Softwr

Government · head to head

DemandStar vs Very Good Security

DemandStar logo

DemandStar

Government

Bid distribution network that is free for government agencies and charges the suppliers instead

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 DemandStar has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: DemandStar coverage is opt-in by agency, so a supplier paying for a state tier receives only participating agencies and must still monitor other portals for the rest.; 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: DemandStar covers Free for agencies, 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 DemandStar and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where DemandStar and Very Good Security differ
AttributeDemandStarVery Good Security
Starting priceFree$1000/month
Pricing modelFree for agencies, per year by geographic coverage for suppliersPer month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, API
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity

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 DemandStar

  • Free for agencies
  • Commodity code matching
  • eBidding
  • Plan holder lists
  • Supplier registration
  • Geographic subscription tiers

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.

DemandStar

  • A city purchasing officer who wants wider bid distribution without running a procurement to buy softwarenot Very Good Security
  • A contractor who works in three adjacent counties and wants notifications only for that footprintnot Very Good Security
  • An agency needing sealed electronic bid submission to replace paper deliveries to the clerknot Very Good Security
  • A supplier testing whether public sector work is viable before committing to a national subscriptionnot 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 DemandStar
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot DemandStar
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot DemandStar
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot DemandStar

Where each one falls short

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

DemandStar

  • Coverage is opt-in by agency, so a supplier paying for a state tier receives only participating agencies and must still monitor other portals for the rest.
  • The free supplier tier charges around 5 US dollars per bid document download, which turns an apparently free plan into a metered one as soon as you actually pursue opportunities.
  • State pricing ranges from roughly 100 to 1,499 US dollars with the variation driven by agency density, so suppliers cannot predict cost from geography alone.
  • Because agencies pay nothing, they have little leverage over the roadmap and features are driven by what makes supplier subscriptions sell.
  • The brand is being folded into Euna OpenBid following the Euna Solutions consolidation, so suppliers and agencies should expect the name and portal to 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

DemandStar

Free
  • Government agencyFree
    • Post unlimited solicitations
    • Access the supplier network
    • eBidding and plan holder lists
  • Supplier freeFree
    • Bid notifications for one agency of your choice
    • Bid document downloads charged around 5 USD each
    • Supplier profile and registration
  • Supplier county$60/year
    • All participating agencies within one county
    • Unlimited bid document access for that county
    • Approximate rate, varies by county
  • Supplier state$100/year
    • All participating agencies within one state
    • Priced from around 100 to 1,499 USD depending on agency density

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 DemandStar if

  • You need free for agencies.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want commodity code matching.
DemandStar 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 DemandStar or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. DemandStar 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, DemandStar or Very Good Security?
DemandStar has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for DemandStar and $1000/month for Very Good Security.
Does DemandStar or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
DemandStar runs on Web. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
Can I use DemandStar for free?
Yes. DemandStar has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Very Good Security starts at $1000/month.
What is DemandStar best used for?
DemandStar is most often used for a city purchasing officer who wants wider bid distribution without running a procurement to buy software, a contractor who works in three adjacent counties and wants notifications only for that footprint, an agency needing sealed electronic bid submission to replace paper deliveries to the clerk, a supplier testing whether public sector work is viable before committing to a national subscription. Of those, a city purchasing officer who wants wider bid distribution without running a procurement to buy software and a contractor who works in three adjacent counties and wants notifications only for that footprint are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can DemandStar do that Very Good Security cannot?
DemandStar covers Free for agencies, Commodity code matching, eBidding, Plan holder lists. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

DemandStar: Is DemandStar free for governments?

Yes, entirely. Agencies post solicitations and access the supplier network at no cost; suppliers fund the platform.

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.

DemandStar: What do suppliers pay?

Free for one agency with roughly 5 USD per document download, about 60 USD a year per county, 100 to 1,499 per state, and 2,699 for national coverage.

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.

DemandStar: Who owns DemandStar?

Euna Solutions, the public sector portfolio formerly known as GTY Technology, which also absorbed Bonfire and Ion Wave.

Very Good Security: What does it cost?

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

DemandStar: Does it cover every agency?

No. Only agencies that have opted in, which is the main limitation for suppliers buying wide coverage.

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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