# OriginStamp or stampthisfile? A platform, or $0.05 a hash.

OriginStamp has been timestamping documents since 2013 and now sells an enterprise data-sealing product. We sell one API call for $0.05. Here is the real difference, including the cases where OriginStamp is the better buy.

## The short answer

Both take a hash and commit it to a blockchain, and both can prove a file existed by a date. OriginStamp is a **managed platform with an account**: a contract or a quote, an API key, a dashboard, certificates, and extras aimed at compliance teams. stampthisfile is **one HTTP call paid per hash**, with no account, and it returns the `.ots` proof itself, which any OpenTimestamps tool can verify without us.

If a person will open a dashboard and your organisation needs an invoice, OriginStamp is a reasonable default. If software stamps on its own and you want the proof to outlive the vendor, that is what we built.

## What each one is

**OriginStamp** ([originstamp.com](https://originstamp.com)) is a timestamping service running since 2013 that batches customer hashes into a Merkle tree and anchors the root in a blockchain. Its API documentation describes the service as distributing timestamping costs across its users so high-frequency timestamps stay affordable. In 2026 its homepage leads with **OriginVault**, which extracts data from ERP and legacy systems and seals it, marketed as GoBD/GebuV-compliant and audit-proof. The timestamping API is still there; the company now sells to enterprises with compliance requirements.

**stampthisfile** is a small service on the same protocol as OpenTimestamps: it submits your hash, mixed with a random nonce, into a Merkle tree, sends the root to four independent public calendars, and hands back a standard `.ots` proof plus a signed receipt. It upgrades the proof when Bitcoin confirms, notifies a webhook, and verifies proofs for free. It does not have a dashboard, a sales team, or a certificate with your logo on it.

## Side by side

|  | OriginStamp | stampthisfile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing model | Subscription, quoted per customer | Per hash, $0.05 |
| Commitment | Plan or contract | None |
| Account | Required, API key | None |
| Payment | Invoice or card | USDC on Base via x402 |
| Minimum | A plan | One hash |
| Batch | API with internal batching | 1–100 hashes per request, one payment |
| Proof format | OriginStamp proof and certificate | `.ots`, the OpenTimestamps standard |
| Verify without the vendor | Through OriginStamp’s tools | Any OTS tool, or `ots verify` with your own node |
| Agent support | API key an operator provisions | x402, `/llms.txt`, hosted MCP server at `/mcp` |
| Completion | Batched anchoring; receipt on submission | Pending proof now, webhook and status when Bitcoin confirms |
| Extras | Dashboard, certificates, compliance and data-sealing projects | Signed receipts, batch API, verify endpoint, no dashboard |
| Best for | Enterprises that need a contract, invoices and a compliance story | Pipelines and agents that need a proof per call, cheaply |

## Pricing in practice

OriginStamp quotes now. Its documentation says pricing depends on the number of timestamps and proofs and points to sales for an offer or a free test key; the last public price list, from 2020, started at $9.90/month for 100 timestamps and ran to $249/month for 100,000. If those tiers still hold, 100 stamps a month is about $9.90 there and $5.00 here, and 10,000 is about $79 there and $500.00 here — which is the one volume where the subscription is cheaper per stamp. Enterprise contracts change that arithmetic in both directions.

The real question is what the plan includes. If you will use the dashboard, the email certificates, the audit exports and the support line, the premium is small against the cost of building those. If you will not, you are paying for a seat nobody sits in.

## Latency: what “instant” means

Neither service can make a Bitcoin block arrive sooner. A timestamp is pending until the anchoring transaction confirms, typically within hours. What differs is what you hold in the meantime, and what happens next. We return a valid pending `.ots` immediately and finish it later, either through the status URL, the webhook, or `/v1/verify`, which upgrades a pending proof on the spot if the calendars have committed it.

A vendor that advertises instant confirmation is usually describing the receipt, not the Bitcoin attestation. Ask which one you get, and whether the thing you get can be verified by someone who does not trust the vendor.

## When OriginStamp is the better choice

- You need a **contract, a purchase order and invoices**, not a wallet.
- A **compliance or audit team** wants a dashboard, exports and certificates they can file, rather than proof files in a bucket.
- You are sealing **records from ERP or legacy systems** at organisational scale, which is what OriginVault is for.
- You want **one vendor** to hold the operational risk, with support and, at the top end, an SLA.
- You need anchoring on **more than one blockchain**, which their documentation describes. Ask which ones, and what you would do with the second proof.
- You are **not** stamping often enough to run an integration, and a person will upload documents by hand.

## When stampthisfile is the better choice

- An **agent or pipeline** stamps its own outputs, with no human to create a key.
- Volume is **spiky**: 4 stamps one week, 400 the next, and you would rather not buy an allowance.
- You want the proof to be **portable**: an `.ots` file that verifies at [opentimestamps.org](https://opentimestamps.org) or with `ots verify`, with or without us.
- You want **one call for many hashes** and a **webhook** when Bitcoin confirms, rather than polling a dashboard.
- You want to **verify on read**: `POST /v1/verify` is free, takes the hash and the proof, and completes a pending proof if it can.
- You are **price-sensitive at low volume**: a handful of files a month costs cents, not a subscription.

## How to decide in a minute

1. Will a **person** pay, or will **code** pay? Code: stampthisfile, or an API key you provision — decide who holds the secret.
2. Do you need an **invoice** more than you need the lowest unit price? Invoice: OriginStamp or a comparable subscription.
3. Does the proof have to be **verifiable by a third party** who does not trust either of us? Then insist on `.ots`, whichever vendor you pick.
4. Do you need a **legal presumption of the date**? Neither service provides one. See [Evidence](https://stampthisfile.com/evidence) and talk to a QTSP.

## Questions

### Is OriginStamp free?

Its documentation says pricing depends on volume and proofs, and points to sales for an offer or a free test key. The last public price list, from 2020, had a free tier of 5 timestamps a month. Ask them for current terms; the figures on this page are from their own published material and are marked with the date we checked them.

### Does OriginStamp use OpenTimestamps?

Its documentation describes its own API, Merkle batching and proof and certificate workflow, not OpenTimestamps files. If `.ots` portability matters to you, ask them to confirm before you commit: a proof in a vendor format is verified through the vendor.

### Can I move proofs between the two?

No. A proof is tied to the service that produced it and the tree it was committed in. What you can do is keep the underlying evidence: the file, its SHA-256 hash, and the proof. If you switch, stamp new files with the new service and keep the old proofs as they are.

### Which is cheaper at 1,000 stamps a month?

At $0.05 a hash, 1,000 stamps cost $50.00 here. OriginStamp’s 2020 list had 1,000 timestamps at $39 a month, and Woleet covers 1,000 for €49 a month. Current OriginStamp pricing is quoted, so ask for a number at your volume before comparing.

### Is OriginStamp a qualified timestamp provider?

Qualification is a legal status: only providers on the EU trusted list issue qualified electronic timestamps, which carry the presumption in eIDAS Art. 41(2). OriginStamp’s public material describes blockchain timestamps. If you need the presumption, check the EU trusted list rather than either vendor’s marketing.

_Checked October 2026. HTML: https://stampthisfile.com/compare/originstamp · Agent docs: https://stampthisfile.com/llms.txt_