Softwr

Cybersecurity · head to head

Private Internet Access vs Sigstore

P

Private Internet Access

Cybersecurity

Long-standing VPN service with a large server network and flexible multi-year plans

From
$11.99/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sigstore logo

Sigstore

Cybersecurity

Free public signing and transparency infrastructure for open source artifacts

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Sigstore has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Private Internet Access monthly plan is priced noticeably higher than the discounted multi-year commitments, penalizing short-term users.; 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: Private Internet Access covers Split tunneling, Sigstore covers Fulcio.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Private Internet Access and Sigstore actually diverge.

Attributes where Private Internet Access and Sigstore differ
AttributePrivate Internet AccessSigstore
Starting price$11.99/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, public instance free to use
Free tierNoYes
Platformswindows, mac, linux, ios, androidWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted

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 Private Internet Access

  • Split tunneling
  • Kill switch
  • Ad and tracker blocking
  • Dedicated IP add-on
  • Bundled antivirus add-on

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.

Private Internet Access

  • Encrypting traffic on public Wi-Fi with a kill switchnot Sigstore
  • Blocking ads and trackers network-wide via MACEnot Sigstore
  • Maintaining a consistent connection identity with a dedicated IP add-onnot Sigstore
  • Committing to a long-term plan for a lower effective monthly ratenot Sigstore

Sigstore

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

Where each one falls short

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

Private Internet Access

  • Monthly plan is priced noticeably higher than the discounted multi-year commitments, penalizing short-term users.
  • Dedicated IP and antivirus are paid add-ons rather than included features.
  • Headquartered in a jurisdiction whose privacy reputation some competitors market against, despite audited no-logs claims.
  • App interface is less streamlined than some higher-priced premium VPN competitors.

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

Private Internet Access

$11.99/month
  • Monthly$11.99/month
    • Billed month to month
    • Full server network access
    • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • 1-Year$3.1/month
    • Billed annually at $37.19
    • Full server network access
  • 2-Year$2.19/month
    • Lowest advertised rate, billed every 2 years
    • Full server network access

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 Private Internet Access if

  • You need split tunneling.
  • You work on windows, mac, linux, ios, android.
  • You also want kill switch.
Private Internet Access 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 Private Internet Access or Sigstore better?
Neither clearly leads. Private Internet Access starts at $11.99/month and Sigstore at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Private Internet Access or Sigstore?
Sigstore has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $11.99/month for Private Internet Access and Free for Sigstore.
Does Private Internet Access or Sigstore run on more platforms?
Private Internet Access runs on windows, mac, linux, ios, android. 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. Private Internet Access starts at $11.99/month.
What is Private Internet Access best used for?
Private Internet Access is most often used for encrypting traffic on public wi-fi with a kill switch, blocking ads and trackers network-wide via mace, maintaining a consistent connection identity with a dedicated ip add-on, committing to a long-term plan for a lower effective monthly rate. Of those, encrypting traffic on public wi-fi with a kill switch and blocking ads and trackers network-wide via mace are not what Sigstore is typically brought in for.
What can Private Internet Access do that Sigstore cannot?
Private Internet Access covers Split tunneling, Kill switch, Ad and tracker blocking, Dedicated IP add-on. Sigstore covers Fulcio, Rekor, Keyless signing, Multi-language clients.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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 Private Internet Access

More on Sigstore

Keep looking

Other head to heads