Cosign vs CyberArk Code Sign Manager - Self-Hosted

Cosign is a free tool for signing and verifying OCI container images and other software artifacts. It can store container signatures in an OCI registry and publish generic artifacts through OCI. Supported targets include blobs, binaries, scripts, configuration files, SBOMs, WASM modules, Tekton bundles, eBPF modules, and in-toto attestations whose payloads use DSSE. Its default keyless workflow uses temporary keys held in memory, short-lived certificates from Sigstore’s Fulcio certificate authority, and entries in the Rekor transparency log. Other signing options include hardware and KMS-backed keys, encrypted keypairs generated by Cosign, and user-provided PKI. Cosign supports CI/CD signing, with guidance for GitHub Actions and GitLab CI/CD. Offline verification is possible when the image and signature materials are available locally and a trusted root is supplied. The project describes Cosign as a legacy signing system and recommends Sigstore-go for verification integrations. Its CLI-focused design has no API stability guarantees, and the documentation does not recommend it for application integration.

CyberArk Code Sign Manager - Self-Hosted protects and governs private code signing keys managed by Trust Protection Foundation. Keys can be held in the platform’s Secret Store or on an HSM. Administrators can set restrictions based on purpose, user, and IP address, and configure whether signing requires approvals. Approval flows can have multiple levels, limited-use approvals, and expiration options; approvers receive email notifications to review requests. The system audits key use, and APIs expose event logs and signing statistics. REST APIs can request signing, manage projects and environments, set user rights, inspect logs, and approve or reject requests. Identities and groups can be added through Active Directory or an LDAP provider and assigned roles in signing projects. Clients are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, with interfaces including CSP/KSP, PKCS#11, GPG, and macOS Keychain; .NET is listed for Windows. GPG private keys remain within Trust Protection Foundation while public keys and private-key stubs synchronize to workstations. Installation is part of a Trust Protection Foundation deployment and requires several listed components, including Certificate Lifecycle and Monitoring, Key Lifecycle and Monitoring, HSM Backend, Authentication Server, Web Console, and Web SDK. Pricing is on request.