Chainguard Registry vs Distribution
No clear leader: Distribution (63.5) and Chainguard Registry (59.3) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for container registries. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
Chainguard Registry
A registry service providing pre-hardened container images, language libraries, and VM images built with security-first design and continuously patched against vulnerabilities. Designed to reduce engineering overhead and ensure compliance without manual security management.
Distribution
A cloud-based container image registry where developers can publish, discover, and collaborate on containerized applications. Includes user management, access controls, automated builds, and webhooks for integration into development workflows.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
Chainguard Registry
Free tier with 5 images. Paid plans from $19K/year for catalog access.
- FreeFree
- 5 images per organization
- Base, Application, and AI/ML images
- No CVE remediation SLA
- Catalog$19K/year for team of 10 (full container catalog access)
- Full access to 3,000+ images
- Unlimited pulls with no metering
- CVE remediation SLA (7 days critical, 14 days high/medium/low)
- SLSA L3 hardened infrastructure
- Sigstore signed artifacts with build-time SBOMs and attestations
- +3 more
- Per-ImageContact sales
- Flexible licensing by image count and type (base, app, AI/ML, FIPS)
- CVE remediation SLA
- Libraries-
- Python, Java, JavaScript libraries
- Unlimited applications per language with no metering
- Cross-compatibility across Linux distributions
- Virtual MachinesContact sales
- Minimal hardened OS images for general use or language runtimes
- CVE remediation SLA
- Multi-cloud and on-premises support
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
- GitHub
Chainguard Registry
- Cursor
- AWS Security Hub
- Wiz
- GitHub Actions
- npm
- SAP Cloud Application Programming Model
- Kubernetes
- Kiro
- Grype
- Trivy
- AWS Inspector
- Anchore Enterprise
- Snyk
- GitLab
- CrowdStrike
- Qualys
- JFrog Artifactory
- Cloudsmith
- Harbor
- Nexus
- Google Artifact Registry
- Docker Hub
- Amazon ECR
- Microsoft ACR
Distribution
- Webhooks
- Warp terminal
Chainguard Registry or Distribution: which one depends on you
A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.