Semgrep versus GitHub Advanced Security

Check out how Semgrep’s capabilities stack up against GitHub Advanced Security: comparisons include Semgrep Code vs. CodeQL and Semgrep Supply Chain vs. Dependabot.

Book a demo Detailed comparison

Is Semgrep the right option for you?

Easy customization

With Semgrep you can easily customize rules and rule policies which helps with reducing the number of false positives surfaced to developers

Faster scans

Code scanning is extremely fast on Semgrep, which helps with surfacing issues quickly to the security team as well as developers, leading to more issues being fixed

Wide range of integrations

Semgrep supports all the modern languages and multiple source code management and CI/CD tools, making it easier to support your growing technology stack

IaC support

Semgrep has over 350 rules for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) covering popular tools such as Terraform

Semgrep vs. GitHub

SAST
Semgrep Code
CodeQL (Github)
Why this matters

Languages supported

30+

14

Reduces the number of tools to manage for supporting different languages

Customization

Reduces the manual effort required to detect false positives

Support for multiple source code management (SCM) tools

Avoids single-vendor (GitHub) lock-in

Support for multiple CI tools

Avoids single-vendor (GitHub) lock-in

Autofix

Developers can fix the issues quickly

Does NOT require compiled code

Finding issues is faster since scans are faster

Customizable security policies

Gives the flexibility to surface high-confidence findings to developers

Scan on PR

Fixing issues is easier since issues are surfaced in the developer workflow

Scan locally (IDE/Terminal)

Helps find security issues during development

Developer feedback using fix rate

Fix rate measures the findings that are fixed by developers which helps with surfacing relevant issues to developers

API support

API provides you with access to all of your findings

Alerting

Slack and Email

Email-only

Semgrep supports alerting via Slack, email, and webhooks which gives the flexibility to get alerts via desired channels

Languages supported

30+

14

Reduces the number of tools to manage for supporting different languages

Customization

Reduces the manual effort required to detect false positives

Support for multiple source code management (SCM) tools

Avoids single-vendor (GitHub) lock-in

Support for multiple CI tools

Avoids single-vendor (GitHub) lock-in

Autofix

Developers can fix the issues quickly

Does NOT require compiled code

Finding issues is faster since scans are faster

Customizable security policies

Gives the flexibility to surface high-confidence findings to developers

Scan on PR

Fixing issues is easier since issues are surfaced in the developer workflow

Scan locally (IDE/Terminal)

Helps find security issues during development

Developer feedback using fix rate

Fix rate measures the findings that are fixed by developers which helps with surfacing relevant issues to developers

API support

API provides you with access to all of your findings

Alerting

Slack and Email

Email-only

Semgrep supports alerting via Slack, email, and webhooks which gives the flexibility to get alerts via desired channels

Languages supported

30+

14

Reduces the number of tools to manage for supporting different languages

Customization

Reduces the manual effort required to detect false positives

Support for multiple source code management (SCM) tools

Avoids single-vendor (GitHub) lock-in

Support for multiple CI tools

Avoids single-vendor (GitHub) lock-in

Autofix

Developers can fix the issues quickly

Does NOT require compiled code

Finding issues is faster since scans are faster

Customizable security policies

Gives the flexibility to surface high-confidence findings to developers

Scan on PR

Fixing issues is easier since issues are surfaced in the developer workflow

Scan locally (IDE/Terminal)

Helps find security issues during development

Developer feedback using fix rate

Fix rate measures the findings that are fixed by developers which helps with surfacing relevant issues to developers

API support

API provides you with access to all of your findings

Alerting

Slack and Email

Email-only

Semgrep supports alerting via Slack, email, and webhooks which gives the flexibility to get alerts via desired channels

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
Semgrep Code
Github (N/A)
Why this matters

Has rules for IaC

Reduces the number of tools to manage

Price

Included in Semgrep Code

N/A

Has rules for IaC

Reduces the number of tools to manage

Price

Included in Semgrep Code

N/A

Has rules for IaC

Reduces the number of tools to manage

Price

Included in Semgrep Code

N/A

Secrets
Semgrep Secrets
Secrets Scanning (Github)
Why this matters

Basic rules for secrets detection

Basic rules can detect simpler secrets using regex and entropy analysis without requiring any additional context.

Semantic Analysis

Semantic analysis understands the context of the code, going beyond regex and entropy analysis to reduce noise and uncover more true positives.

Validation

Semgrep takes any uncovered secrets and validates them against a range of public APIs to identify if they are active/live.

Custom Validators

Security teams can write validation checks for internal tools used by developers

Basic rules for secrets detection

Basic rules can detect simpler secrets using regex and entropy analysis without requiring any additional context.

Semantic Analysis

Semantic analysis understands the context of the code, going beyond regex and entropy analysis to reduce noise and uncover more true positives.

Validation

Semgrep takes any uncovered secrets and validates them against a range of public APIs to identify if they are active/live.

Custom Validators

Security teams can write validation checks for internal tools used by developers

Basic rules for secrets detection

Basic rules can detect simpler secrets using regex and entropy analysis without requiring any additional context.

Semantic Analysis

Semantic analysis understands the context of the code, going beyond regex and entropy analysis to reduce noise and uncover more true positives.

Validation

Semgrep takes any uncovered secrets and validates them against a range of public APIs to identify if they are active/live.

Custom Validators

Security teams can write validation checks for internal tools used by developers

SCA
Semgrep Supply Chain
Dependabot (Github)
Why this matters

Languages supported

9

11

Reduces the number of tools to manage

Reachability Analysis

Helps prioritize which issues to fix first

SBOM export with reachability data

SBOMs are important for compliance reasons

Support for multiple SCMs

As the company grows, having the flexibility of a multiple SCM support is critical

Support for multiple CI tools

As the company grows, having the flexibility of a multiple CI tools support is critical

Scan on PR

Fixing issues is easier since issues are surfaced in the developer workflow

Scan locally (IDE/Terminal)

License Compliance

Automatic remediation

Developer feedback using comments in PR

Helps with developer efficiency since developers can give feedback about a finding in their workflow itself

Languages supported

9

11

Reduces the number of tools to manage

Reachability Analysis

Helps prioritize which issues to fix first

SBOM export with reachability data

SBOMs are important for compliance reasons

Support for multiple SCMs

As the company grows, having the flexibility of a multiple SCM support is critical

Support for multiple CI tools

As the company grows, having the flexibility of a multiple CI tools support is critical

Scan on PR

Fixing issues is easier since issues are surfaced in the developer workflow

Scan locally (IDE/Terminal)
License Compliance
Automatic remediation
Developer feedback using comments in PR

Helps with developer efficiency since developers can give feedback about a finding in their workflow itself

Languages supported

9

11

Reduces the number of tools to manage

Reachability Analysis

Helps prioritize which issues to fix first

SBOM export with reachability data

SBOMs are important for compliance reasons

Support for multiple SCMs

As the company grows, having the flexibility of a multiple SCM support is critical

Support for multiple CI tools

As the company grows, having the flexibility of a multiple CI tools support is critical

Scan on PR

Fixing issues is easier since issues are surfaced in the developer workflow

Scan locally (IDE/Terminal)
License Compliance
Automatic remediation
Developer feedback using comments in PR

Helps with developer efficiency since developers can give feedback about a finding in their workflow itself

How do users like you rate their Semgrep experience?

Start scanning Book a demo
Jessica Grider
Sr. DevSecOps Engineer, Policygenius
"

Semgrep Supply Chain helped us be more productive by reducing the number of false positives.

"