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Cybersecurity · head to head

Sigstore vs Violentmonkey

Sigstore logo

Sigstore

Cybersecurity

Free public signing and transparency infrastructure for open source artifacts

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Violentmonkey logo

Violentmonkey

Browser Extensions

Open source userscript manager

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Violentmonkey smaller script ecosystem compared to Tampermonkey which has larger user base and more available scripts
  • They diverge on capability: Sigstore covers Fulcio, Violentmonkey covers Userscript support.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Sigstore and Violentmonkey actually diverge.

Attributes where Sigstore and Violentmonkey differ
AttributeSigstoreViolentmonkey
Pricing modelOpen source, public instance free to useUnknown
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hostedChrome, Firefox, Edge
CategoryCybersecurityBrowser Extensions
FoundedUnknown2013

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Sigstore

  • Fulcio
  • Rekor
  • Keyless signing
  • Multi-language clients
  • Timestamp authority
  • Neutral governance

Only in Violentmonkey

  • Userscript support
  • Clean interface
  • Cloud sync
  • Script editor
  • Chrome support
  • Firefox support
  • Edge support
  • Opera support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Sigstore

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

Violentmonkey

  • Run open-source userscripts to customize or automate web pagesnot Sigstore
  • Import scripts compatible with Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey formatsnot Sigstore
  • Sync scripts and settings across browsers via Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, or WebDAVnot Sigstore
  • Batch import/export scripts as zip filesnot Sigstore

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Violentmonkey

  • Smaller script ecosystem compared to Tampermonkey which has larger user base and more available scripts
  • Less marketing and visibility results in lower adoption compared to more widely-known alternatives
  • Community maintenance model means slower feature development compared to commercial alternatives

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Violentmonkey

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Violentmonkey review.

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Violentmonkey if

  • You need userscript support.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Chrome, Firefox, Edge.
  • You also want clean interface.
Violentmonkey review

Questions people ask

Is Sigstore or Violentmonkey better?
Neither clearly leads. Sigstore starts at Free and Violentmonkey at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Sigstore or Violentmonkey?
Sigstore starts at Free and Violentmonkey at Free.
Does Sigstore or Violentmonkey run on more platforms?
Sigstore runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted. Violentmonkey runs on Chrome, Firefox, Edge.
Can I use Sigstore for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Sigstore best used for?
Sigstore is most often used for open source projects signing releases without running a certificate authority, organisations meeting a signed-artifact requirement without buying a signing product, publishing provenance that a consumer can verify independently of you, self-hosting the same components where a public log is unacceptable. Of those, open source projects signing releases without running a certificate authority and organisations meeting a signed-artifact requirement without buying a signing product are not what Violentmonkey is typically brought in for.
What can Sigstore do that Violentmonkey cannot?
Sigstore covers Fulcio, Rekor, Keyless signing, Multi-language clients. Violentmonkey covers Userscript support, Clean interface, Cloud sync, Script editor.

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.

Violentmonkey: Is Violentmonkey open-source?

Yes. Violentmonkey is fully open-source and available on GitHub, making it free to use and community-maintained unlike Tampermonkey which has a larger proprietary ecosystem.

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.

Violentmonkey: What browsers does Violentmonkey support?

Violentmonkey works on browsers with WebExtensions support, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers.

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.

Violentmonkey: How does Violentmonkey compare to Tampermonkey in performance?

Community benchmarks show Violentmonkey uses about 15 to 30 percent less RAM on Chrome compared to Tampermonkey when managing many open tabs.

Source
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.

Violentmonkey: What is the current version of Violentmonkey?

Violentmonkey reached version 2.46.0 as of July 31, 2026, with active ongoing development and regular updates to the open-source project.

Source
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.

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