Top SonarQube Alternatives for Secure Software Development

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Secure software development involves a lot more than just finding bugs in code once it's written. Today’s developers are looking for tools that will help them find security vulnerabilities as close to the beginning of the project as possible, and that can be integrated right into their workflow; additionally, these tools should be able to grow and scale alongside the quick-release cycle of many companies today.

In this article, we explore modern alternatives to SonarQube that go beyond traditional static analysis, offering improved security coverage, smarter prioritization, and smoother integration into today’s development workflows.

Modern Code Security Beyond Traditional Static Analysis

Today's top alternative solutions to SonarQube extend beyond standard linting and code smell detection. These modern alternatives provide a combination of static code analysis, dependency security, secrets detection, and intelligent prioritization to allow developers to quickly resolve their most important security concerns, while ensuring they maintain both clean and secure code bases.

1. Aikido

Aikido is a modern Application Security Platform, which goes well beyond the typical static code analysis. Aikido provides a lightweight and developer-centric way for development teams to identify potential security vulnerabilities within an organization's source code, as well as those introduced via their application's dependencies, cloud configurations, and infrastructure, among others.

Core Features

• Static Code Analysis: Finds security flaws and high-risk coding patterns in early stages of application development (pre-deployment).
• Dependency Security: Finds the vulnerabilities of an open source library as well as the issues at the code level.
• Noise Reduction: Removes lower-risk items from the list so you can focus on what really matters.
• Integration with CI/CD Tools: Integrates your security tests into your existing workflow/pipeline.
• Experience That Developers Love: Provides actionable information in a format that does not impede the development process.
• Single Viewpoint Visibility: Allows users to view all of their security indicators from one location.

For organizations looking for secure software development without having to manage several different products, Aikido is a good alternative to SonarQube. The product provides a wide range of coverage, uses intelligence-based prioritization, and integrates seamlessly with most engineering workflows, making it suitable for many modern engineering teams that have both a focus on code quality and security.

2. Semgrep

Semgrep is a rapid, customizable static code analysis tool that allows developers to create their own code scanning policies without requiring significant overhead.

 

The primary focus of Semgrep is on detecting both security-related vulnerabilities and logic or policy violations in code.

Core Features

• Static Analysis Engine: Semgrep uses its static analysis engine to scan code for security-related bugs as well as bad coding practices.
• Custom Rules: Teams can use Semgrep to create custom coding/security policies that are specific to the team's needs and organizational requirements.
• Fast Execution: Semgrep delivers the speed required for quick feedback during the pipeline process of Continuous Integration (CI)/Continuous Deployment (CD) pipelines.
• Language Support: Semgrep supports a wide variety of modern programming languages.
• Development Tooling: Semgrep works from the command line interface (CLI) and can be integrated into your CI/CD pipeline.

 

If you're looking to replace SonarQube's rule-based scanning with a faster and more customizable static code analysis solution that fits your modern software development workflow, then Semgrep is likely your best option.

3. Codacy

Codacy is a cloud-based Code Quality and Security Platform that performs automated Static Analysis of your codebase, enforces your Coding Standards, and assists you in maintaining a clean and secure code base across multiple teams.

Core Features

• Automated Code Reviews: Automatically detects errors in your Pull Requests.
• Code Quality Metrics: Provides maintainability, duplication, and complexity metrics of your code base.
• Security Checks: Helps identify common vulnerabilities, as well as detect unsafe patterns in your code.
• Consistency Across Teams: Allows for the enforcement of coding standards across all repositories.
• CI/CD Integration: Works seamlessly within most modern software development pipelines.

Codacy will suit teams looking for an alternative to SonarQube, using a lighter cloud-based solution that incorporates both Code Quality and Basic Security Checks, with little or no configuration required.

4. Checkmarx One

Checkmarx One is an enterprise-grade application security platform. It provides comprehensive static code analysis and a broad range of AppSec features. Checkmarx One is built for companies with very large code bases and/or a high level of regulatory compliance.

Core Features

• SAST: The ability to perform deep static analysis of the codebase for large amounts of code.
• Rules-based: Rules are used to identify vulnerabilities in the code base as opposed to identifying good coding practices.
• Integration into IDEs and pipelines: To allow for early detection of vulnerabilities during the development process.
• Prioritize risk: To help prioritize which vulnerabilities should be addressed first.
• Scalability for large enterprises: Scalable enough to support many developers working together on a large project.

Checkmarx One can provide an effective alternative to SonarQube if you are currently using it to perform Static Code Analysis from a Security perspective and need more in-depth vulnerability identification for your team.

Summing Up

The best alternative to SonarQube is based on your team's balance of code quality, security, and development speed.

Contemporary solutions are designed to allow developers to:

• Identify security and quality issues during the development process
• Provide valuable insights as opposed to large amounts of noise and little value alerts
• Easily integrate into an organization's current workflow

Teams can be confident that they are reducing their risk of producing insecure applications by using contemporary solutions that support secure software development.

Choose an option that supports secure software development from the initial line of code.