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Chainguard
Secure-by-default open source software with hardened container images and libraries
As of 29 August 2026, Chainguard has a free plan and paid plans start at $19000/year. Chainguard provides hardened, production-ready builds of open source software including containers, libraries, and virtual machines. Softwr lists it under Cybersecurity. Chainguard is available on Web.
Overview
What Chainguard does
Chainguard is a platform dedicated to providing secure-by-default open source software built with security as a foundational principle. The company delivers hardened container images, malware-resistant language libraries, and virtual machine images designed to prevent AI attacks and reduce supply chain risk. Chainguard Containers provides minimal container images with only essential dependencies, available as five images to test for free or through catalog subscriptions starting at 19,000 USD for 10-person teams providing access to 2,000+ images. Chainguard Libraries offers secure language packages with automatic CVE backports (currently available for Python) licensed by ecosystem and developer count with unlimited pulls and no metering. Chainguard VMs provides hardened virtual machine images available per-image licensing or through catalog subscriptions. All artifacts are built in SLSA L2/L3 hardened infrastructure with Sigstore signatures and SBOMs, and include contractual CVE remediation SLAs guaranteeing patches for critical vulnerabilities within 7 days and high/medium/low within 14 days.
What people use it for
- Deploying hardened container images with minimal attack surface
- Meeting supply chain security requirements for regulated industries
- Reducing CVE exposure with contractual remediation guarantees
- Building secure language packages with automatic backports
- Verifying artifact provenance with Sigstore signatures
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Chainguard.
- Containers Catalog at 19,000 USD/year expensive for teams under 10 people
- Per-image pricing for containers requires custom quotes with no transparency
- Free tier limited to 5 container images for testing
- Libraries pricing by ecosystem and developer count lacks transparent per-developer cost
- VM image catalog pricing opacity makes cost estimation difficult
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Chainguard
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
Pricing
What Chainguard costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Free Tier
Free
- Five container images to test and deploy
Containers Per-Image
On request
- Licensed by quantity and type
- Base images, application images, AI/ML images, FIPS variants
- Custom pricing per image
Containers Catalog
$19,000 /yr
- For 10-person engineering teams
- 2,000+ container images
- Contractual CVE remediation SLAs
- Console-based management
Libraries Licensing
On request
- Licensed by ecosystem (Python, Java, JavaScript)
- Licensed by developer count
- Unlimited pulls with no metering
- CVE backports included
VMs Per-Image
On request
- Licensed by VM type and quantity
VMs Catalog
On request
- Pricing based on engineering organization size
Capabilities
Features
Hardened container images
Minimal container images with only essential dependencies
CVE remediation SLA
7-day critical, 14-day high/med/low contractual SLA
SLSA L2/L3 builds
Built in hardened infrastructure with supply chain verification
Sigstore signatures
Cryptographic verification of artifacts
SBOM generation
Software bill of materials for each artifact
Language libraries
Secure Python, Java, JavaScript packages with CVE backports
VM images
Hardened virtual machine images for deployment
Artifact scanning
Integration with Snyk, Trivy, AWS Inspector
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
How much is the Chainguard Containers Catalog?
The Containers Catalog is 19,000 USD per year for 10-person engineering teams, providing access to 2,000+ hardened container images.
SourceWhat SLAs does Chainguard offer?
Chainguard provides contractual CVE remediation SLAs: 7 days for critical vulnerabilities, 14 days for high/medium/low severity, all with priority support.
SourceCan I try Chainguard before purchasing?
Yes. The free tier includes five container images for testing and deployment, allowing hands-on evaluation.
SourceKeep looking
Where to go from Chainguard
- Chainguard alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Chainguard pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Chainguard badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Cybersecurity softwareThe full category
- Best Cybersecurity softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Cybersecurity software for
Compare Chainguard with
- Snyk
- Trivy
- Doppler
- Infisical
- Grype
- Arnica
- HashiCorp Vault
- Bitwarden
- Semgrep
- Authelia
- Endor Labs
- Tenable
- Hanwha Vision
- Idira
- IVPN
- Logto
- Malwarebytes
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Chainguard, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
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