Data anchoring and timestamping · Comparison
OriginStamp vs Hedera Consensus Service vs Bernstein: Hedera leads at 4.8; 100,000 hashes cost $80 or need a sales call
We read the pricing, fee, security, legal and docs pages of three data anchoring services on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. How each one bills, what 100,000 hashes a month cost, and who should pick which.
On this page9 sections
On six indicators read from each vendor's public pages, Hedera Consensus Service scores 4.8, OriginStamp 3.8 and Bernstein 3.7 out of 10. For our reference scenario, anchoring 100,000 SHA-256 hashes a month through an API with a proof for each, only Hedera can be priced from its pages: $80 a month at $0.0008 per message. OriginStamp prices by offer, and Bernstein has no API; it certifies project versions in a web app instead. Hedera leads on pricing clarity and price; OriginStamp on proof independence and developer features; Bernstein on compliance and legal standing, with EU qualified timestamps on a self-serve plan.
All three scores are in the Fair band, and that says more about what this market publishes than about the products. One of the three puts no price on the page and another has no API, none states its own SOC 2 or ISO 27001, and none offers a free plan with API access to a production chain. The scores measure what the public pages commit to, not how well each product works, and we did not sign up for any of them.
At a glance
| OriginStamp | Hedera Consensus Service | Bernstein | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Anchoring API with Merkle batching | Consensus timestamps on a public ledger | IP certificates in a web app |
| Anchors to | Bitcoin and Ethereum | Hedera public ledger | Bitcoin, plus EU and China TSAs |
| Billing unit | Offer by timestamps and proofs | $0.0008 per message, in HBAR | Registration credit per project version |
| Free option | Free web tool; test key on request | Testnet only | None |
| Reference scenario (100,000 hashes) | Priced by sales | $80, computed | Not offered (no API) |
| Proof you keep | Certificate or raw proof | None; records on mirror nodes | PDF certificate |
| Only the hash leaves your systems | Yes | Yes | No; files uploaded encrypted |
| Qualified timestamps | eIDAS compatibility on request | No | EU qualified on Scale and Enterprise |
| Score (public pages) | 3.8 Fair | 4.8 Fair | 3.7 Fair |
What the public pages show
OriginStamp takes SHA-256 hashes through a REST API, several per request, combines them with other customers' hashes into Merkle trees and anchors each root to Bitcoin and Ethereum; its docs list a 24-hour timestamp interval for both. Webhooks report when a tree is verified, and a proof request returns the branch. The docs FAQ says pricing depends on the number of timestamps and proofs, with offers and a free test API key by email. The company says it has run timestamping since 2013 and created more than 60 million proofs; its home page now leads with OriginVault, an archive product.
Hedera Consensus Service is a network service, not an app. Any account can submit messages to a topic and receive a consensus timestamp and order; mirror nodes keep the history. The fee table lists $0.0008 per message with the first 100 payload bytes included, $0.01 per topic and $0.05 per account, set in USD and paid in HBAR. The Developer Portal creates testnet accounts only; mainnet accounts come from a supported wallet.
Bernstein certifies versions of IP projects. Files are encrypted in the browser, the project fingerprint is recorded in a Bitcoin multisig transaction, and Scale and Enterprise subscriptions add EU qualified and China timestamps. Starter is $54 a month for 1 credit, Scale $119 for 5, Enterprise $329 for 30, or $64 for a single credit (US prices; the page shows the visitor's local currency).
Strengths and things to know
OriginStamp. Strengths: two public chains per hash, hash-only submission, batch API and webhooks, documented verification without the vendor, a long track record. Things to know: no published price; the docs FAQ still describes deriving a Bitcoin address from the Merkle root while the verification guide says OP_RETURN outputs have been used since Feb 15, 2021; the product page lists SDKs that the docs do not name; the GitHub verification repo is a README, archived on Mar 27, 2026.
Hedera Consensus Service. Strengths: the only per-hash price here you can compute from the pages, open-source SDKs and mirror node software, private topics with a submit key, room in each message for a Merkle root. Things to know: no proof file, one message per hash unless you batch yourself, no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 in Hedera's own name (the docs require SOC 2 Type 2 data centres for nodes), and keys and HBAR to manage.
