Free Black Duck alternatives: 6 apps ranked by verified data

Facts checked Nov 8, 2026AppBreakup editorialHow we rank

6 of the 8 Black Duck alternatives we track can be used for free (free, open source, or with a free plan). SonarQube, Snyk and Semgrep rank highest, with facts last verified Nov 8, 2026.

Quick comparison

#	App	Pricing	Verified price	Open source	Platforms	Verified facts	Score
1	SonarQube	Free plan + paid	$34/month (Team plan, up to 100k LOC)	Yes	Web, Self-hosted	4 of 4	74.4
2	Snyk	Free plan + paid	$25 a month, billed monthly (Team)	No	Web, Windows, macOS +1	4 of 4	68.8
3	Semgrep	Free plan + paid	$30 per contributor/month (Teams)	Yes	Web, Windows, macOS +1	5 of 5	57.5
4	Trivy	Open source	—	Yes	Linux, macOS, Windows	3 of 3	57.5
5	Socket	Free plan + paid	$25 per dev seat/month (Team)	No	Web, Browser extension	5 of 5	57.2
6	Aikido Security	Free plan + paid	$4,000 per assessment (typical)	No	Web	6 of 6	55.9

1. SonarQubeTop pick
Best for: Teams that want quality gates for code quality and security on every pull request
Free plan + paidOpen sourceSelf-hostableWeb, Self-hosted
74.4
score / 100
Why switch from Black Duck
Code quality and security analysis with a free self-hosted edition for smaller budgets.
Pros
Combines code quality and security in one report
Choice of cloud service or self-hosted server
Free IDE extension for instant feedback
Free for public open-source projects
Cons
Pricing scales with lines of code, which gets costly for large codebases
Free private tier is limited to 50k lines of code
Advanced security features are kept for higher tiers
Visit SonarQube Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.369
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.15100
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is SonarQube a good Black Duck alternative?
Verified facts
4 of 4 verified
Free plan
Private projects up to 50k LOC
Checked Nov 8, 2026sonarsource.com(opens source in a new tab)
Starting price
$34/month (Team plan, up to 100k LOC)
Checked Nov 8, 2026sonarsource.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free trial
14 days (Team plan)
Checked Nov 8, 2026sonarsource.com(opens source in a new tab)
License
LGPL-3.0
Checked Oct 30, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
2. Snyk
Best for: Development teams that want dependency, code and container scanning in one place
Free plan + paidWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux
68.8
score / 100
Why switch from Black Duck
Developer-first SCA with IDE and pull request fixes, plus a free tier, instead of an enterprise-only audit tool.
Pros
Covers dependencies, code, containers and IaC together
Works in the IDE, CLI, pull requests and CI
Free plan includes every scanner
Cons
Free plan has tight monthly test limits, such as 100 code tests
Team plan caps at 10 developers before enterprise pricing
Hosted service only, no self-managed edition on standard plans
Visit Snyk Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.3100
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Snyk a good Black Duck alternative?
Verified facts
4 of 4 verified
Free plan
Yes, $0 a month
Checked Nov 8, 2026snyk.io(opens source in a new tab)
Starting price
$25 a month, billed monthly (Team)
Checked Nov 8, 2026snyk.io(opens source in a new tab)
Free code test limit
100 tests/month
Checked Nov 8, 2026snyk.io(opens source in a new tab)
Integrations
IDE, CLI, source code managers
Checked Nov 8, 2026snyk.io(opens source in a new tab)
3. Semgrep
Best for: Teams that want fast CI scans and easy-to-write custom rules
Free plan + paidOpen sourceWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux
57.5
score / 100
Why switch from Black Duck
Lightweight SAST and supply chain scanning that developers can run in seconds in CI.
Pros
Rules are written in code-like patterns that are easy to read
Open-source CLI runs anywhere, including locally
Free edition covers small teams on the hosted platform
SAST, dependency and secrets scanning in one product
Cons
Cross-file analysis and Pro rules need the commercial engine
Free edition is capped at 10 contributors
Paid products are billed separately per contributor
Visit Semgrep Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.363
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Semgrep a good Black Duck alternative?
Verified facts
5 of 5 verified
Free plan
Yes, up to 10 contributors
Checked Nov 8, 2026semgrep.dev(opens source in a new tab)
Starting price
$30 per contributor/month (Teams)
Checked Nov 8, 2026semgrep.dev(opens source in a new tab)
License
LGPL-2.1
