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Cybersecurity · head to head

Cosign vs pfSense

Cosign logo

Cosign

Cybersecurity

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
pfSense logo

pfSense

Networking

Open source firewall software with a free Community Edition and a separate commercial Plus edition sold by Netgate

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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.; pfSense pfSense CE and pfSense Plus are not simply the same software with a support contract layered on top; Plus is a separately developed edition with its own feature set, and moving between them is a migration, not a toggle
  • They diverge on capability: Cosign covers Keyless signing, pfSense covers Stateful firewall and NAT.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cosign and pfSense actually diverge.

Attributes where Cosign and pfSense differ
AttributeCosignpfSense
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeOpen source Community Edition, free; commercial Plus edition sold separately by Netgate
PlatformsmacOS, Linux, Windows, DockerLinux
CategoryCybersecurityNetworking

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 pfSense

  • Stateful firewall and NAT
  • VPN support
  • Traffic shaping and QoS
  • Package ecosystem
  • CE and Plus editions

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

pfSense

  • A home user or small business wanting a free, fully-featured firewall on commodity hardware with no licence costnot Cosign
  • A business wanting an integrated firewall appliance with vendor support, typically buying a Netgate appliance bundled with pfSense Plusnot Cosign
  • A team wanting to evaluate advanced features like real-time threat intelligence before committing to Netgate hardware or a Plus migrationnot Cosign
  • An organisation replacing an expensive commercial firewall with an open source alternative while retaining the option to add commercial support laternot 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.

pfSense

  • pfSense CE and pfSense Plus are not simply the same software with a support contract layered on top; Plus is a separately developed edition with its own feature set, and moving between them is a migration, not a toggle
  • Running Plus on non-Netgate hardware depends on Netgate's current migration terms, which have changed over time, so a buyer planning to use white-box hardware with Plus should verify current eligibility rather than assume it works as it did previously
  • CE has no official vendor support channel; a business relying on it for production firewalling without a support contract is self-supporting on community forums
  • Some newer features and threat intelligence integrations are Plus-only, so CE users do not get feature parity going forward even though both editions remain under active development
  • Netgate's own appliance pricing and the terms of the CE-to-Plus migration path are not always clearly presented in one place, requiring some digging to understand the real total cost of a Plus deployment on non-Netgate hardware
  • As with any self-managed firewall, security depends on the operator applying updates and correctly configuring rules; there is no managed security operations layer included even in Plus

Pricing, plan by plan

Cosign

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

pfSense

Free
  • pfSense CEFree
    • Full firewall and routing functionality
    • No vendor lock-in to hardware
    • Community support
  • pfSense Plus (via Netgate appliance)$undefined/one-time
    • Bundled with Netgate hardware appliances from around $189
    • Threat intelligence feeds
    • Certified support tiers

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 pfSense if

  • You need stateful firewall and nat.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux.
  • You also want vpn support.
pfSense review

Questions people ask

Is Cosign or pfSense better?
Neither clearly leads. Cosign starts at Free and pfSense at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cosign or pfSense?
Cosign starts at Free and pfSense at Free.
Does Cosign or pfSense run on more platforms?
Cosign runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker. pfSense runs on Linux.
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 pfSense is typically brought in for.
What can Cosign do that pfSense cannot?
Cosign covers Keyless signing, Key and KMS signing, Registry-native storage, In-toto attestations. pfSense covers Stateful firewall and NAT, VPN support, Traffic shaping and QoS, Package ecosystem.

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.

pfSense: What is the difference between pfSense CE and pfSense Plus?

CE is the free, open source edition installable on any compatible hardware; Plus is a commercial edition from Netgate with additional features and support, typically bundled with Netgate appliances.

Cosign: Is signing alone enough?

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

pfSense: Can I run pfSense Plus on my own hardware?

It is possible through a migration from a CE installation via Netgate's official channel, but the terms and availability of that path have changed over time and should be confirmed directly with Netgate.

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.

pfSense: Is pfSense CE really free with no catch?

Yes, CE has no licence fee and no hardware lock-in, though it comes with community rather than vendor support.

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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