Data anchoring and timestamping · Comparison
Bernstein vs Hedera Consensus Service vs KAS Anchor API
3 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Bernstein | Hedera Consensus Service | KAS Anchor API |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Compliance includedCourt-oriented proof of authorship for IP files: Bitcoin anchoring plus EU qualified timestamps, without the vendor seeing your files. | Worth the priceOrdered, consensus-timestamped records on a public ledger at a published $0.0008 per message, with no contract or vendor account. | Saves engineering timeAnchor private-chain block hashes or other data to the Kaia public chain through a managed API, without running a Kaia node. |
| Overall score | 3.7 | 4.8Best | 1.5 |
| Free option | Paid only | Paid only | –Not measured |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Sales call required |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $54/mo | $0.0008/message | –Not measured |
| Pricing model | Tiered | Usage-based | Custom quote |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Prices hidden |
| What it anchors to | Bitcoin, plus EU and China timestamp authorities | Hedera public ledger (messages on a topic) | Kaia mainnet (one transaction per payload) |
| Billing unit | Registration credit (one project version, up to 99 files) | $0.0008 per message, paid in HBAR | Pay as you go by anchoring cycle and usage, by contact |
| Free option | None; certificate validation is free | Testnet only | Not stated for the Anchor API |
| Reference scenario (100,000 hashes/mo) | Not offered (no API) | $80, one hash per message, computed | Priced by sales |
| Proof you keep | PDF certificate | No proof file; records on mirror nodes | Transaction hash per payload |
| Verify without the vendor | Manual steps documented; browser validator | Open-source mirror node you can run | Not described |
| Only the hash leaves your systems | No; files uploaded encrypted | Yes, you choose the message content | Yes, you choose the payload |
| Qualified timestamps (eIDAS) | EU qualified on Scale and Enterprise | No | No |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Not stated | Node data centres must be SOC 2 Type 2 | Not stated |
| API and webhooks | None | SDKs, mirror node REST and gRPC; no webhooks | REST API and caver SDK extensions; no webhooks |
| SSO | Enterprise plan, one-time setup fee | Not applicable (key-based accounts) | Not listed |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Bernstein is the most legally oriented option here, with EU qualified timestamps on a self-serve plan. It is a web app for IP files, not an anchoring API, from $54 a month. | From its public pages, HCS is the cheapest way here to put hashes on a public ledger at a price you can compute. You build the proof handling yourself, and there is no plan, contract or vendor audit report. | From its public pages, the KAS Anchor API is a managed route to anchor payloads on Kaia, now run by AhnLab Blockchain Company. Price, proofs and verification guidance are not on the pages. |
Evidence: Bernstein: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Hedera Consensus Service: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; KAS Anchor API: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Hedera Consensus Service review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Hedera Consensus Service when
- You want a fee you can compute from public pages, without a contract.
- Pick KAS Anchor API when
- You build on Kaia and want anchoring set up through a managed API account in Korea.
From our KAS Anchor API review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick KAS Anchor API when
- You build on Kaia or a private chain and want anchoring through a managed Korean API.
- Pick Hedera Consensus Service when
- You want a published fee per message and no contract.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- BernsteinLowest priceStarter$54/mo1 credit a month; $540 a year (2 months free); extra credits from $39
- Up to 99 files and 10 GB per project
- Credits roll over for 3 months
- Secure sharing
- No SSO
- Hedera Consensus ServiceMainnet, pay per transaction$0.0008/messageConsensusSubmitMessage; first 100 payload bytes included; paid in HBAR at the live rate
- Topic creation $0.01
- Account creation $0.05
- Messages up to 1,024 bytes
- BatchTransaction $0.001 plus each inner transaction
- KAS Anchor APIKAS API Starter$300/moGeneral KAS API plan: 100,000 requests a day
- Ticket-based support
- Overuse billed at the plan rate per request × 120%
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Bernstein 2026-10-15, Hedera Consensus Service 2026-10-15, KAS Anchor API 2026-10-15.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Hedera Consensus ServiceSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (4.8/10).
- Lowest starter price
- Bernstein$54/mo for the Starter plan. Hedera Consensus Service lists no comparable paid price.
- Highest overall score
- Hedera Consensus Service4.8/10 (Fair). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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