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Cybersecurity · head to head

Keygen vs Very Good Security

Keygen logo

Keygen

Cybersecurity

Open, source-available software licensing API

From
Free
Rated
-
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
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Keygen has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Keygen specific Active Licensed User (ALU) pricing not listed; requires interactive pricing calculator; 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.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Keygen and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Keygen and Very Good Security differ
AttributeKeygenVery Good Security
Starting priceFree$1000/month
Pricing modelusage-basedPer month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, API

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 Keygen

Nothing recorded that Very Good Security does not also cover.

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.

Keygen

  • Software licensing and distributionnot Very Good Security
  • Product release managementnot Very Good Security
  • API-based license verificationnot 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 Keygen
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot Keygen
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot Keygen
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot Keygen

Where each one falls short

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

Keygen

  • Specific Active Licensed User (ALU) pricing not listed; requires interactive pricing calculator
  • Whitelabel API add-on costs $995/year per domain

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

Keygen

Free
  • DevFree
    • Up to 100 Active Licensed Users
    • 10 product releases
    • Core licensing API only
  • Std$null/month
    • Scaling with licensing volume
    • Distribution API (OCI/Docker, npm, Rubygems, PyPI, Tauri)
    • Flat monthly/yearly fees
  • Enterprise$null/month
    • Audit logs
    • SAML/SSO
    • IP filtering

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 Keygen if

  • You want to start without paying.
Keygen 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 Keygen or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Keygen 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, Keygen or Very Good Security?
Keygen has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Keygen and $1000/month for Very Good Security.
Does Keygen or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
Keygen runs on Web. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
Can I use Keygen for free?
Yes. Keygen has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Very Good Security starts at $1000/month.
What is Keygen best used for?
Keygen is most often used for software licensing and distribution, product release management, api-based license verification. Of those, software licensing and distribution and product release management are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can Keygen do that Very Good Security cannot?
Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Keygen: Does Keygen have a free tier?

Yes, the Dev tier is free and supports up to 100 Active Licensed Users with 10 product releases and core licensing API access.

Source
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.

Keygen: How is Keygen pricing calculated?

Keygen uses scalable, flat monthly or yearly fees based on your licensing volume (Active Licensed Users). No revenue share or transaction fees are charged.

Source
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.

Keygen: Does Keygen charge for additional features like SSO?

SAML/SSO is included in Enterprise tiers. Whitelabel API support costs $995/year per domain. Premium Support SLA is $995/month for Enterprise.

Source
Very Good Security: What does it cost?

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

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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