Semgrep
Semgrep combines SAST, SCA, and secrets detection into one PR-based AppSec platform for engineering teams.
Semgrep earns its place when your AppSec backlog is mostly noise and your developers already live in PRs. The vendor's claim of 80% fewer false positives across SAST and SCA is the number to test — the free tier gives you 10 repos and 60 AI credits to do it. Go in knowing that AI remediation and scale-out configuration are billed through credits and Enterprise contracts, not the $30 seat.
Verified 17h ago · liveness 88/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/semgrep
- AppSec teams whose SAST and SCA backlog is dominated by false positives they've stopped trusting
- Engineering orgs running PR checks on GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps
- Teams scanning AI-generated code who want guardrails surfaced inside Cursor or Replit
- Fintech and SaaS companies consolidating SAST, SCA, and secrets into one platform
- Teams that need container image or infrastructure-as-code scanning as their primary surface
- Organizations requiring on-prem source code management without an Enterprise contract
- Heavy AI-remediation users unwilling to manage metered AI credits on top of seat costs
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Skip Semgrep if you need container-image or infrastructure-as-code scanning as a first-class surface, or if you need a fully air-gapped deployment rather than on-prem source code management.
Running Code plus Secrets across a 40-developer team lands near $1,800/mo at $30 and $15 per contributor, before any AI credit overage
Free Edition is a genuinely usable entry point for teams under 10 contributors and 10 repositories. Teams at $30/mo per contributor for Code or Supply Chain ($15/mo per contributor for Secrets) sits in the same band as Snyk and below typical Checkmarx enterprise contracts, making it a fit for 10-100 developer orgs. Enterprise is custom-priced with volume pricing, unlimited repositories and contributors, and dedicated infrastructure — that tier competes for accounts where per-seat math stops
In short
Semgrep — Semgrep combines SAST, SCA, and secrets detection into one PR-based AppSec platform for engineering teams. Best for AppSec teams whose SAST and SCA backlog is dominated by false positives they've stopped trusting, Engineering orgs running PR checks on GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps, Teams scanning AI-generated code who want guardrails surfaced inside Cursor or Replit. Free to start; paid plans from $30/mo.
No head-to-head comparison for Semgrep yet — the alternatives below are the closest matches we list.
What's new in Semgrep
Checked 5 days agoAcross the latest 1 update: 1 changelog entry.
What people actually say about Semgrep — is it worth it?
We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.
6 mentions across 6 sources (Hacker News, YouTube, Product Hunt, Stack Overflow, GitHub, Lemmy), 40 more we could not attribute · researched Oct 8, 2026.
Weighted by the 46 posts each of 6 sources contributed.
- +Open-source core with 16.9k stars gives engineers an auditable analysis engine, not a black box.
- +Custom pattern rules that look like the source code itself make tailored checks practical.
- +Free tier covers 10 repos and 10 contributors, generous enough for early-stage teams.
- +Reachability analysis targets the high/critical false-positive problem that plagues SAST adoption.
- +Secrets detection with entropy and validation catches hardcoded credentials before merge.
- −False positives remain a recurring complaint in Stack Overflow and community threads through 2025.
- −A single PR can add a finding and its suppression, weakening the merge gate.
- −Guarding against novel threats like malicious MCP services still isn't built in.
- −Custom rule development and maintenance quietly consume security engineer time.
- −943 open GitHub issues signals a substantial unresolved backlog.
- • The 60 AI credits on Free are easy to burn once you're relying on multimodal detection
- • $30/contributor adds up fast on a 50+ contributor org versus the free tier's 10-person cap
- • Buying Code AND Secrets AND Supply Chain separately stacks toward $45/contributor/month before Enterprise
- • Custom Pro rules and maintainer time aren't on the invoice but are a real internal cost
Viability Score
How well maintained and how widely used is Semgrep? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: October 2026
How we score →Key Features
- SAST with cross-file and taint analysis plus Semgrep Pro rules
- SCA with reachability analysis to prioritize exploitable dependencies
- Secrets detection via semantic analysis of hardcoded credentials
- Multimodal AI reasoning combined with rule-based detection, triage, and remediation
- Triage "memories" that auto-suppress repeat false positives from prior decisions
- AI-generated remediation and upgrade guidance in PRs and IDEs
- Semgrep Guardian scans AI-generated code as it's written
- Guardian reports setup and run status inside AI coding agents
- Agentic Workflows combine static analysis with AI at scale
- Malware Firewall blocks malicious and compromised packages on developer machines
- Zero-day incident detection with 24/7 on-call monitoring and 30-minute incident scans
- MCP integration so AI tools like Cursor and Replit can query Semgrep
- Cursor Origin integration (public beta)
- Custom rule writing with the Semgrep Registry and online Playground
- CLI, CI/CD, and IDE scanning across VS Code and JetBrains
About Semgrep
Semgrep is a code security platform built around three scanners — Semgrep Code for static application security testing (SAST), Supply Chain for open-source dependency risk, and Secrets for hardcoded credentials — delivered as PR checks, CLI runs, and IDE findings instead of a separate security console. It's aimed at AppSec teams and the engineering organizations they protect, with the pitch that findings land where developers already work: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, VS Code, and JetBrains. Detection is a hybrid of deterministic rules and AI reasoning. Semgrep Code does cross-file and taint analysis with Pro rules, while Multimodal layers AI reasoning over that output for detection, triage, and remediation. Triage "memories" reuse past decisions to auto-suppress repeat false positives, and remediation guidance shows up inside PRs and IDEs. Secrets scanning uses semantic analysis rather than regex matching. Supply-chain coverage goes further than CVE lists: reachability analysis tells you which vulnerable dependencies are actually called, Malware Firewall blocks malicious or compromised packages on developer machines, and zero-day incident detection triggers a scan within 30 minutes of a disclosure. Guardian extends scanning to AI-generated code, reporting setup and run status inside AI coding agents, and an MCP integration lets tools like Cursor and Replit query Semgrep directly. The September 28, 2026 release added a Cursor Origin integration in public beta and multi-SCM configuration through Network Broker. Against Snyk and Checkmarx, Semgrep competes on alert volume and developer delivery rather than breadth of scanner types — its New Shift program is explicitly positioned as a migration path off both. The tradeoff: credits meter the AI features, and the unlimited-repo, on-prem-SCM configuration sits in Enterprise.
