Softwr

Cybersecurity · head to head

Cosign vs Termly

Cosign logo

Cosign

Cybersecurity

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Termly logo

Termly

Cybersecurity

Legal policy generator and cookie consent banner for small websites

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.; Termly a standard plan licenses one website, so an agency or a business with several brand domains multiplies the headline price by the number of sites and the cheap option stops being cheap at four or five domains.
  • They diverge on capability: Cosign covers Keyless signing, Termly covers Policy generator.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cosign and Termly actually diverge.

Attributes where Cosign and Termly differ
AttributeCosignTermly
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feePer website per month
PlatformsmacOS, Linux, Windows, DockerWeb

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Termly

  • Policy generator
  • Automatic policy updates
  • Consent banner
  • Script auto blocker
  • Cookie scanner
  • Consent log
  • WordPress plugin
  • Do not sell handling

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

Termly

  • A small e-commerce shop that needs a privacy policy, terms and a compliant cookie banner before launch without engaging a solicitornot Cosign
  • A freelance web developer standardising the legal and consent layer across client sites, buying a licence per site or an agency arrangementnot Cosign
  • A WordPress site owner who needs scripts blocked before consent and does not have a tag manager set upnot Cosign
  • A US small business newly in scope for a state privacy law that needs a do not sell opt-out on the site quicklynot 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.

Termly

  • A standard plan licenses one website, so an agency or a business with several brand domains multiplies the headline price by the number of sites and the cheap option stops being cheap at four or five domains.
  • Generated policies are templates conditioned on questionnaire answers, so they describe the data practices you claimed rather than the ones your code performs, and a regulator comparing the policy to actual tracking finds the gap not the vendor.
  • Banner view limits apply on the lower tiers, and a site that spikes in traffic can exhaust its allowance mid month, which is the worst possible moment for consent handling to degrade.
  • It covers websites well but has little for mobile apps, so a company with an iOS and Android app alongside its site needs a second consent mechanism and a second consent record.
  • There is no data mapping, subject rights automation or vendor inventory, so any company that grows into real privacy programme obligations outgrows Termly entirely rather than upgrading within it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cosign

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

Termly

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1 basic legal policy
    • 10,000 monthly banner views
    • Cookie consent banner
  • Starter$10/month
    • 2 legal policies
    • 10 policy edits
    • 50,000 monthly banner views
  • Pro Plus$15/month
    • Unlimited banner views
    • Additional legal policies
    • Multilingual banners

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 Termly if

  • You need policy generator.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want automatic policy updates.
Termly review

Questions people ask

Is Cosign or Termly better?
Neither clearly leads. Cosign starts at Free and Termly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cosign or Termly?
Cosign starts at Free and Termly at Free.
Does Cosign or Termly run on more platforms?
Cosign runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker. Termly runs on Web.
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 Termly is typically brought in for.
What can Cosign do that Termly cannot?
Cosign covers Keyless signing, Key and KMS signing, Registry-native storage, In-toto attestations. Termly covers Policy generator, Automatic policy updates, Consent banner, Script auto blocker.

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.

Termly: Does one Termly plan cover all my websites?

No. A standard plan licenses one website. Multiple domains need multiple licences or an agency arrangement, and this is the single most common surprise on the bill.

Cosign: Is signing alone enough?

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

Termly: Are the generated policies legally sufficient?

They are templates conditioned on your answers and are not legal advice. They are proportionate for a simple site and inadequate where actual data flows are complex or regulated.

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.

Termly: Is there a genuinely free plan?

Yes, one basic policy, one site, 10,000 monthly banner views and quarterly cookie scans, with no card required.

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.

Termly: Does it handle US state privacy opt-outs?

Yes, including a do not sell or share mechanism and regional rule sets, alongside GDPR consent for EU visitors.

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.

Share

Related pages

More on Cosign

More on Termly

Keep looking

Other head to heads