Softwr

Government · head to head

ShotSpotter vs Very Good Security

ShotSpotter logo

ShotSpotter

Government

Gunshot Detection Technology

From
$5000/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: ShotSpotter shotSpotter now trades as SoundThinking and shotspotter.com redirects to soundthinking.com; 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: ShotSpotter covers Gunshot Detection, 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 ShotSpotter and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where ShotSpotter and Very Good Security differ
AttributeShotSpotterVery Good Security
Starting price$5000/month$1000/month
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer month
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb, API
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity
Founded1996Unknown

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 ShotSpotter

  • Gunshot Detection
  • Location Triangulation
  • Real-time Alerts
  • Forensic Analysis
  • Historical Data
  • CAD Systems
  • 911 Centers
  • Camera Systems

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.

ShotSpotter

  • Gunshot detection and location alerting for police departmentsnot Very Good Security
  • Directing patrol response to outdoor firearm dischargesnot Very Good Security
  • Building incident data for law enforcement analysisnot 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 ShotSpotter
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot ShotSpotter
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot ShotSpotter
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot ShotSpotter

Where each one falls short

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

ShotSpotter

  • ShotSpotter now trades as SoundThinking and shotspotter.com redirects to soundthinking.com
  • No pricing is published; the site routes to contact and demo requests with no published rate, minimum or cost driver
  • The service depends on an acoustic sensor array installed across a defined coverage area rather than being software alone

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

ShotSpotter

$5000/month
  • Detection Service$5000/month
    • Gunshot Detection
    • Real-time Alerts
    • Forensic Reports

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 ShotSpotter if

  • You need gunshot detection.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want location triangulation.
ShotSpotter 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 ShotSpotter or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. ShotSpotter starts at $5000/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, ShotSpotter or Very Good Security?
ShotSpotter starts at $5000/month and Very Good Security at $1000/month.
Does ShotSpotter or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
ShotSpotter runs on Web, Ios, Android. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
What is ShotSpotter best used for?
ShotSpotter is most often used for gunshot detection and location alerting for police departments, directing patrol response to outdoor firearm discharges, building incident data for law enforcement analysis. Of those, gunshot detection and location alerting for police departments and directing patrol response to outdoor firearm discharges are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can ShotSpotter do that Very Good Security cannot?
ShotSpotter covers Gunshot Detection, Location Triangulation, Real-time Alerts, Forensic Analysis. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ShotSpotter: Does SoundThinking publish ShotSpotter pricing?

No. SoundThinking does not disclose ShotSpotter pricing on their website. Interested municipalities and organizations must request a consultation, contact the sales team, or book a demo.

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.

ShotSpotter: How do I get a ShotSpotter quote?

SoundThinking directs prospects to book a demo, contact them directly, or request a consultation through their website. No self-serve pricing, calculator, or trial is available.

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.

ShotSpotter: Who is ShotSpotter for?

ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection system designed for law enforcement and municipalities to improve public safety response.

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.

Share

Related pages

More on ShotSpotter

More on Very Good Security

Keep looking

Other head to heads