Scaling Trust Through Partnership: Introducing the Chainguard Partner Program

Today marks an important milestone for Chainguard, and for the broader software development ecosystem. We’re proud to announce the launch of the Chainguard Partner Program — a global initiative designed to empower our channel partners to deliver trusted open source software to their customers around the world.

This launch represents a commitment to scaling, deepening collaboration, and empowering channel partners to play a central role in securing the software that powers the world.

The growing need for trusted open source software

The rise in high-profile attacks like SolarWinds, Log4Shell, and xz-utils has underscored a simple truth: organizations need more than visibility into their software supply chains. And with open source software now accounting for more than 90% of the code in most modern applications, these organizations also need verifiability into who is creating and maintaining the code in their build environments.

Regulatory frameworks like FedRAMP, PCI, NIST SSDF, HIPAA, DORA, CRA, and emerging sovereign cloud requirements have only added urgency. Organizations are being asked to do more, prove more, and move faster — all while under the constraints of modern software development lifecycles.

At Chainguard, we help organizations meet these demands without slowing down development. Our trusted open source artifacts — from container images to language libraries to virtual machines — are continuously rebuilt from source in hardened environments, reducing an organization's attack surface, minimizing engineering overhead, and accelerating the path to compliance.

Scaling trust through a partner-first future

The Chainguard Partner Program is built around a simple idea: when we empower the right partners, we scale trust.

This program introduces a two-tier structure designed to reward engagement, technical excellence, and joint success. Key features include:

• Incentives that work for our partners: Whether partners are sourcing deals, co-selling, or referring customers, we’ve got reward structures that scale with them.

• World-class enablement: From hands-on technical training to partner-exclusive tools and advisory councils, we’re setting our partners up for success.

• Joint go-to-market support: We believe in growing together with our partners – with co-branded campaigns, account mapping, sales enablement, and marketing muscle. 

• First-mover advantage: Partners can be the first in their region or sector to deliver a disruptive, category-defining solution to their customers. 

Our model is designed to be non-disruptive. We bridge the gap between traditional channel models and modern cloud ecosystems by working closely with cloud service providers, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure. This allows us to bring together the strengths of our channel partners and the innovation of cloud service providers to create a future-proof model that drives mutual success.

Early momentum with our global partners

We’re launching with strong early momentum. Channel partners such as Bytes, Defy, DevOps1, and EVOTEK are already leveraging our platform to help customers enhance developer velocity, meet compliance demands, and reduce risk in their software infrastructure.

“At Bytes, we actively seek out vendors who disrupt conventional thinking and bring innovative perspectives to the cyber security landscape,” said Luke Kiernan, Head of Cyber Security, Bytes. “From our first interaction with Chainguard, it was evident they embodied this mindset, delivering a forward-thinking, developer-first approach to securing the software supply chain. We look forward to developing our partnership and driving greater value for our customers through modern, resilient, and secure software practices.”

“Chainguard is solving one of the most urgent problems in enterprise technology today – securing the software supply chain without slowing down development,” said Rich Douros, Chief Revenue Officer, Defy. “Their secure-by-default approach is exactly what our customers need to build with confidence and speed.”

“At DevOps1, our mission is to help our customers build secure, scalable systems that empower our clients to move fast without compromising security,” said Alex Rea, CEO, DevOps1. “Partnering with Chainguard, the market-leading solution for software supply chain security, enables us to embed robust, verifiable security ensuring a ‘Start Left’ posture in the development lifecycle. This collaboration reinforces our commitment to delivering modern DevSecOps practices with confidence, integrity, and speed.”

“All organizations want to accelerate their software development, but they can’t do that without having a way to secure the applications they’re building,” said Jason Myers, Chief Revenue Officer, EVOTEK. “Chainguard’s approach to delivering continuously verified open source software aligns perfectly with our mission to help enterprises build secure, scalable infrastructure.”

This early success underscores what we’ve long believed: the future of software security is partner-driven, customer-centric, and built on trust.

Transforming how OSS is built, distributed, and secured

At Chainguard, we’re changing the way organizations build with OSS by delivering trusted open source components that are continuously rebuilt from source in secure infrastructure with end-to-end integrity. At the heart of the offering is Chainguard Containers, our catalog of over 1,500 zero-CVE container images with broad customization capabilities and a reduced attack surface to improve supply chain integrity for containerized applications. Chainguard Containers is the fastest way to get a patch from source to artifact. It is powered by Chainguard’s bootstrapped Linux distro, Chainguard OS, and includes transparent provenance, enforcement of FIPS cryptography, signed SBOMs and attestations, secure hardening, and continuous daily updates to eliminate vulnerabilities. With Chainguard, our channel partners are offering their customers a solution that accelerates compliance, strengthens their security posture, and allows their engineers to build more securely and efficiently from the start.

Let’s build the future of open source software, together

This isn’t just a channel program. It’s a movement toward a more transparent and secure software ecosystem. We’re proud to be working with partners who are just as passionate about this vision as we are.

The Chainguard Partner Program is open to organizations who share our vision for a secure-by-default software ecosystem. Visit our partner page to learn more.