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Government · head to head

OpenCities vs Very Good Security

OpenCities logo

OpenCities

Government

Digital Government Experience Platform

From
$500/month
Free plan
No
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

  • Each has a real cost: OpenCities population-based pricing model limits scalability for growing municipalities; 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: OpenCities covers Website Management, 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 OpenCities and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where OpenCities and Very Good Security differ
AttributeOpenCitiesVery Good Security
Starting price$500/month$1000/month
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer month
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb, API
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity
Founded2008Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 OpenCities

  • Website Management
  • Digital Forms
  • Search Optimization
  • Accessibility Compliance
  • Analytics
  • Salesforce
  • Microsoft 365
  • Google Analytics

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.

OpenCities

  • Citizen Servicesnot Very Good Security
  • Records Managementnot Very Good Security
  • Public Safetynot Very Good Security
  • Civic Engagementnot 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 OpenCities
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot OpenCities
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot OpenCities
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot OpenCities

Where each one falls short

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

OpenCities

  • Population-based pricing model limits scalability for growing municipalities
  • No self-hosted or on-premises deployment option
  • Limited code customization without vendor support

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

OpenCities

$500/month
  • Government Platform$500/month
    • Website CMS
    • Digital Forms
    • Accessibility

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 OpenCities if

  • You need website management.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want digital forms.
OpenCities 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 OpenCities or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. OpenCities starts at $500/month 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, OpenCities or Very Good Security?
OpenCities starts at $500/month and Very Good Security at $1000/month.
Does OpenCities or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
OpenCities runs on Web, Mobile. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
What is OpenCities best used for?
OpenCities is most often used for citizen services, records management, public safety, civic engagement. Of those, citizen services and records management are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can OpenCities do that Very Good Security cannot?
OpenCities covers Website Management, Digital Forms, Search Optimization, Accessibility Compliance. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

OpenCities: Does OpenCities work offline?

No, OpenCities is a cloud-based SaaS platform that requires an internet connection. All editing and management is done through web browsers.

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.

OpenCities: What accessibility standards does OpenCities meet?

OpenCities is maintained to comply with WCAG AA requirements, ensuring equitable access to government services and information for all residents.

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.

OpenCities: Can I integrate OpenCities with other government systems?

Yes. OpenCities integrates with Google Analytics, govDelivery for notifications, EngagementHQ for feedback collection, Legistar for meeting management, and Active Directory for intranet workflows.

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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