Developer Tools
Application Security
Amartya Jha
• 25 April 2025
If you're reading this, there's a good chance you've already felt it: Veracode just doesn’t fit anymore.
Maybe your scans take forever. Maybe it’s the pricing, hard to justify for what you get. Or maybe it's that nagging feeling that you're working for your security tool instead of it working for you.
Whatever it is, the friction is real, especially if you're part of a fast-moving engineering team trying to ship with confidence.
And here's the thing, you're not crazy. Veracode was built for a different era. One where security tools were sold top-down, jammed into bloated SDLCs, and no one questioned the weekly scan reports that no one read.
But that’s not how teams work now. Security today needs to be developer-first. It needs to be fast, composable, Git-native, and ideally not cost more than your actual cloud bill. You need context, automation, and flexibility baked into your pipelines ot yet another enterprise dashboard nobody opens.
So we went deep and pulled together the tools that modern teams use when they outgrow Veracode. Tools that are built for GitHub workflows, CI/CD pipelines, cloud-native stacks, and real engineers, not procurement departments.
Whether you're after a free Veracode alternative, an open-source SAST tool, or just something that won’t break your DevOps setup every other week, this list is for you.
Let’s get into it in depth.
CodeAnt AI
Veracode built its name in the era of heavyweight security, long scan times, formal reports, and tools built for central AppSec teams. But modern software teams work differently.
Engineers merge dozens of PRs daily, deploy to prod multiple times a week, and need security tools that feel like part of the dev process, not something bolted on afterward.
CodeAnt AI takes a different path. It’s not just about vulnerability detection. It’s about reviewing code the way developers think: in pull requests, in real time, and with meaningful suggestions, not just red flags. And it doesn’t stop at SAST.
It checks for secrets, IaC misconfigurations, and even subtle quality regressions. All in a single review.
This makes it especially useful for teams trying to get compliant with frameworks like SOC 2 or HIPAA.
If you're tired of waiting 20 minutes for a Veracode scan to tell you what you already knew, CodeAnt feels like switching from a fax machine to Slack.
CodeAnt Strengths
Developer-first SAST with actionable, line-level feedback in GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, no context-switching
Infrastructure-aware scanning, including IaC misconfigs and secrets, is built right into your PR process
Auto-fixes that respect your code style, so it feels like a teammate, not a linter
Pull request summaries that clarify what changed, what failed, and what to care about
Custom policy enforcement (even in plain English) is helpful when mapping to SOC 2, HIPAA, or customer audit asks
Supports over 30 languages with strong IDE support (VS Code, JetBrains, etc.)
Who It’s Best For
Teams of all sizes looking to speed up secure code reviews. Works well solo or alongside existing tools.
CodeAnt Pricing
AI Code Review: $10/user/month
Security & Quality Platforms (SAST, IaC, secrets, etc.): $15/user/month each
Enterprise: Custom pricing for large orgs
14-day free trial available
Snyk
Snyk earned its reputation by going where Veracode never really fit: directly into the hands of developers. It doesn’t try to be everything; it focuses hard on what teams struggle with most in modern software stacks: open-source dependency security, containers, and IaC.
While Veracode leans enterprise and often feels like a compliance gate, Snyk focuses on speed and developer ownership. It sits in your GitHub workflow, flags vulnerable dependencies in real time, and offers one-click upgrades or patches. For teams running fast with open-source-heavy stacks, Snyk delivers peace of mind without making security feel like a tax.
Strengths
Industry-leading SCA for open-source packages, Snyk’s vulnerability DB is fast and reliable.
Strong container scanning (Docker, K8s, etc.) and IaC coverage
Works where devs are already inside GitHub, VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, CI/CD, etc.
Fix suggestions are usable with automatic PRs to patch packages
License risk management for open-source compliance (huge for regulated industries)
Weakness
SAST support exists (via Snyk Code), but can feel limited or clunky vs. tools built around it
Some teams report noisy false positives, especially on large monorepos
Pricing can get steep fast at scale, especially if you’re layering Snyk Code, Container, and SCA
Who It’s Best For
Cloud-native teams shipping fast with open-source stacks. Great SCA-first tool. Pairs well with SAST-focused platforms.
Pricing
Free for individuals and small teams
Team Plan: Starts around $25/month/developer
Enterprise: Custom quote
DeepSource-SAST
Most SAST tools slow teams down or drown them in false positives. Veracode is notorious for both. DeepSource takes a swing at this by being faster, more accurate, and far more developer-friendly.
It focuses on tight IDE + Git integrations, offers real-time static analysis, and crucially, autofix for many common issues. That’s not just convenience. That’s time saved in every PR(similar to CodeAnt.ai). If your team is looking to enforce SAST without forcing devs to hate it, DeepSource nails the balance between safety and velocity.
