Cybersecurity · head to head
Cosign vs Countly
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: 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.; Countly the private cloud plan starts at $175 a month and is described as usage based without stating the unit
- They diverge on capability: Cosign covers Keyless signing, Countly covers Event tracking.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cosign and Countly actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Cosign
- Keyless signing
- Key and KMS signing
- Registry-native storage
- In-toto attestations
- Offline verification
- Trusted root and signing config
Only in Countly
- Event tracking
- Crash reporting
- Analytics dashboard
- User retention
- Open-source
- Cloud deployment
- On-premise deployment
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Cosign
- Signing container images in a build pipeline without managing long-lived private keysnot Countly
- Attaching a signed bill of materials to a release so consumers can verify its provenancenot Countly
- Meeting a customer or regulatory requirement for signed artifactsnot Countly
- Verifying third-party images before they enter an internal registrynot Countly
Countly
- Product analytics for mobile and web applicationsnot Cosign
- Self hosting analytics where data cannot leave the organisationnot Cosign
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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.
Countly
- The private cloud plan starts at $175 a month and is described as usage based without stating the unit
- No event cap, data point limit or user limit is published for either paid plan
- The self hosted Enterprise edition is custom priced and billed annually
- Adaptivity and intelligence features are separately priced add ons on the cheaper plan
Pricing, plan by plan
Cosign
Free- CosignFree
- Apache-2.0
- Public Sigstore infrastructure free to use
- No usage limits published
Countly
Free- Flex (Private Cloud)$175/month
- Usage-based pricing (not seat-based)
- Advanced Analytics included
- Adaptivity and Intelligence available as add-ons
- Enterprise (Self-Hosted)$null/mo
- Custom pricing, requires demo booking
- All capabilities included
- Deploy on your infrastructure
Which should you pick?
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.
Choose Countly if
- You need event tracking.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Mobile, Api.
- You also want crash reporting.
Questions people ask
- Is Cosign or Countly better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cosign starts at Free and Countly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cosign or Countly?
- Cosign starts at Free and Countly at Free.
- Does Cosign or Countly run on more platforms?
- Cosign runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker. Countly runs on Web, Mobile, Api.
- Can I use Cosign for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Cosign best used for?
- Cosign is most often used for signing container images in a build pipeline without managing long-lived private keys, attaching a signed bill of materials to a release so consumers can verify its provenance, meeting a customer or regulatory requirement for signed artifacts, verifying third-party images before they enter an internal registry. Of those, signing container images in a build pipeline without managing long-lived private keys and attaching a signed bill of materials to a release so consumers can verify its provenance are not what Countly is typically brought in for.
- What can Cosign do that Countly cannot?
- Cosign covers Keyless signing, Key and KMS signing, Registry-native storage, In-toto attestations. Countly covers Event tracking, Crash reporting, Analytics dashboard, User retention.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
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.
Countly: How much does Countly cost?
Countly's Flex plan (private cloud) starts at $175/month with pay-as-you-go cancellation. Enterprise (self-hosted) requires custom pricing and annual billing. Both plans include advanced analytics, and Flex offers a 14-day free trial.
SourceCosign: Is signing alone enough?
No. Verification is a command somebody runs. Without an admission controller enforcing it, an unsigned image still runs.
Countly: What is the difference between Countly Flex and Enterprise plans?
Flex uses usage-based pricing on Countly's cloud with monthly billing. Enterprise requires custom pricing and annual billing, but allows self-hosting on your infrastructure with zero vendor access to data, dedicated support, and included SLA.
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.
Countly: Can I add Adaptivity and Intelligence to Countly Flex?
Yes, Adaptivity and Intelligence suites can be added to Flex as needed. Both are included standard with Enterprise plans.
SourceCosign: 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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