Softwr

Government · head to head

OpenGov vs Sigstore

OpenGov logo

OpenGov

Government

Modern Cloud ERP for Government

From
$1000/month
Free plan
No
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

  • Only Sigstore has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: OpenGov custom pricing only, no transparent public pricing; 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.
  • They diverge on capability: OpenGov covers Budgeting & Planning, Sigstore covers Fulcio.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which OpenGov and Sigstore actually diverge.

Attributes where OpenGov and Sigstore differ
AttributeOpenGovSigstore
Starting price$1000/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, public instance free to use
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity
Founded2012Unknown

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 OpenGov

  • Budgeting & Planning
  • Financial Reporting
  • Permitting & Licensing
  • Asset Management
  • Transparency Portal
  • Tyler Technologies
  • Munis
  • Microsoft Excel

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.

OpenGov

  • Citizen Servicesnot Sigstore
  • Records Managementnot Sigstore
  • Public Safetynot Sigstore
  • Civic Engagementnot Sigstore

Sigstore

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

Where each one falls short

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

OpenGov

  • Custom pricing only, no transparent public pricing
  • No free tier available
  • Requires vendor contact for quotes

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

OpenGov

$1000/month
  • Government Cloud$1000/month
    • Budgeting & Planning
    • Reporting & Transparency
    • Citizen Services

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 OpenGov if

  • You need budgeting & planning.
  • You also want financial reporting.
OpenGov 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 OpenGov or Sigstore better?
Neither clearly leads. OpenGov starts at $1000/month and Sigstore at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, OpenGov or Sigstore?
Sigstore has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $1000/month for OpenGov and Free for Sigstore.
Does OpenGov or Sigstore run on more platforms?
OpenGov runs on Web. Sigstore runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
Can I use Sigstore for free?
Yes. Sigstore has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. OpenGov starts at $1000/month.
What is OpenGov best used for?
OpenGov is most often used for citizen services, records management, public safety, civic engagement. Of those, citizen services and records management are not what Sigstore is typically brought in for.
What can OpenGov do that Sigstore cannot?
OpenGov covers Budgeting & Planning, Financial Reporting, Permitting & Licensing, Asset Management. Sigstore covers Fulcio, Rekor, Keyless signing, Multi-language clients.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

OpenGov: What does OpenGov provide?

OpenGov is government budgeting and planning software for municipalities and public sector organizations. It helps with budget planning, financial management, and government transparency.

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.

OpenGov: How much does OpenGov cost?

OpenGov pricing is custom and quote-based. There is no public pricing listed. Organizations need to contact OpenGov directly for a proposal based on their specific needs.

Source
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.

OpenGov: Is there a free tier?

No. OpenGov does not offer a free plan. Pricing requires direct vendor contact and is procurement-led.

Source
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 OpenGov

More on Sigstore

Keep looking

Other head to heads