Compare Semgrep to Snyk
SAST
Both Semgrep and Snyk offer out-of-the-box SAST solutions. Semgrep makes it easier to customize the rules that run against your code. Because these rules are visible and customizable, you can analyze your results to see if the relevant vulnerabilities were caught.
In addition to selecting your rules, Semgrep allows you to write custom rules to capture use cases driven by your organization's goals. To help you write rules, Semgrep Editor provides a structure mode to guide you through the process, allows you to test your in-progress rules, and adds them to your organization’s Policies page. Semgrep offers rule-writing capabilities to all users, while Snyk limits it to Enterprise users.
Both Semgrep and Snyk offer remediation advice for findings identified during scans. Snyk displays its recommendations in its web app, in supported IDEs, and CLI, while Semgrep displays remediation advice and guidance in its web app, CLI, supported IDEs, and in the form of PR or MR comments.
Snyk and Semgrep both display prioritization metrics to help you decide which findings you should work on first. For SAST, Snyk encapsulates this information into a priority score, which provides you with information on the impact and actionability related to the finding. Semgrep, on the other hand, provides severity information, confidence in the rule to detect findings that are true positives, and likelihood that an attacker can exploit the issues found.
Additionally, Semgrep provides action recommendations through Assistant, which offers AI-powered security recommendations to help you review, triage, and remediate your Semgrep findings.
Snyk offers autofix capability for its SCA product, but not its SAST product. Semgrep offers autofix suggestions for SAST and SCA, where its rules contain suggested fixes to resolve findings. In the event of a true positive where the rule doesn't have a human-written autofix, Assistant can generate an autofix.
SCA
Snyk offers reachability analysis for Java, JavaScript, and TypeScript, while Semgrep offers reachability analysis for multiple languages, including Java, JavaScript, and Ruby
Snyk can detect whether dependencies are direct or transitive. However, this information is only available with Enterprise plans, and the information is limited to projects using Maven or Node.js, specifically npm and Yarn packages. Semgrep Supply Chain offers advanced reachability analysis for direct dependencies in the form of dataflow reachability. Semgrep offers this coverage for seven languages and counting.
Semgrep and Snyk both offer license compliance features, ensuring that the dependencies that your developers use meet the requirements set by your organization.
To help you manage your findings, Semgrep provides you with the findings' EPSS probabilities, severity levels and transitivity information. Snyk assesses impact and likelihood and encapsulates this information into a risk score.
Policies and rules management
Semgrep Code and Semgrep Secret's policies management feature provides extensive flexibility, especially with respect to a developer's workflow, by allowing results to appear:
- Only in the AppSec team’s view (monitor mode)
- In the AppSec team's view and in the developer’s workflow, while not failing the CI job (comment mode)
- In the AppSec team's view and in the developer’s workflow, while also failing the CI job (block mode)
Semgrep Supply Chain results in a failed CI job only when there are critical or high-severity findings.
Secrets detection
Semgrep Secrets leverages semantic analysis, entropy analysis, and validation to accurately detect and fix secrets. Snyk maintains a business partnership with GitGuardian to offer secrets scanning as part of Snyk Code.
Not finding what you need in this doc? Ask questions in our Community Slack group, or see Support for other ways to get help.