Incipite vs Digital Timestamps (2026)

Side-by-side comparison

The £0.99 difference: raw record vs usable credential

Digital Timestamps produces a timestamp and a hash — technical evidence that a file existed at a given moment. That is the core of what blockchain timestamping does. At £2.00, it is the lowest-price option on the UK market.

The gap with Incipite at £2.99 is not about the blockchain anchor — both use Bitcoin. It is about what you can do with the proof. Incipite issues a formatted PDF certificate bearing your name, the SHA-256 hash, the Bitcoin transaction ID, and a QR code link to the public verification page. You can send that certificate to a publisher, a solicitor, or a collaborator and they can read and verify it without technical knowledge.

A raw hash record requires the other party to understand OpenTimestamps verification. A PDF certificate does not.

Legal standing in the UK

Both services rely on blockchain timestamping supported under UK law:

• ·Electronic Communications Act 2000 (s.7): electronic signatures and records are admissible as evidence.
• ·Civil Evidence Act 1995 (s.8): electronic records can prove the truth of their contents.
• ·eIDAS Regulation (art. 41): electronic timestamps from qualified trust services carry a presumption of accuracy — the UK retained this framework post-Brexit via the UK Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions Regulations 2016.

The Tribunal Judiciaire de Marseille ruling of 20 March 2025 (RG 23/00046) is the most recent judicial decision validating blockchain timestamping as admissible proof of prior creation. While a French ruling, it is relevant as persuasive authority in UK civil proceedings and signals where European and UK courts are moving on this question.

Open-source protocol: verify without us

Both services use Bitcoin for anchoring. Incipite uses OpenTimestamps specifically — an open-source protocol created by Peter Todd, a Bitcoin Core developer. Every Incipite certificate includes a .ots proof file that can be verified at opentimestamps.org or via the command-line tool, independently of Incipite.

This matters for durability: if Incipite ceased operating, your proofs would remain fully verifiable on the public blockchain. Your evidence is not hostage to any service provider.

Account, history, and the £49 lifetime plan

Incipite gives you a verified account (via Clerk authentication) with a full certification history accessible from your dashboard. You can re-download any past certificate, share public verification links at incipite.com/verify/[hash], and track the Bitcoin anchoring status of pending certifications.

The Founder lifetime plan at £49 is unique on the UK market. No competitor — not Digital Timestamps, not Bernstein, not WordProof — offers a one-time payment for unlimited certifications. If you create regularly, the breakeven is 17 certifications at £2.99 each. After that, every certification is free.

Who should choose which?

Digital Timestamps may suit a technically sophisticated user who only needs the raw hash record and wants the lowest per-certification cost. If you are comfortable reading a blockchain transaction and do not need a PDF credential, it does the job.

Incipite is the better choice if you want to share your proof with non-technical parties (publishers, labels, agents, solicitors), if you want to build a certification history, or if the volume of works you create makes the £49 lifetime plan attractive.

Frequently asked questions