Checkmarx vs Semgrep

About Semgrep

Semgrep sells an application security platform that unifies SAST, SCA, secrets scanning, and malware protection. Semgrep says its platform catches, flags, and fixes real vulnerabilities before they ship. Semgrep says findings are triaged automatically using code context, patterns, and prior decisions. Semgrep says human triage decisions create reusable memories that suppress repeat false positives automatically.^[1]

Semgrep says teams can automate, manage, and enforce code standards across an organization for code, supply chain, and secrets. Semgrep integrates with GitHub, GitLab, and other source code management and continuous integration tools. Semgrep says teams can deploy scans across hundreds or thousands of repos with just a few clicks. Semgrep says teams control which detected issues are monitored by security, which notify developers in their workflow, and which block merges of critical bugs. Semgrep says Managed Scans run on Semgrep's cloud infrastructure, which scans repos in minutes, not hours. Semgrep says diff-aware scans let teams focus on issues in current changes, not ones accumulated from the past.^[8]

Semgrep announced that all Semgrep Code scans use Pro Engine, which brings cross-function analysis and Pro-only languages. Semgrep says cross-file analysis remains optional because of its potential impact on scan speeds. Semgrep says it detects complex issues like IDORs, broken authorization, and multi-step logic flaws. Semgrep shows code for dataflow traces no matter how many files a trace spans.^[9][10]

Semgrep says 24/7 on-call security monitoring triggers incident-specific scans within minutes of an open-source package compromise. Semgrep says Semgrep rapidly identifies blast radius and notifies impacted customers via dashboard, Slack or API. When Semgrep's Security Research team declares an incident, Supply Chain checks the account's SBOM and sends a Slack alert to configured channels. Semgrep Malware Firewall runs silently on developer machines, intercepting network requests to any public registry and blocking malicious and compromised open-source packages from reaching your environment. Semgrep says malware findings can be linked to automated workflows, including blocking commits, notifying sec-ops, and re-scanning to confirm malicious dependency removal. Semgrep says dedicated in-house support and security research teams monitor for incidents and provide response guidance.^[8][11][12]

Semgrep says coding agents install malicious packages, hardcode secrets, and write vulnerable patterns, and that Guardian stops each one at generation time. Semgrep says Guardian's firewall blocks malware before install, at the network layer. Semgrep says Guardian catches credentials before they're committed and sets environment variables automatically. Semgrep's MCP server exposes Semgrep's scanning capabilities as tools the agent can call directly. Semgrep says Hooks fire on every file write.^[13]

Semgrep says pre-built Agentic Workflows hunt for authentication, injection, and logic flaws, covering 70+ CWEs. Semgrep says Agentic Workflows apply static analysis tools such as Semgrep Pro Engine and Pro rules. Semgrep says Agentic Workflows use frontier AI models such as Claude Opus for reasoning about exploitability. Semgrep says Agentic Workflows can dynamically test code to confirm a vulnerability is exploitable. Semgrep says Agentic Workflows generate PRs that reference impact, context, and validation.^[14]

Semgrep Assistant offers autofix, autotriage, and component tagging, which users can run on selected findings. Semgrep says it generates tailored remediation and upgrade guidance directly in PRs and IDEs. Semgrep says step-by-step guidance from Semgrep Assistant removes 90% of remediation effort. Semgrep works with CLI, CI/CD, and IDEs including VS Code and JetBrains. Semgrep runs PR checks in GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure. Semgrep offers MCP integrations for AI tools like Cursor and Replit. Semgrep has reporting capabilities covering the production backlog, developer engagement levels, and overall security posture. Semgrep users can filter to see only issues associated with a subset of projects.^{[1][8][13][15][16][17][18]}