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Developer Tools · head to head

Swagger UI vs Very Good Security

Swagger UI logo

Swagger UI

Developer Tools

Interactive API documentation generated from OpenAPI specs

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
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

  • Only Swagger UI has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Swagger UI only as good as the specification: a thin OpenAPI file produces thin documentation; 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: Swagger UI covers OpenAPI rendering, 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 Swagger UI and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Swagger UI and Very Good Security differ
AttributeSwagger UIVery Good Security
Starting priceFree$1000/month
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feePer month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Self-hosted, DockerWeb, API
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

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 Swagger UI

  • OpenAPI rendering
  • Try it out
  • Schema display
  • Self-hostable

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.

Swagger UI

  • Publishing API documentation that stays in step with the specificationnot Very Good Security
  • Letting developers try endpoints before writing any client codenot Very Good Security
  • Internal API discovery across teamsnot 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 Swagger UI
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot Swagger UI
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot Swagger UI
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot Swagger UI

Where each one falls short

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

Swagger UI

  • Only as good as the specification: a thin OpenAPI file produces thin documentation
  • Default presentation is dated compared with modern documentation tools
  • Large specifications render slowly and become hard to navigate
  • Try it out against production needs care with authentication and CORS, and is often disabled as a result

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

Swagger UI

Free
  • Swagger UIFree
    • Full functionality
    • Commercial use permitted
    • Community support

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 Swagger UI if

  • You need openapi rendering.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, Docker.
  • You also want try it out.
Swagger UI 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 Swagger UI or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Swagger UI starts at Free 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, Swagger UI or Very Good Security?
Swagger UI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Swagger UI and $1000/month for Very Good Security.
Does Swagger UI or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
Swagger UI runs on Web, Self-hosted, Docker. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
Can I use Swagger UI for free?
Yes. Swagger UI has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Very Good Security starts at $1000/month.
What is Swagger UI best used for?
Swagger UI is most often used for publishing api documentation that stays in step with the specification, letting developers try endpoints before writing any client code, internal api discovery across teams. Of those, publishing api documentation that stays in step with the specification and letting developers try endpoints before writing any client code are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can Swagger UI do that Very Good Security cannot?
Swagger UI covers OpenAPI rendering, Try it out, Schema display, Self-hostable. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Swagger UI: Is Swagger UI free?

Yes, open source under the Apache 2.0 licence. SmartBear sells commercial SwaggerHub separately.

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.

Swagger UI: What is the difference between Swagger and OpenAPI?

OpenAPI is the specification format; Swagger is the toolset around it, including Swagger UI. The specification was renamed from Swagger to OpenAPI in 2016.

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.

Swagger UI: Can Swagger UI make real API calls?

Yes, through its try-it-out control, though authentication and CORS configuration often mean it is disabled for production APIs.

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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