Collect Video Testimonials That Build TrustSemgrep
Open-source static analysis platform offering SAST, SCA, and secrets detection. Features lightweight Community Edition and comprehensive AppSec Platform with AI-powered remediation and cross-file analysis.
About Semgrep
Semgrep is a software security platform developed by Semgrep, Inc., founded in 2017 by Isaac Evans, Luke O'Malley, and Drew Dennison. The platform provides static application security testing, software composition analysis, and secrets detection through both an open-source Community Edition and a commercial AppSec Platform. The name derives from combining semantic and grep, reflecting its ability to understand code semantics while searching like a text utility.
The Semgrep Community Edition, launched in 2020 and licensed under LGPL-2.1, offers lightweight single-file static analysis across 30+ programming languages using pattern-matching rules that resemble source code. This open-source foundation has garnered over 14,300 GitHub stars and more than 60 million Docker pulls, establishing broad adoption among developers and security researchers.
The Semgrep AppSec Platform extends the open-source core with enterprise capabilities including cross-file dataflow analysis, reachability-based SCA, semantic secrets detection with validation, and AI-powered triage through Semgrep Assistant. The platform emphasizes developer experience with sub-minute scan times, IDE integrations, and pull request comments that surface findings directly in development workflows. Semgrep has been recognized in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Application Security Testing.
Key Features
- Dual Offering Model: Community Edition provides free open-source SAST with 3,000+ community rules, while AppSec Platform adds Pro Rules, cross-file analysis, and team management.
- Cross-File Analysis: Pro Engine traces dataflow across file boundaries and functions, detecting 50-70% more true positives than single-file analysis while maintaining low false positive rates.
- Semgrep Supply Chain: SCA with reachability analysis determines which vulnerable dependencies are actually exploitable, significantly reducing noise from transitive dependency alerts.
- Semgrep Secrets: Detects 630+ credential types using semantic analysis, entropy detection, and validation to confirm active secrets before alerting.
- AI-Powered Assistant: Automated triage, prioritization, and remediation guidance with 97% human agreement rate on decisions and 80% helpfulness rating for fix suggestions.
- Developer First Workflow: Native IDE plugins for VS Code and JetBrains, PR comments in GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket/Azure DevOps, and CLI integration with 10-second median scan times.
- Custom Rule Authoring: YAML-based rule syntax that mirrors source code patterns, enabling security teams to write custom checks without AST manipulation or complex DSLs.
- Memory-Efficient Multicore Engine: Fall 2025 release delivers up to 3x faster scans on large monorepos while maintaining memory usage below 3 GB through shared analysis state across cores.
- Native Windows Support: Runs directly on Windows without WSL requirement, expanding accessibility to enterprise development environments.
- Semgrep Registry: Repository of 20,000+ Pro rules and 3,000+ community rules covering security vulnerabilities, coding standards, and compliance requirements.
Pricing
Semgrep offers transparent tiered pricing with a free tier for small teams.
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Community Edition: $0 Free open-source CLI with single-file SAST analysis, 3,000+ community rules, IDE extensions, and CI/CD integration. Licensed under LGPL-2.1. Best for individual developers and small projects.
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AppSec Platform Free Tier: $0 Includes Semgrep Code (cross-file SAST with Pro Rules), Semgrep Supply Chain (SCA), and Semgrep Secrets for up to 10 contributors and 10 private repositories.
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Teams: $35/contributor/month (billed annually) Unlimited contributors and repositories, all scanning engines (SAST, SCA, Secrets), Semgrep Assistant AI triage, advanced dashboards, policy management, and priority support.
Note: Enterprise pricing available for large-scale deployments requiring custom features, SLAs, or dedicated support.
Use Cases
- Developer-first SAST implementation prioritizing minimal false positives
- Software supply chain security with reachability-based vulnerability prioritization
- CI/CD pipeline security gates with sub-minute scan requirements
- Security guardrails for AI-generated code and rapid development workflows
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Open source foundation with transparent, accessible Community Edition
- Intuitive rule syntax that resembles source code rather than complex DSLs
- Fast scan performance with 10-second median CI scan times
- Generous free tier supporting up to 10 contributors with full platform access
- Strong community ecosystem with active rule contributions and Slack support
Cons:
- Community Edition limited to single-file analysis, missing cross-file vulnerabilities
- Advanced features (Assistant, cross-file analysis) require paid subscription
- Primarily focused on security rather than broader code quality metrics
- Smaller market presence compared to legacy enterprise SAST vendors
Integrations
GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, CircleCI, Buildkite, VS Code, IntelliJ IDEA, Visual Studio, Slack, Jira, GitHub Advanced Security, SARIF, JSON, pre-commit framework, Docker, Kubernetes
FAQ
What is the difference between Semgrep Community Edition and Semgrep AppSec Platform?
Semgrep Community Edition is a free, open-source CLI tool (LGPL-2.1) that performs single-file static analysis using 3,000+ community rules. The Semgrep AppSec Platform adds cross-file dataflow analysis (detecting 50% more true positives), Semgrep Supply Chain for SCA with reachability, Semgrep Secrets for credential detection, Semgrep Assistant for AI-powered triage, and 20,000+ Pro rules maintained by Semgrep's security research team. The Platform includes free and paid tiers, with the free tier supporting up to 10 contributors.
How does Semgrep achieve fast scan times while maintaining accuracy?
Semgrep uses a memory-efficient multicore engine that shares analysis state across CPU cores, delivering up to 3x faster scans on large repositories while keeping memory usage under 3 GB. The Pro Engine employs cross-file analysis and dataflow reachability to reduce false positives by 25% and increase true positives by 250% compared to Community Edition. Diff-aware scanning via SEMGREP_BASELINE_REF analyzes only changed files relative to baseline branches, enabling sub-minute PR scan times.
What makes Semgrep rules different from traditional SAST rules?
Semgrep rules use YAML syntax that resembles the source code being scanned, eliminating the need to write abstract syntax tree queries, complex regex patterns, or custom DSLs. For example, a rule to detect SQL injection looks like SQL code patterns rather than AST traversals. This approach enables security engineers to write custom rules in minutes rather than hours, and allows developers to understand and modify rules without specialized security expertise.
Does Semgrep require sending code to external servers?
By default, Semgrep analyzes code locally on your machine or in your CI/CD environment without uploading code. The CLI runs entirely locally for Community Edition. The AppSec Platform uploads scan metadata and findings to cloud dashboards for team management, but this can be configured based on organizational policies. The platform is designed with privacy in mind, ensuring code remains within your infrastructure unless explicitly shared.
How does Semgrep Assistant improve security workflows?
Semgrep Assistant is an AI-powered AppSec engineer that automates triage, prioritization, and remediation guidance. It analyzes historical triage decisions through Assistant Memories to automate future similar decisions, achieving 60% triage automation with full Memories enabled. Assistant provides step-by-step remediation instructions in PR comments with 80% helpfulness ratings, reducing mean-time-to-remediation and enabling developers to fix vulnerabilities without security expertise.
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Last edited
September 15, 2026 at 12:58 PM by Venkatraman C
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