CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

GitLab vs Kiuwan

GitLab states that software teams and their agents plan, build, secure, and ship on one control plane. Kiuwan sells static application security testing (SAST) and software composition analysis (SCA). CISO Tribune files both under Static application security testing and Software composition analysis. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • GitLab
  • Kiuwan
GitLab vs Kiuwan: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
GitLabGitLab states that software teams and their agents plan, build, secure, and ship on one control plane.about.gitlab.comKiuwanKiuwan sells static application security testing (SAST) and software composition analysis (SCA).kiuwan.com
What it sells
  • GitLab Duo Agent Platform[3]Orchestrates agents across the software development lifecycle.
  • GitLab.com[3]GitLab.com is multi-tenant SaaS.
  • Self-Managed[3]Self-Managed runs in the customer's environment.
  • GitLab Dedicated[3]Single-tenant SaaS with data residency and isolation controls.
  • GitLab Dedicated for Government[3]FedRAMP Moderate authorized single-tenant SaaS.
  • CI/CD Catalog[9]A shared, versioned home for tested components.
  • Code Security[1][5][7]A static application security testing tool that finds and prioritizes vulnerabilities across a codebase.
  • Insights[1][6]Supports SBOM generation by providing the components and information needed.
  • Code Quality[1][7][8]Code quality in a cloud environment for security QA engineers and IT teams.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Public (Nasdaq Global Market: GTLB)[1][14]Owned by Idera, Inc. since 2018[2][3]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[14]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
GitLab offers Self-Managed for customers that run it on any cloud or on premises, including air-gapped patterns. GitLab addresses teams that build spacecraft, aviation, and defense software. GitLab describes running agentic work on-prem or BYOM when ITAR and IP demand it. GitLab addresses teams that move software from commit to vehicle, with SLSA-ready controls and SBOM visibility.Kiuwan states that its SAST is compliant with financial security standards like NYDFS, GLBA, and PCI, and with banking security standards such as ISO/IEC, NIST, and PCI. Kiuwan Governance is aimed at stakeholders, security teams, and software vendors managing risk across a software ecosystem. Kiuwan can be run in the cloud, as hybrid-cloud based solutions, or on-premise.
Last verified
November 5, 2026October 16, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Static application security testing is the primary category of both GitLab and Kiuwan; both are also filed under Software composition analysis.

Where they differ, field by field

  • GitLab is also filed under Secrets detection and Software supply chain security.
  • GitLab lists GitLab Duo Agent Platform, GitLab.com, Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated, GitLab Dedicated for Government and 1 more. Kiuwan lists Code Security, Insights and Code Quality.
  • GitLab is a public company listed on Nasdaq Global Market as GTLB. Kiuwan is owned by Idera, Inc., since 2018.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files both GitLab and Kiuwan under static application security testing and software composition analysis, with static application security testing as the primary category for each. GitLab sells GitLab Duo Agent Platform, GitLab.com, Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated, GitLab Dedicated for Government and CI/CD Catalog, and it combines planning, source control, and CI/CD in one platform. Kiuwan sells Code Security, Insights, and Code Quality, and its Code Security product is a SAST tool that finds and prioritizes vulnerabilities across a codebase.

On the security side, GitLab consolidates scanners such as SAST, SCA, Secret Detection, and DAST into one platform, and findings appear in merge requests and IDEs. Kiuwan Insights can generate and export a Software Bill of Materials in the CycloneDX format. GitLab can also generate an SBOM automatically. Kiuwan Code Security covers 30+ languages and offers IDE plugins for Visual Studio, VS Code, Eclipse, and JetBrains. Kiuwan also lists GitLab CI as integrating with Kiuwan via the local analyzer.