Behind the Verdict
The pitch that actually matters here isn't "we do SAST and SCA" — plenty of vendors say that. It's that Semgrep's findings arrive as PR comments and IDE warnings with triage memory attached, so the second time a false positive shows up it gets suppressed instead of re-audited. If your team's security queue is clogged with stale dependency alerts nobody trusts, that mechanism is worth a trial run more than any feature grid. We'd reach for Semgrep when engineering already runs PR checks on GitHub or GitLab and you want secrets, SAST, and SCA from one vendor without buying three consoles. The free edition is genuinely usable for evaluation: cross-file Pro rules, 10 repositories, 10 contributors, and 60 AI credits. That's enough to judge signal quality on real code before anyone signs a contract. Pass on it if your primary need is container image or infrastructure-as-code scanning — that's not what this platform is built around. Also think twice if you run a heavily air-gapped estate and expect that on a self-serve tier; on-prem source code management support is an Enterprise line item, along with unlimited repos and custom CI/CD. The closest alternative is Snyk, and Semgrep makes the comparison itself with a migration program aimed at Snyk and Checkmarx defectors. Where Snyk sells breadth across developer security surfaces, Semgrep sells lower alert volume and a rules engine you can write yourself in the Playground and share through the Registry. Budget caveat that bites: AI credits are metered at 20 per developer per month on Teams and 50 on Enterprise, and Multimodal and Agentic Workflows are gated behind custom pricing. Teams that lean hard on AI remediation should model credit burn before assuming a $30 seat is the whole bill. Secrets is the cheaper add at $15 per
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas Semgrep actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
Connect the GitHub org to Free Edition, run Semgrep Code and Supply Chain on the ten noisiest repositories, and compare the alert count against the existing SAST backlog over two weeks.
Outcome: A measured false-positive delta on real code before committing budget, plus a shortlist of which products (Code vs. Supply Chain vs. Secrets) are actually needed at $30/$30/$15 per contributor.
Turn on Semgrep Guardian so Cursor and Replit sessions are scanned as code is generated, with setup and run status reported back inside the agent after each turn.
Outcome: Insecure AI-generated patterns get caught before the PR opens, instead of surfacing as findings after merge.
Use Zero-Day Incident Detection's 24/7 monitoring, which triggers an incident scan within 30 minutes of disclosure, and check the Supply Chain incidents panel at the top of the Advisories page for affected dependencies.
Outcome: A scoped list of affected repositories and dependencies within the first hour, with Slack and Jira workflows kicking off remediation.
Use Cases
- Scan pull requests for OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities before merge
- Block hardcoded API keys and secrets at commit time without language-specific rules
- Gate open-source dependencies on reachability so only exploitable CVEs stop the build
- Enforce custom coding standards across a monorepo with custom Semgrep rules
- Auto-triage and remediate critical findings with AI guidance delivered in the PR
- Run Malware Firewall on developer machines to block compromised registry packages
- Scan and fix AI-generated code from Cursor or Replit the moment it's written
- Trigger an org-wide incident scan within 30 minutes of a zero-day disclosure
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-10-16
Limitations
- Multimodal AI and Agentic Workflows are Enterprise-only at custom pricing.
- Free Edition caps you at 10 contributors and 10 repositories.
- Teams is modular: $30/mo per contributor for Code, $30/mo per contributor for Supply Chain, and $15/mo per contributor for Secrets, so running Code plus Secrets across 40 developers is roughly $1,800/mo before overages.
- AI credits are metered at 20 per developer per month on Teams and 50 on Enterprise, which limits AI-assisted triage at scale.
