# Cloudsmith vs Distribution

| Attribute | Cloudsmith | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 63 (52% (medium)) | 63.5 (77% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 69 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 2,403 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 10,649 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A cloud-hosted system that secures your software supply chain by scanning all artifacts for vulnerabilities and policy violations, blocking risky items, and providing comprehensive audit trails of what's deployed where. It is indexed under Container Registries.","source":"https://cloudsmith.com","question":"What is Cloudsmith?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Cloudsmith supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://cloudsmith.com","question":"What platforms does Cloudsmith support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Cloudsmith, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://cloudsmith.com","question":"Can Cloudsmith be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 38 integrations for Cloudsmith, including AWS CodeBuild, Aikido, Ansible, Argo CD, Azure AD SSO, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket Pipelines and Buildkite, plus 30 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://cloudsmith.com","question":"What does Cloudsmith integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 and ISO 27001 for Cloudsmith. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Cloudsmith not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://trust.cloudsmith.com","question":"What security certifications does Cloudsmith have?","confidence":0.7}]` | `[{"answer":"Open-source registry implementing OCI Distribution Spec version 1.0.1 that enables you to store and distribute container images with full control over your distribution pipeline. It is indexed under Container Registries.","source":"https://distribution.github.io/distribution/","question":"What is Distribution?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Distribution is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://distribution.github.io/distribution/","question":"Is Distribution free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Distribution supports Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://distribution.github.io/distribution/","question":"What platforms does Distribution support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Distribution can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://distribution.github.io/distribution/","question":"Can Distribution be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Distribution is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution","question":"Is Distribution open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | A cloud-native platform for centralizing, securing, and distributing software artifacts in 30+ formats, featuring built-in vulnerability scanning, malware detection, and policy-based access controls. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"rbac":true,"web_ui":true,"hosting":"cloud","sbom_support":true,"image_signing":true,"oci_compliant":true,"private_repos":true,"artifact_types":"universal","cloud_iam_native":true,"pull_rate_limits":"tiered","high_availability":true,"pull_through_cache":true,"replication_mirroring":true,"vulnerability_scanning":true}` | `{"rbac":true,"web_ui":true,"hosting":"self","sbom_support":false,"image_signing":true,"oci_compliant":true,"private_repos":true,"artifact_types":"images","cloud_iam_native":false,"high_availability":true,"vulnerability_scanning":true}` |
| integrations.count | 20 | 2 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"AWS CodeBuild"},{"name":"Aikido"},{"name":"Ansible"},{"name":"Argo CD"},{"name":"Azure AD SSO"},{"name":"Azure DevOps"},{"name":"Bitbucket Pipelines"},{"name":"Buildkite"},{"name":"Chainguard"},{"name":"Chef"},{"name":"CircleCI"},{"name":"Codefresh"},{"name":"Datadog"},{"name":"Dependabot"},{"name":"Drone CI"},{"name":"GitHub Actions"},{"name":"GitHub Secret Scanning"},{"name":"GitLab CI/CD"},{"name":"Google SSO"},{"name":"Harness"},{"name":"Jenkins"},{"name":"JumpCloud SSO"},{"name":"Kusari"},{"name":"Microsoft Teams"},{"name":"Octopus Deploy"},{"name":"Okta"},{"name":"OneLogin SSO"},{"name":"Ping Identity"},{"name":"Puppet"},{"name":"Roadie"},{"name":"Semaphore CI"},{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"Terraform Provider"},{"name":"Travis CI"},{"name":"VS Code Extension"},{"name":"Webhooks"},{"name":"Zapier"},{"name":"GridLight"}]` | `[{"name":"GitHub","native":true,"direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Webhooks","native":true,"direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Warp terminal","native":false}]` |
| language.primary | - | Go |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | - | `{"type":"hybrid","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://distribution.github.io/distribution/","retrievedAt":"2026-09-11T16:12:43.477Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | - | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | - | low |
| pricing.transparent | - | no |
| release.cadence_days | - | 55 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.1.2","date":"2026-09-24T12:21:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.1.1","date":"2026-05-01T15:51:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.1.0","date":"2026-04-06T17:09:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0","date":"2025-04-03T06:25:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.4","date":"2025-03-22T14:59:29Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.3","date":"2025-02-11T16:21:07Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.2","date":"2024-12-18T15:23:19Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.1","date":"2024-11-07T21:04:41Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-beta.1","date":"2024-07-10T13:22:40Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-alpha.1","date":"2023-12-19T16:03:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-alpha.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.3","date":"2023-10-02T18:23:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.2","date":"2023-05-11T10:47:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.2-beta.2","date":"2023-05-09T23:32:56Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.8.2-beta.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.2-beta.1","date":"2023-05-09T22:42:12Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.8.2-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.1","date":"2022-03-08T18:19:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.0","date":"2022-02-07T15:53:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.0-beta.1","date":"2022-01-21T16:49:13Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.8.0-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.7.1","date":"2019-01-17T23:22:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.7.0","date":"2018-12-04T00:20:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.7.0-rc.0","date":"2018-09-28T23:23:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.7.0-rc.0"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 7.6 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":4,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fdistribution%2Fdistribution%2Fv3&per_page=100","last_12m":3,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` |

## Capabilities (Container Registries)

| Capability | Cloudsmith | Distribution |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud only | Self-hosted only |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OCI Distribution Spec compliant | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Scope** |  |  |
| Artifact types | Universal (images + language packages) | Container images only |
| **Security** |  |  |
| Built-in vulnerability scanning | ✓ | ✓ |
| Image signing (Cosign/Notation) | ✓ | ✓ |
| SBOM generation / storage | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Access** |  |  |
| Fine-grained RBAC / robot accounts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Private repositories | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Distribution** |  |  |
| Geo-replication / mirroring | ✓ | - |
| Pull-through cache / proxy | ✓ | - |
| **Integration** |  |  |
| Native cloud IAM integration | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Pricing** |  |  |
| Pull-rate limits | Tiered by plan | - |
| **UX** |  |  |
| Web UI / console | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| High-availability deployment | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T01:31:47.332Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*