GitLab is a public company listed on Nasdaq Global Market as GTLB. Kiuwan was founded in 2003 in Spain, was acquired by Idera, Inc. in 2018, and is now part of Sembi. For deployment, GitLab offers multi-tenant SaaS, single-tenant SaaS, and Self-Managed that runs on any cloud or on premises, including air-gapped patterns. Kiuwan can analyze code in the cloud or use the Kiuwan Local Analyzer when code must stay on-premise. GitLab addresses teams that build spacecraft, aviation, and defense software, while Kiuwan states its SAST is compliant with financial standards like NYDFS, GLBA, and PCI.

What it sells: GitLab

What GitLab Duo Agent Platform does[3]
Foundational, custom, and external agents run flows for planning, coding, review, security, and CI/CD. Humans stay above the loop with policy, identity, and audit. GitLab Duo Agent Platform covers agents, agentic workflows, model choice, and extensibility.
What GitLab.com does[3]
GitLab.com is a multi-tenant SaaS deployment of GitLab. Across deployments, customers can use GitLab-managed models or self-hosted models.
What Self-Managed does[3]
Self-Managed runs in the customer's environment. Self-Managed runs on any cloud or on premises, including air-gapped patterns.
What GitLab Dedicated does[3]
GitLab Dedicated provides single-tenant SaaS. GitLab Dedicated provides data residency and isolation controls.
What CI/CD Catalog does[9]
The CI/CD Catalog is a shared, versioned home for tested components. Teams publish versioned, reusable components once.

What it sells: Kiuwan

What Code Security does[1][5][7]
Kiuwan Code Security is a SAST tool that finds and prioritizes vulnerabilities across a codebase. Scans can run locally or in CI/CD, and findings are reviewed in a dashboard with remediation tips and compliance mappings. Kiuwan Code Security can analyze code in the cloud or use the Kiuwan Local Analyzer when code must stay on-premise. Kiuwan states that Kiuwan Code Security is compliant with security standards including CWE, OWASP, PCI, CERT, and SANS.
What Insights does[1][6]
Kiuwan Insights supports SBOM generation by providing the components and information needed. Kiuwan Insights can generate and export a complete Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) in the CycloneDX standard format. Kiuwan Insights gives visibility into the open-source and third-party components used in applications.

Questions about GitLab and Kiuwan

What do GitLab and Kiuwan sell?
GitLab sells GitLab Duo Agent Platform, GitLab.com, Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated, GitLab Dedicated for Government and 1 more. Kiuwan sells Code Security, Insights and Code Quality.
Are GitLab and Kiuwan in the same category?
Yes. Static application security testing is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Who owns GitLab and Kiuwan?
GitLab is a public company listed on Nasdaq Global Market as GTLB. Kiuwan is owned by Idera, Inc., since 2018.
Who are GitLab and Kiuwan sold to?
GitLab offers Self-Managed for customers that run it on any cloud or on premises, including air-gapped patterns. Kiuwan states that its SAST is compliant with financial security standards like NYDFS, GLBA, and PCI, and with banking security standards such as ISO/IEC, NIST, and PCI.

About GitLab

GitLab states that software teams and their agents plan, build, secure, and ship on one control plane. GitLab describes that control plane as covering unified context, orchestration, security and governance, and execution on GitLab Core. GitLab combines planning, source control, and CI/CD in one platform, and projects, releases, and code share one data plane.[3][4]

GitLab runs four peer pillars on one foundation. Execution and Workflows covers planning, source code management, CI/CD pipelines, registry, and delivery. Security and Governance covers application security, software composition analysis, compliance management, and agent governance. Context and Data covers analytics, value stream visibility, and lifecycle context including Context Graph. Agentic Orchestration covers GitLab Duo Agent Platform: agents, agentic workflows, model choice, and extensibility. Deployment and AI inference options let customers choose where GitLab runs and which models power agents.[2][3]

GitLab Duo Agent Platform is how GitLab orchestrates agents across the software development lifecycle. GitLab says humans stay above the loop with policy, identity, and audit. GitLab defines intelligent orchestration as teams setting intent and guardrails while agents execute within them. Policies, approvals, and scanning in GitLab apply to human and agent changes alike. GitLab supports APIs, webhooks, integrations, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) so agents and tools share context under the customer's policies. Across deployments, GitLab customers can use GitLab-managed models or self-hosted models, and reshape seats and agent usage with GitLab Flex.[3][4]

