Commercial support only from vendors of specific buildpack distributions

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose Cloud Native Buildpacks if

  • You need detect and build lifecycle.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want image rebasing.
Cloud Native Buildpacks review

Choose Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.
Very Good Security review

Questions people ask

Is Cloud Native Buildpacks or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Cloud Native Buildpacks starts at Free and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cloud Native Buildpacks or Very Good Security?
Cloud Native Buildpacks has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cloud Native Buildpacks and $1000/month for Very Good Security.
Does Cloud Native Buildpacks or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
Cloud Native Buildpacks runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Docker, Kubernetes. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
Can I use Cloud Native Buildpacks for free?
Yes. Cloud Native Buildpacks has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Very Good Security starts at $1000/month.
What is Cloud Native Buildpacks best used for?
Cloud Native Buildpacks is most often used for patching a base image once and rebasing hundreds of application images rather than rebuilding and redeploying each, removing per-team dockerfiles at an organisation where inconsistent base images have become an audit finding, giving application teams a supported path to a hardened image without teaching every team container security, choosing a build system that a risk committee will accept because governance is vendor neutral rather than single vendor. Of those, patching a base image once and rebasing hundreds of application images rather than rebuilding and redeploying each and removing per-team dockerfiles at an organisation where inconsistent base images have become an audit finding are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can Cloud Native Buildpacks do that Very Good Security cannot?
Cloud Native Buildpacks covers Detect and build lifecycle, Image rebasing, Reproducible layers, Builder images. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cloud Native Buildpacks: What does CNCF graduation actually change?

Nothing technically, but it signals audited governance, security review and multi-vendor maintenance, which is usually what a procurement or risk team needs before approving a build system.

Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

Cloud Native Buildpacks: How is this different from writing a Dockerfile?

Container build knowledge lives with the platform team in a builder image rather than in every repository, and rebasing lets you patch the runtime base of many images without rebuilding them.

Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

Cloud Native Buildpacks: Does it cost anything?

No. The specification and tooling are Apache-2.0 and free. You pay only if you buy commercial support for a specific buildpack distribution from Broadcom, Heroku or Google.

Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

Cloud Native Buildpacks: Is it slower than a Dockerfile?

On a cold build with no cache, yes. Warm builds are competitive, but continuous integration runners that start empty every time will feel the difference.

Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

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