Cosign vs Notation

Cosign vs Notation
Fact	Cosign	Notation
Language	Go	Go
Licence	Apache-2.0	Apache-2.0
Stars	6.4k	502
Latest	v3.1.3	v1.3.2
Last push	2026-10-16	2026-09-25
Release cadence	about 10 days between releases	about 48 days between releases
Active contributors	23 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days	1 commit author on the default branch in the last 90 days
Flags	none	none

How they relate

Cosign replaces Notation. Alternatives to Notation →
Full replacementSigns and verifies container images and other artifacts, with keyless signing through Sigstore.
Notation replaces Cosign. Alternatives to Cosign →
Full replacementSigns and verifies OCI artifacts using X.509 certificates and a trust policy.

v3.1.32026-08-06This release resolves GHSA-fx35-mq7g-6g98, a verification bypass using an unexpected public key in a legacy bundle.
v2.6.52026-08-06This release backports GHSA-fx35-mq7g-6g98 (Verification bypass via public key in legacy bundle) to Cosign v2.6.x.
v3.1.22026-07-17This may be the last Cosign v3.1 release, as we finish deprecations and removing unused functionality. Soon we'll start…
v2.6.42026-07-17This release is a backport of OCI manifest fixes, and better support for cosign attestation download when you are using…
v3.1.12026-06-09_Note: v3.1.0 was skipped due to a bug in our release pipeline. v3.1.1 is identical to v3.1.0_

v1.3.22025-04-27Vote PASSED [+4 -0]:
v2.0.0-alpha.12025-03-13In notation v1.x, the notation sign command defaults to storing signatures using the OCI referrers tag schema for maxim…pre-release
v1.3.12025-02-24Vote PASSED [+5 -0]: #1186
v1.3.02025-01-21Notation v1.3.0 is an implementation of Notary Project Specifications v1.1.0.
v1.3.0-rc.22024-12-31Vote PASSED [+4 -0]: #1130pre-release

✓ signed The latest release, v3.1.3, carries a signature GitHub verified.

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✓ signed The latest release, v1.3.2, carries a signature GitHub verified.

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