GitLab runs scanning, policies, and approvals inside the pipeline. GitLab consolidates scanners such as SAST, SCA, Secret Detection, and DAST into one platform. Security findings from GitLab appear directly in merge requests and IDEs. GitLab built-in scans run on every push to detect insecure code during development. GitLab can run automated security scans to capture vulnerabilities before code is merged. GitLab supports ensuring that passwords and sensitive information are not in source code. GitLab can find disclosed vulnerabilities in dependent software before they reach production. GitLab can generate an SBOM automatically so that every dependency in the project is known.[4][5][6]

GitLab can block risky packages before they enter the build. GitLab describes protecting multiple attack surfaces, including code, build, dependencies, and release artifacts, with policy-as-code and continuous governance. GitLab can block malicious packages and packages above a vulnerability severity threshold before they are fetched. GitLab can scan licenses and block packages that fall outside organization policies. GitLab isolates the build environment to block unauthorized access and malicious code execution.[6]

GitLab offers over 60 out-of-the-box controls prebuilt into a single platform. GitLab keeps code authors, reviewers, and deployers separated by policy so that no single person or agent can develop and deploy unreviewed changes. GitLab captures every human and AI-driven change in one immutable audit trail. GitLab maps controls from every major or custom framework into a single, unified compliance view. For infrastructure, GitLab includes Infrastructure as Code static and dynamic testing to help catch vulnerabilities before they get to production. GitLab integrates Flux to support pull-based GitOps workflows. GitLab stores Terraform state files and modules and shows Terraform plan output directly in the merge request.[4][7][8]

GitLab.com is multi-tenant SaaS, and Self-Managed runs in the customer's environment on any cloud or on premises, including air-gapped patterns. GitLab Dedicated and GitLab Dedicated for Government provide single-tenant SaaS with data residency and isolation controls. GitLab can deploy to virtual machines, Kubernetes clusters, or FaaS from multiple cloud vendors. Organizations can make one annual commitment and steer their spend across seat-based licenses and usage-based credits.[3][4][9]

GitLab provides building blocks to support compliance, certification, and standards programs for functional safety, code quality, and other requirements: ISO 26262, MISRA, IEC 61508. GitLab describes integrating virtual and physical hardware testing into automated CI. GitLab describes self-hosted and BYOM options that keep code and data inside the customer's boundary. GitLab describes shift-left policies, remediation, and release evidence that help engineer processes for DO-178C.[2][3][9][10][11][12][13]

GitLab on the record

Sources

GitLab full record

  1. [1]CompanyGitLab · about.gitlab.com · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]about.gitlab.comGitLab · about.gitlab.com · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]GitLab Platform - Speed with controlGitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]GitLab - Speed with control for agentic software engineeringGitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Application security testingGitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Software Supply Chain SecurityGitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Software compliance automationGitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]GitOps infrastructure automationGitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD)GitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]GitLab for automotive softwareGitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]GitLab for aerospace and defenseGitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]GitLab ServicesGitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]GitLab for StartupsGitLab · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]GitLab Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & FeaturesG2 · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier C

Kiuwan full record

  1. [1]kiuwan.comKiuwan · kiuwan.com · undated page, accessed October 16, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Idera acquires kiuwanKiuwan · kiuwan.com · published May 26, 2021 · Tier A
  3. [3]About Us | KiuwanKiuwan · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Why US Organizations Need Kiuwan | KiuwanKiuwan · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Static Application Security Testing (SAST) | KiuwanKiuwan · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]SBOM Software Bill Of Materials | KiuwanKiuwan · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Code Security | KiuwanKiuwan · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Pricing | KiuwanKiuwan · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Why Finance Organizations Need SAST | KiuwanKiuwan · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Why Banks Need SAST | KiuwanKiuwan · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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