Strengths
Low false positives (<5%), which is huge when you're not staffed with a full AppSec team
Blazingly fast scans provide feedback in seconds, not hours
Autofix turns SAST findings into one-click resolutions
Quality + security blend one tool for code smells, bugs, and vulnerabilities
Transparent pricing and friendly UI compared to Veracode’s enterprise-first feel
Weakness
C# support is still maturing, not ideal for heavy .NET shops
Less community adoption compared to older players like SonarQube
No DAST or IAST, it’s SAST-focused
Who It’s Best For
Dev teams who want fast, reliable static analysis without the enterprise baggage. Especially useful for teams with high CI/CD velocity and growing codebases.
Pricing
Free Plan: Unlimited public repos + 1 private repo
Starter: $8/user/month
Business: $24/user/month with full Autofix, monorepo support
Enterprise: Custom pricing (self-hosted available)
SonarQube
There’s a difference between checking if your code is secure and checking if your code is any good. Veracode focuses on the first part. SonarQube, for a lot of teams, quietly handles the second and, in doing so, prevents more problems than it flags.
If your team is constantly patching, fixing, and duct-taping things that should have been caught earlier, SonarQube offers a slow-burn solution: enforce cleaner, more maintainable code every day. Not through harsh rules or gatekeeping, but with real-time feedback inside your editor and thoughtful CI checks that evolve as your team grows.
That’s not to say it ignores security. SonarQube includes basic static analysis, but its real strength is that it helps your team avoid the kinds of messy code that lead to vulnerabilities in the first place.
Strengths
Built for developers, not auditors. Feedback shows up where it matters in your IDE, in your PRs, and helps guide better decisions before merge time.
Deep quality insights. It goes beyond linting to catch code smells, complexity, duplication, and debt. You start to notice things you didn’t before.
Language support is wide and battle-tested. Java, Python, C#, and JavaScript most popular stacks and are covered with robust rules.
Security-aware, if not security-heavy. Newer features include secret detection and light SAST, giving you a baseline without the overhead of a full security suite.
Weakness
It’s not your compliance tool. You won’t get enterprise security reports, risk scoring, or runtime awareness. This isn’t a Veracode clone.
Setup takes work. Especially for large codebases or monorepos, tuning SonarQube to avoid noise takes time and care.
The interface feels dated. Functional, but not exactly delightful. You’re here for the substance, not the design.
Who It’s Best For
Teams who see software quality and long-term maintainability as part of their security posture and want a tool that enforces those values quietly and consistently.
Pricing
Community Edition: Free (good for startups)
Developer: $500/Year [Comes under self-managed]
Enterprise/Data Center Editions: Paid (custom pricing)
Trivy
Sometimes you don’t need a fortress, you just need a guardrail that fits your stack. If you're working in containers, running IaC, and already thinking cloud-native, Trivy is a great Veracode alternative. It doesn’t overpromise. It doesn’t drag you into dashboards. It just scans what matters and moves on.
That’s exactly why many small to mid-sized teams drop Veracode in favor of Trivy. Veracode might be a heavyweight in AppSec, but it's not known for agility or cost efficiency. Trivy, on the other hand, slides into your CI pipeline, runs silently in the background, and flags real issues with zero friction.
Strengths
Ridiculously easy to use. No setup nightmares, just install the CLI and go.
Fast container scanning. Trivy can catch misconfigs, known vulnerabilities, and secrets across containers, IaC, and SBOMs.
Great fit for DevOps pipelines. Teams love that they don’t have to jump between tools to get results.
Open-source and free. You’re not gating critical security behind a credit card.
Weakness
Lacks deeper security layers. No DAST. No contextual AI. No developer education or guidance.
No remediation workflow. It’ll tell you what’s wrong, but you’ll have to decide how to fix it.
False positives on niche packages or self-built images can happen. Teams using exotic stacks may need extra tuning.
Who It’s Best For
DevOps-heavy teams that want fast container and IaC scanning without security vendor lock-in.
Pricing
Open source and free
Enterprise features available via Aqua Security (custom pricing)
Jit
Modern AppSec is starting to feel like a puzzle with a hundred tools, SAST, SCA, secrets, IaC, containers, plus whatever your auditor asked for last week. Jit looks at that reality and says: let’s just make all this... manageable.
It doesn’t pretend to replace everything. Instead, it orchestrates everything. One dashboard. Unified feedback. Just-in-time security plans. And AI agents that help you cut through the noise and ship safely. Compared to Veracode’s rigid, enterprise-first suite, Jit feels built for today’s fragmented tool chaos.
Strengths
Unified security orchestration. You can plug in your favorite scanners and manage everything from one place.
Developer-first design. Feedback happens in pull requests, not external portals.
AI-powered triage and remediation. Less alert fatigue, more actual fixing.
Minimum Viable Security Plan baked in, especially good for compliance-checklist hell.
