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Chainguard
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Researched profile. Starter Story's AI research system compiled this page from 42 public sources — the founder didn't write it. Automated research can misread or misattribute a source, so treat figures as best-effort. How this works →
Chainguard logo

How Chainguard Makes Money

Secure container images for open source software

How did Chainguard monetize?

Summary of the sourced claims below

Chainguard monetizes primarily through recurring SaaS subscriptions, offering tiered catalogs that range from basic hardened images to specialized variants for federal customers. They provide a free tier with a selection of images to allow developers to try their products before scaling up to paid subscriptions. The company charges enterprises usage-based fees, such as $20–30K per image per year, and has over 100 paying enterprise customers.

Revenue sources

4 sources · grouped by how Chainguard makes money

  • Recurring subscriptions

    · 5 mentions · 5 sources
    “Customers choose from annual or monthly SaaS subscriptions across tiered catalogs, ranging from basic hardened images to specialized FIPS-validated variants for federal customers.”
    high
    Show 4 more quotes
    “About a million ARR on that product.”
    high
    “He said the company now counts north of 100 paying enterprise customers and is forecasting more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue for 2025.”
    high
    “we have a free tier. So there's about, don't know how many images now, is maybe 40-odd images that are on the free tier”
    medium
    “To make its products more accessible, Chainguard introduced a free ChainGuard Catalog Starter tier. This tier gives users a choice of five free images. The tier is for developers who want to 'give it a taste' and scale up later.”
    medium

  • Usage-based fees

    · 1 mention
    “charging enterprises $20–30K per image per year.”
    high

  • Add-ons & upsells

    · 1 mention
    “cybersecurity and dev ops incumbents are bundling secured images as an upsell.”
    medium

  • Services & consulting

    · 1 mention
    “We started doing a bunch of open source work. We were just doing a bunch of stuff publicly, getting attention that way.”
    medium

How 1,859 businesses make money

Of businesses with mapped revenue sources, the share using each — Chainguard’s highlighted.
  • Recurring subscriptions
    54% ◀
  • Services & consulting
    30% ◀
  • Physical products
    29%
  • One-time / lifetime deals
    23%
  • Affiliate / referral commissions
    15%
  • Course / training sales
    13%
  • Sponsorships & partnerships
    10%
  • Usage-based fees
    9% ◀
  • Advertising revenue
    9%
  • Add-ons & upsells
    9% ◀
  • Marketplace commissions
    6%
  • Licensing
    2%
  • Setup / onboarding fees
    2%
  • Donations & tips
    2%
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