- Reachability analysis in Supply Chain is GA only for C#, Go, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Kotlin, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, Scala, and Swift; Dart and Elixir have no reachability support.
- The platform does not scan container images or infrastructure-as-code (Dockerfile, Kubernetes).
- On-prem support covers source code management rather than a fully air-gapped deployment.
- SCIM provisioning is still in public beta.
- Custom rule writing has a learning curve.
as of 2026-10-10
Verification history
We have re-verified Semgrep 22 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — re-checked, vendor evidence unchanged
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
Showing the 6 most recent of 22 verification passes.
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published Semgrep tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Free Edition
$0/mo per contributor
Ideal for
Solo developers and small teams under 10 contributors and 10 repositories who want cross-file Pro rules and AI triage at no cost.
What this tier adds
Starting tier: $0/mo per contributor for Code and Supply Chain, with 60 AI credits included and GitHub/GitLab authentication.
Teams
Starting at $30/mo per contributor
Ideal for
10-100 developer orgs that have outgrown the free caps and need SSO, unlimited contributors, and a choice of which security products to buy.
What this tier adds
Adds SSO, one-click CI/CD deploy, and 20 AI credits per developer per month versus the Free Edition caps; priced per product at $30/mo per contributor for Code or Supply Chain and $15/mo per contributor for Secrets.
Enterprise
Custom
Ideal for
Large or regulated organizations that need on-prem source code management, custom CI/CD, dedicated infrastructure, and unlimited scale.
What this tier adds
Adds on-prem source code management support, custom CI/CD integrations, optional dedicated infrastructure, 50 AI credits per developer per month, unlimited repositories and contributors, plus a dedicated account manager and tailored onboarding.
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where Semgrep's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
Free Edition is a genuinely usable entry point for teams under 10 contributors and 10 repositories. Teams at $30/mo per contributor for Code or Supply Chain ($15/mo per contributor for Secrets) sits in the same band as Snyk and below typical Checkmarx enterprise contracts, making it a fit for 10-100 developer orgs. Enterprise is custom-priced with volume pricing, unlimited repositories and contributors, and dedicated infrastructure — that tier competes for accounts where per-seat math stops
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of Semgrep — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
Free Edition on GitHub or GitLab: roughly 15-30 minutes to connect the org and get the first PR scan, since CI/CD deploys through Semgrep infrastructure. Teams adds SSO, which typically takes an afternoon with an identity admin. Enterprise with on-prem source code management, custom CI/CD integrations, and SCIM provisioning is a multi-week deployment with tailored onboarding and a dedicated
Switching to or from Semgrep
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From Snyk: use the New Shift migration program to port rules and workflows, then run Semgrep Code and Supply Chain in parallel on the same repositories to compare alert volume
- →From Checkmarx: the New Shift program is the intended on-ramp; start with Free Edition on your ten noisiest repos before choosing products
- →From standalone secret scanners: Semgrep Secrets at $15/mo per contributor replaces a separate tool and shares the same PR check as SAST
- →From a self-managed Semgrep Community Edition deployment: connect the org to Free Edition to add cross-file Pro rules and AI triage
- ↗To Snyk: export Agentic Workflows issues as CSV from the Issues page or public API to carry open findings into a parallel Snyk run
- ↗To GitHub Advanced Security: CSV export of findings gives you a starting backlog, but you lose cross-file Pro rules and reachability-based prioritization
- ↗To a container/IaC scanner: keep Semgrep for SAST, SCA, and secrets and add the second tool, since Semgrep does not scan Dockerfiles or Kubernetes manifests as a primary surface
Integrations
Resources & Guides
- Quickstartsemgrep.dev
Getting Started
Get up and running fast from semgrep.dev
- Documentationsemgrep.dev
Overview
Learn how to use Semgrep’s intuitive syntax to write rules specific to your codebase. You can write and share rules directly from your browser using the Semgrep Editor, or you can write rules in your terminal and run them on the command line.
- Documentationsemgrep.dev
Release notes
Release notes include the changes, fixes, and additions in specific versions of Semgrep.
- Resourcesemgrep.dev
Semgrep
Helpful link from semgrep.dev
- Documentationsemgrep.dev
Support
Learn about the support options offered by Semgrep.
- Resourcesemgrep.dev
Blog | Security Trends, Secure Coding, and Application Security Announcements
Discover the latest news and updates from our Security Research Staff and Product team for trends in secure coding, application security, and source-code scanning.
Tutorials & Learning
YouTube returned 6 videos for “Semgrep”, and we withheld 6: 6 could not be judged, because “Semgrep” is a single word that other videos use for other things. We are showing none, because we could not prove any of them are about Semgrep.
Official links
Tools that pair well with Semgrep
Common stack mates teams adopt alongside Semgrep, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.
Checkmarx
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Apiiro
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Codacy AI
Codacy AI Reviewer enforces AI guardrails and pulls request code review for agentic coding teams
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Checkmarx
Enterprise AppSec platform that scans AI-generated code across source, dependencies, containers and AI assets, with hybrid Checkmarx Fusion detection and
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