Black Duck
Enterprise application security suite known for open-source composition analysis and Coverity SAST.
Updated · AppBreakup editorial · Web, Self-hosted
Is Black Duck free?
No, it's a paid product
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About Black Duck
Black Duck is an enterprise application security vendor whose portfolio covers software composition analysis (Black Duck SCA), static analysis (Coverity and Polaris fAST Static), dynamic testing, interactive testing (Seeker), fuzz testing and application security posture management. Its SCA product is the best known: it combines dependency, binary and snippet scanning to find open-source and third-party components, checks them against a curated vulnerability and license database, and generates or imports SBOMs in SPDX and CycloneDX formats. That makes it common in regulated industries, embedded and automotive software, and for open-source audits during mergers and acquisitions. The Polaris platform bundles SAST, SCA and DAST as a SaaS service, while Coverity and other products can run on premises. Pricing is quote-based and aimed at large organisations; there is no free self-serve plan. Black Duck was previously part of Synopsys and now operates as its own company. Teams use it through the web console, IDE plugins and CI/CD integrations.
Best for: Large or regulated organisations that need deep open-source audits, SBOMs and enterprise SAST.
Pros and cons
What works
- Binary and snippet scanning finds components that manifest-only tools miss
- SBOM import and export in SPDX and CycloneDX
- Covers SAST, SCA, DAST and IAST from one vendor
- SaaS and on-premises deployment options
Why people leave
- Quote-only pricing with no free tier for small teams
- Heavier to set up and run than developer-first tools
- Several separate products to license and integrate
Black Duck vs SonarQube, Snyk and Mend.io
From each app's listing and the prices verified on its own site. A dash means we haven't verified it yet.
| Attribute | Black Duck | SonarQube | Snyk | Mend.io |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan + paid | Free plan + paid | Paid |
| Verified price | — | $34/month (Team plan, up to 100k LOC) | $25 a month, billed monthly (Team) | Up to $1,000 per developer/year |
| Free plan | No | Private projects up to 50k LOC | Yes, $0 a month | No |
| Open source | No | Yes | No | No |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Platforms | Web, Self-hosted | Web, Self-hosted | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux | Web |
Top Black Duck alternatives
See all 8- 1
SonarQube74.4Code quality and security analysis with a free self-hosted edition for smaller budgets.
- 2
Snyk68.8Developer-first SCA with IDE and pull request fixes, plus a free tier, instead of an enterprise-only audit tool.
- 3
Mend.io64.8Enterprise SCA with automated dependency updates via Renovate and license policy checks, like Black Duck's core.
- 4
Checkmarx61.8One platform for SAST and SCA if you use Black Duck alongside Coverity and want to consolidate.
- 5
Semgrep57.5Lightweight SAST and supply chain scanning that developers can run in seconds in CI.
Why people left Black Duck
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Black Duck: common questions
What is Black Duck?
Black Duck: Enterprise application security suite known for open-source composition analysis and Coverity SAST. Best for large or regulated organisations that need deep open-source audits, SBOMs and enterprise SAST. Available for Web, and you can host it yourself.
Is Black Duck free?
No, Black Duck is a paid product.
Is Black Duck open source?
No, Black Duck is not open source. Open-source alternatives include SonarQube, Semgrep and Trivy.
What platforms does Black Duck run on?
Black Duck is available for Web and Self-hosted.
What are the best alternatives to Black Duck?
The highest-ranked Black Duck alternatives right now are SonarQube, Snyk and Mend.io. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.
Black Duck vs SonarQube: what's the difference?
Black Duck is a paid product; SonarQube is free with paid plans. SonarQube is open source and Black Duck is not. Both run on Web.