Weakness
Still a newer player. If you’re a Fortune 500, you might not find the reference customers you want.
Some devs don’t trust AI-generated prioritization. You’ll want to review before acting.
Requires buy-in. You can’t “set it and forget it.” Teams need to engage to get full value.
Who It’s Best For
Startups and growing teams who want strong security coverage.
Pricing
Free for up to 3 devs
$50/dev/month (Growth plan)
Enterprise plans are available on request
Xygeni
Most security tools stop at the code. Xygeni doesn’t. It goes upstream and downstream, tracking changes, mapping risk, and watching for tampering across the entire SDLC.
Think of it like your supply chain control tower. Veracode will tell you if a known vulnerability exists. Xygeni will tell you how it got there, whether it’s being exploited, and how that might ripple through builds and releases. That extra layer of posture management across the pipeline is where Xygeni sets itself apart.
Strengths
Full SDLC visibility. Tracks security posture from code to cloud.
Anomaly and malware detection. Alerts on malicious code pushes or weird CI behavior.
Contextual prioritization. Doesn’t just flag CVEs helps you understand real exploitability.
Works with your workflow. Git, CI, SCM, IaC, containers, it plugs into everything.
Weakness
Not beginner-friendly. This is a power tool. Teams without a security lead might feel overwhelmed.
Pricing is opaque. No public pricing = harder for smaller orgs to get started.
Still building community trust. It’s not as well-known as Veracode yet.
Who It’s Best For
Teams that want complete control over their software supply chain and are ready to invest in deep, context-aware security posture management.
Pricing
Enterprise-only. Estimates start around $18K/year.
Checkmarx
Checkmarx and Veracode are often pitted against each other, both enterprise-grade, both deeply integrated into security programs.
But Checkmarx edges ahead in one key way: it doesn’t treat developers as an afterthought.
With IDE integrations, AI-assisted rule-building, and workflows tuned to reduce noise, Checkmarx tries to be more than just a SAST engine. It tries to meet engineers halfway, which matters when you're rolling out secure code policies across hundreds of repos and devs who hate false positives.
Strengths
Robust SAST and SCA coverage. Deep language support and accurate detection across 70+ stacks.
Developer-centric UX. Works in IDEs and CI, doesn’t force you into external portals.
Noise reduction is baked in. Correlates issues across scans to reduce false alerts.
Flexible deployment. On-prem, SaaS, and hybrid are rare in enterprise security.
Weakness
It’s expensive. Probably not an option unless you’re at mid-to-large scale.
Steep learning curve. You’ll need security folks who know how to tune it.
Cloud-native coverage is improving, but still playing catch-up.
Who It’s Best For
Large teams who want deep code security with high confidence and are ready to invest in tuning and support.
Pricing
Enterprise only
No public pricing.
Not Sure What You Need? Start Here
Too many security tools. Not enough clarity. If you're staring at that list wondering what fits your stack, team, and goals, use this as a starting point.
Answer these 5 prompts. Whatever you say "yes" to will narrow down what you need.
1. Do your devs ignore security unless it’s in the PR?
You need tools that live inside pull requests and feel like part of code review.
Start with: CodeAnt AI, DeepSource, Checkmarx (with IDE)
2. Are you running containers, Terraform, or Kubernetes?
Your biggest risks probably live in config, not code.
Start with: Trivy, Snyk, and optionally Jit to manage it all.
3. Do you need to pass SOC 2, HIPAA, or an investor checklist fast?
→ You don’t need a scanner. You need proof you’re secure.
Start with: Jit (MVP plan), and CodeAnt to make PRs visibly safer.
4. Are you trying to cut tech debt and stay secure?
Most vulnerabilities aren’t just bugs, they’re consequences of messy code.
Start with SonarQube, then layer Semgrep or CodeAnt on top.
5. Do you already have too many tools and too many alerts?
You don’t need more. You need better orchestration.
Start with: Jit, then connect Trivy, CodeAnt, or Semgrep under the hood.
This isn’t about picking “the best” tool. It’s about picking the one that fits how your team works and then pairing it with one or two more that talk to each other.
One simple move? Just try them. Every tool above offers a free trial, sandbox, or demo, and most will gladly hop on a call if you’re serious.
These are B2B tools, often priced for teams, so don’t guess. Block a few hours, spin them up, and see what fits how your team works.
Conclusion
You don’t need a “Veracode alternative.” You need a security setup that makes sense for your team, something fast, developer-friendly, and usable in the real world.
Most of the tools we’ve shared above offer free trials, demos, or sandboxes. Take advantage of that. Try them. See what fits.
And if you’re curious, how CodeAnt AI works inside real pull requests. You can start a 7-day free trial or book a quick call with the founder to see it in action. No pressure, just clarity.
Happy finding an alternative to veracode and experimenting.
