Softwr

Developer Tools · head to head

Helm vs Sigstore

H

Helm

Developer Tools

The package manager for Kubernetes

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Sigstore logo

Sigstore

Cybersecurity

Free public signing and transparency infrastructure for open source artifacts

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Helm licensed under Apache License 2.0 per the project's GitHub repository (helm/helm LICENSE); as open source software it has no paid tier or vendor price to compare; Sigstore the security model depends on somebody watching the log. The documentation states that compromise of an identity provider or of Fulcio itself is detectable only if third parties monitor the transparency log, the monitoring tool is a community-tier rather than core project, and almost no consumer runs one.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Helm and Sigstore actually diverge.

Attributes where Helm and Sigstore differ
AttributeHelmSigstore
Pricing modelopen-sourceOpen source, public instance free to use
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

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 Helm

Nothing recorded that Sigstore does not also cover.

Only in Sigstore

  • Fulcio
  • Rekor
  • Keyless signing
  • Multi-language clients
  • Timestamp authority
  • Neutral governance

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Helm

  • Kubernetes package manager and deployment toolnot Sigstore

Sigstore

  • Open source projects signing releases without running a certificate authoritynot Helm
  • Organisations meeting a signed-artifact requirement without buying a signing productnot Helm
  • Publishing provenance that a consumer can verify independently of younot Helm
  • Self-hosting the same components where a public log is unacceptablenot Helm

Where each one falls short

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

Helm

  • Licensed under Apache License 2.0 per the project's GitHub repository (helm/helm LICENSE); as open source software it has no paid tier or vendor price to compare
  • Contributors must sign commits under the Developer Certificate of Origin to have them accepted, per helm.sh, a process requirement not all Kubernetes tools impose

Sigstore

  • The security model depends on somebody watching the log. The documentation states that compromise of an identity provider or of Fulcio itself is detectable only if third parties monitor the transparency log, the monitoring tool is a community-tier rather than core project, and almost no consumer runs one.
  • It is a 99.5 percent objective with no service level agreement, which permits several hours of downtime a month and offers no remedy. A pipeline that signs on every build has taken a hard dependency on a free service with no contract behind it.
  • Log scale is a live engineering problem rather than a theoretical one. The active shard holds billions of entries, the log has already been sharded twice, and sharding version 1 requires stopping traffic, which is why a replacement was built.
  • Ten-minute certificates make trust depend on log availability. Verifying an older signature relies on the log entry proving it was made inside that window, so a lost or unreachable entry can render a valid artifact unverifiable.
  • Migration debt is substantial and ongoing. Version 2 of the log is generally available but not the public default, the signing client has an announced breaking release ahead, some official clients lag the new log format, and a post-quantum migration is named as the next break after that.

Pricing, plan by plan

Helm

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Helm review.

Sigstore

Free
  • Public good instanceFree
    • Free to everyone with no contract
    • 99.5 percent availability objective, not an agreement
    • 100KB cap per attestation upload
  • Self-hostedFree
    • Apache-2.0
    • Run your own Fulcio and Rekor
    • Rekor v2 available for self-hosters

Which should you pick?

Choose Helm if

  • You want to start without paying.
Helm review

Choose Sigstore if

  • You need fulcio.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
  • You also want rekor.
Sigstore review

Questions people ask

Is Helm or Sigstore better?
Neither clearly leads. Helm starts at Free and Sigstore at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Helm or Sigstore?
Helm starts at Free and Sigstore at Free.
Does Helm or Sigstore run on more platforms?
Helm runs on Web. Sigstore runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
Can I use Helm for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Helm best used for?
Helm is most often used for kubernetes package manager and deployment tool. Of those, kubernetes package manager and deployment tool is not what Sigstore is typically brought in for.
What can Helm do that Sigstore cannot?
Sigstore covers Fulcio, Rekor, Keyless signing, Multi-language clients.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Helm: How much does Helm cost?

Helm is free and open-source. It is a graduated project in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) with no commercial pricing model.

Source
Sigstore: Is the public instance really free?

Yes, with no contract and no paid tier. That is also the weakness: a 99.5 percent objective with no agreement, no remedy and support through Slack.

Sigstore: Has the public log moved to Rekor v2?

No. Version 2 reached general availability in October 2025 and self-hosters can use it, but the public instance still defaults to version 1 and the project has said it will for the foreseeable future.

Sigstore: Does Sigstore make my dependencies safe?

No, and this is a category error worth avoiding. It tells you who published something. It has no knowledge of what the artifact contains or whether it is vulnerable.

Sigstore: What are the rate limits?

Not published. Only the 100KB cap per attestation upload is documented, so do not design a high-volume pipeline around assumed throughput.

Sigstore: Should we self-host it?

If a public record of every signature is unacceptable, or if a free service with no agreement cannot sit in your build path, then yes. Otherwise the public instance is what most projects use.

Share

Related pages

More on Helm

More on Sigstore

Keep looking

Other head to heads