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Cybersecurity · head to head

Cosign vs March Networks

Cosign logo

Cosign

Cybersecurity

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
March Networks logo

March Networks

Cybersecurity

Banking and retail video with transaction overlay, sold by a Canadian firm that changed from Chinese to Taiwanese ownership

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Cosign has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; March Networks the ownership history is a live compliance question: Chinese-owned via Infinova from 2011, with a PRC government entity as controlling shareholder by January 2020, before the December 2021 sale to Delta Electronics of Taiwan, and any US federal or contractor buyer should expect to document that chain during a procurement review.
  • They diverge on capability: Cosign covers Keyless signing, March Networks covers Command Enterprise.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cosign and March Networks actually diverge.

Attributes where Cosign and March Networks differ
AttributeCosignMarch Networks
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsmacOS, Linux, Windows, DockerWindows, Web, iOS, Android

Identical on both: 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 Cosign

  • Keyless signing
  • Key and KMS signing
  • Registry-native storage
  • In-toto attestations
  • Offline verification
  • Trusted root and signing config

Only in March Networks

  • Command Enterprise
  • Searchlight
  • Hybrid recording
  • X-Series hybrid NVRs
  • Health monitoring
  • ATM and teller integration
  • Retail loss prevention analytics
  • Evidence export

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 March Networks
  • Attaching a signed bill of materials to a release so consumers can verify its provenancenot March Networks
  • Meeting a customer or regulatory requirement for signed artifactsnot March Networks
  • Verifying third-party images before they enter an internal registrynot March Networks

March Networks

  • A bank investigating a disputed ATM withdrawal who needs the clip for that transaction, not two hours of timelinenot Cosign
  • A credit union refreshing 200 branches in phases where analogue and IP cameras must coexist on one recordernot Cosign
  • A restaurant chain overlaying till exceptions on video across hundreds of locationsnot Cosign
  • A transit operator needing video retrieval from vehicles and stations without shipping terabytes over the networknot 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.

March Networks

  • The ownership history is a live compliance question: Chinese-owned via Infinova from 2011, with a PRC government entity as controlling shareholder by January 2020, before the December 2021 sale to Delta Electronics of Taiwan, and any US federal or contractor buyer should expect to document that chain during a procurement review.
  • NDAA compliance is stated at the product level and rests on American system-on-chip processors in the majority of cameras and in specific recorder lines, which means it must be confirmed per model rather than assumed across the catalogue.
  • The platform is engineered around banking and retail workflows, so buyers outside those verticals pay for transaction integration they will never use and get a less developed general security experience than from a Genetec or Milestone.
  • No pricing is published and everything is quoted through integrators, so a multi-hundred-site estate cannot be budgeted without a design exercise and there is no benchmark against which to test a quote.
  • Hybrid recording means a recorder in every branch, which is hardware to install, monitor, service and eventually replace at every location, and that refresh cycle is a recurring capital event that cloud rivals avoid entirely.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cosign

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

March Networks

On request
  • Command Enterprise and Searchlight$undefined/year
    • Per-recorder and per-channel licensing quoted through integrators
    • Searchlight business intelligence licensed separately
    • X-Series hybrid recorders purchased per site

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.
Cosign review

Choose March Networks if

  • You need command enterprise.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want searchlight.
March Networks review

Questions people ask

Is Cosign or March Networks better?
Neither clearly leads. Cosign starts at Free and March Networks at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cosign or March Networks?
Cosign has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cosign and On request for March Networks.
Does Cosign or March Networks run on more platforms?
Cosign runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker. March Networks runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Cosign for free?
Yes. Cosign has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. March Networks starts at On request.
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 March Networks is typically brought in for.
What can Cosign do that March Networks cannot?
Cosign covers Keyless signing, Key and KMS signing, Registry-native storage, In-toto attestations. March Networks covers Command Enterprise, Searchlight, Hybrid recording, X-Series hybrid NVRs.

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.

March Networks: Who owns March Networks?

Delta Electronics of Taiwan, which acquired it in December 2021 for 114 million US dollars. Before that it was owned by Chinese manufacturer Infinova, which by January 2020 had a PRC government entity as controlling shareholder.

Cosign: Is signing alone enough?

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

March Networks: Is March Networks NDAA compliant?

The company states it is, citing American system-on-chip processors in the majority of its cameras and in its Command Recording Server bundles and X-Series hybrid NVRs. Verify per model, and expect the ownership history to be raised in a federal procurement review.

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.

March Networks: What is Searchlight?

The layer that overlays ATM, teller and point of sale transaction data on video so investigators search by transaction rather than by time.

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.

March Networks: Is video stored in the cloud?

No, it is hybrid. Video is recorded on a recorder at each site and only required clips move centrally, which is why it suits large branch estates on modest connections.

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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