Bernstein. Strengths: EU qualified timestamps on a self-serve plan, encrypted files, chained version history, a court-evidence guide that cites decisions, SSO, roles and audit logs for enterprises. Things to know: no API or free plan, an unpublished SSO setup fee, and a Starter card that lists qualified timestamps the note under the plans reserves for Scale and Enterprise.
Pricing reality
The three bill on unrelated models, so we state one scenario and show what each page allows. Reference scenario: anchoring 100,000 SHA-256 hashes a month through an API, each with its own verifiable proof, at the lowest listed rates.
| Service | Plan | Monthly cost | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hedera Consensus Service | Mainnet, pay per message | $80 | Computed: 100,000 × $0.0008; a 32-byte hash is within the 100 payload bytes included |
| OriginStamp | Timestamping API | Priced by sales | Docs FAQ: price depends on timestamps and proofs; offer by email |
| Bernstein | None | Not offered | No API; one credit certifies one project version in the web app |
Hedera's $80 assumes one hash per message with one signature and leaves out the one-time $0.01 topic. If you build Merkle batching yourself and submit one root an hour, 720 messages in a 30-day month cost $0.58 (our arithmetic), but you then store the branches yourself; OriginStamp does that batching for you. For Bernstein, the unit is different: extra Enterprise credits start at $14, and each credit covers one project version of up to 99 files.
How we scored them
Every product in this category is scored on the same six indicators, read from the vendor's own pricing, fee, security, legal or docs pages, with fixed formulas. The overall score is the plain mean. Our methodology page explains how these scores work.
| Indicator | OriginStamp | Hedera Consensus Service | Bernstein |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing clarity | 3 | 9 | 8 |
| Free tier | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Price for 100,000 hashes | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Proof independence and privacy | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| Compliance and legal standing | 3.5 | 0.5 | 5 |
| Developer and team features | 5 | 4.5 | 4 |
| Overall | 3.8 | 4.8 | 3.7 |
OriginStamp loses most on the two price items, because no price is published. Hedera loses on compliance, where only its node data centres' SOC 2 is stated, and on proof independence, because it gives no proof file. Bernstein scores 0 on the scenario because it has no API, which reflects what it is built for: certifying IP files by hand, where its EU qualified timestamps and legal material count.
The rubric rewards what a buyer can confirm before signing up. It does not score how often a vendor anchors, the quality of a certificate, or how each product feels to use.
Also in this category
Truestamp scores 3.5: the strongest proof portability here (Stellar and Bitcoin, self-contained bundles, an open-source offline verifier, redaction), but only its free plan of 50 items a month can be used, because paid billing is not turned on yet. KAS Anchor API scores 1.5: a managed API that writes payloads to the Kaia mainnet, run by AhnLab Blockchain Company since Ground X transferred KAS on Apr 30, 2025, priced by contact.
Who should choose which
- Choose Hedera Consensus Service if you want an ordered, timestamped record on a public ledger at a price you can compute, and your team can manage keys, HBAR and its own batching. Look elsewhere if you need a proof file or a vendor audit report.
- Choose OriginStamp if you want hashes from your systems anchored to Bitcoin and Ethereum through an API, with batching, webhooks and proofs handled for you. Look elsewhere if you need a published price first.
- Choose Bernstein if you certify IP files and want EU qualified timestamps and court-oriented certificates on a self-serve plan. Look elsewhere if you need an API.
Bottom line
From public pages alone, Hedera is the only one of the three you can price for volume anchoring, and it is cheap per message, but you build the proof handling. OriginStamp is the most complete anchoring service, behind a sales conversation. Bernstein is a different tool for a different job: legally oriented certificates for IP files, with EU qualified timestamps. Free and open alternatives exist as a baseline: OpenTimestamps is a free open protocol with public calendar servers, and OriginStamp itself compares its service against it.
How we checked
We read the vendors' pricing pages and fee tables, product, security, legal and documentation pages on Oct 15, 2026, including Bernstein's pricing page, which shows the visitor's local currency (South Korean won from our location; its US-dollar prices are from the Internet Archive's copy of Oct 4, 2026). We did not sign up, submit a hash or verify a proof. Facts the pages did not state, such as OriginStamp's prices or whether its product page's SDKs exist, are left out rather than guessed. Every figure is on the vendors' pages as of that date or, where marked, computed from them.