Checked Nov 1, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
Languages
35+
Checked Nov 8, 2026semgrep.dev(opens source in a new tab)
Secrets add-on
$15 per contributor/month
Checked Nov 8, 2026semgrep.dev(opens source in a new tab)
4. Trivy
Best for: DevOps and platform teams wanting a free, all-in-one scanner for images, IaC and Kubernetes in CI
Open sourceLinux, macOS, Windows
57.5
score / 100
Why switch from Black Duck
Free open-source scanner for dependencies, container images and IaC, with SBOM output, run straight from CI.
Pros
Scans images, repos, filesystems, Kubernetes and IaC with one binary
Free and Apache-2.0 licensed with an active project
Generates SBOMs as well as vulnerability reports
Easy to drop into CI pipelines
Cons
No hosted dashboard or team reporting without Aqua's paid platform
Does not open automatic fix pull requests like some SaaS tools
Command-line only, so less friendly for non-engineers
Visit Trivy Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.363
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Trivy a good Black Duck alternative?
Verified facts
3 of 3 verified
License
Apache-2.0
Checked Nov 4, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
Scan targets
Containers, Kubernetes, code repos, clouds
Checked Nov 4, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
SBOM generation
Yes
Checked Nov 4, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
5. Socket
Best for: JavaScript and Python teams worried about malicious packages and dependency supply chain attacks
Free plan + paidWeb, Browser extension
57.2
score / 100
Why switch from Black Duck
Catches malicious and typosquatted packages by behaviour, a supply-chain risk CVE scanners miss.
Pros
Detects malicious behaviour in packages, not just known CVEs
Free plan and free use for open-source projects
Blocks bad packages at install time with Socket Firewall
Source code stays local; only dependency lists are sent
Cons
GitLab, Bitbucket and Azure DevOps need the Enterprise plan
SAST, secrets and container scanning are Enterprise-only
Focused on dependencies, so it doesn't replace a full code scanner
Visit Socket Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.369
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.1585
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Socket a good Black Duck alternative?
Verified facts
5 of 5 verified
Free plan
Yes, $0 per dev seat
Checked Nov 8, 2026socket.dev(opens source in a new tab)
Starting price
$25 per dev seat/month (Team)
Checked Nov 8, 2026socket.dev(opens source in a new tab)
Open-source projects
Free
Checked Nov 8, 2026socket.dev(opens source in a new tab)
Source code shared
No, only dependency lists
Checked Nov 8, 2026socket.dev(opens source in a new tab)
Founded
2021
Checked Nov 8, 2026socket.dev(opens source in a new tab)
6. Aikido Security
Best for: Startups and mid-size teams that want one affordable AppSec tool instead of five scanners
Free plan + paidWeb
55.9
score / 100
Why switch from Black Duck
All-in-one scanner with a free plan and transparent pricing for smaller teams.
Pros
One dashboard for SCA, SAST, secrets, IaC, containers and cloud
Free-forever plan for up to two users
Auto-triage cuts false positives before they reach developers
On-prem scanning option keeps source code local
Cons
Free plan leaves out AutoFix, AutoTriage and code quality checks
Breadth means individual scanners may be shallower than specialist tools
Pentests and AI SAST are credit-based or quoted separately
Visit Aikido Security Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.357
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Aikido Security a good Black Duck alternative?
Verified facts
6 of 6 verified
Free plan
Yes, up to 2 users
Checked Nov 8, 2026aikido.dev(opens source in a new tab)
On-prem scanning
Yes (paid plans)
Checked Nov 8, 2026aikido.dev(opens source in a new tab)
Founded
2022
Checked Nov 8, 2026aikido.dev(opens source in a new tab)
Headquarters
Ghent, Belgium
Checked Nov 8, 2026aikido.dev(opens source in a new tab)
Compliance
SOC 2, ISO 27001
Checked Nov 8, 2026aikido.dev(opens source in a new tab)
Pentest price
$4,000 per assessment (typical)
Checked Nov 8, 2026aikido.dev(opens source in a new tab)

Quick comparison

1. SonarQubeTop pick

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

2. Snyk

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

3. Semgrep

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

4. Trivy

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

5. Socket

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

6. Aikido Security

Pros

Cons

Verified facts