Semgrep Review 2026: Is Semgrep the Right SAST Tool?

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Is Semgrep the right SAST tool for your security team? Yes, for most teams, Semgrep is a strong default: the free tier now includes Pro rules, cross-file analysis, and AI triage for up to 10 contributors and 10 repositories, making it the most generous serious SAST entry point we’ve documented official Semgrep pricing page. It’s open source, developer-friendly, and priced transparently at the low end. The real question is where your team lands on the contributor-count curve.

How We Tested

This review is based on the vendor’s official documentation, pricing page, and published benchmarks — we did not run the tool ourselves. All claims are linked inline to primary sources, each verified HTTP-200 on 2026-08-26. We focused on the official Semgrep product pages, the official docs, and the official pricing page. Vendor benchmarks are labeled as vendor claims, not independent results. Last reviewed: August 2026.

What Is Semgrep?

Semgrep is an open-source static application security testing (SAST) engine built by Semgrep, Inc. (formerly r2c) and originally developed at Facebook, with the CLI core licensed under LGPL-2.1 dev.to pricing analysis. It scans source code for security issues using rules that look like the code you are searching for, which is what makes it fast and developer-friendly. The pattern-based approach means security teams can write custom rules without learning a query language.

Is Semgrep the right SAST tool for your security team?

For most security teams, Semgrep is a strong default: the free tier now includes Pro rules, cross-file analysis, and AI triage for up to 10 contributors and 10 repositories official Semgrep pricing page. Secrets and supply-chain scanning are separate paid modules, so match the tier to your team size and budget. It fits DevSecOps and appsec teams in small and mid-sized orgs that want a fast, rule-based scanner. Teams needing on-prem SCM support without Enterprise, or a single flat-price platform, should look elsewhere.

Semgrep Pricing: Free, Team, and Enterprise

Semgrep’s pricing is transparent where it matters: Free Edition costs $0 for up to 10 contributors and 10 repositories with cross-file analysis, Team starts at $30 per contributor per month for Code (SAST), $30 for Supply Chain, and $15 for Secrets, while Enterprise is custom-priced official Semgrep pricing page. Budget for per-contributor math, not per-repo math.

Tier Price Key Limits
Free $0 10 contributors, 10 repos, 60 AI credits, cross-file with Pro rules, GitHub+GitLab auth, Code+SC at $0
Team From $30/contributor/month Code $30, SC $30, Secrets $15; SSO; 20 AI credits/dev/month; one-click CI/CD
Enterprise Custom On-prem SCM, custom CI/CD, 50 AI credits/dev/month, optional dedicated infra, no limits, account manager, volume pricing

The honest cost-model takeaway: per-contributor pricing grows linearly with team size, so a 50-developer team on Team Code alone pays $1,500/month before SCA or Secrets. Compare that against your security frameworks budget before committing.

What Semgrep Scans: Products and Language Coverage

Semgrep ships as a product family: Code (SAST), Supply Chain (SCA with reachability analysis), Secrets (semantic detection of 630+ credential types), Guardian for AI-generated code, Workflows, and an MCP server for AI coding tools official Semgrep docs. It also includes Multimodal and the AppSec Platform for unified findings management. Language coverage spans 35+ languages, with GA support for C, C++, C#, Go, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Ruby, Rust, Swift, Terraform, and more official Semgrep product page. Beta languages include APEX and Elixir; Experimental covers Bash, Dockerfile, YAML, XML, and Solidity. Integrations span CLI, CI/CD (GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket/Azure PR checks), IDEs (VS Code, JetBrains), Jira, APIs/webhooks, and Managed Scans on GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure DevOps official Semgrep docs. The MCP server connects to AI tools like Cursor and Replit — see our MCP security risks post for the attack surface that introduces.

The Detection Gap: Community Edition vs Pro Engine

Independent testing cited by the developer community found single-file Community Edition detection around 44–48% versus 72–75% for the Pro engine dev.to pricing analysis. That gap may be narrowing: the official pricing page now lists cross-file analysis with Pro rules inside the free tier official Semgrep pricing page, so treat older benchmarks as stale. The practical takeaway: if you rely on the free Community rules, you’re getting roughly half the detection of the paid engine. For false-positive and severity context, check our CVE coverage hub.

Where Semgrep Falls Short

Semgrep’s headline numbers — 80% fewer false positives, 3.5x more true positives with Multimodal, 96% agreement with AI triage — are vendor claims from the official Semgrep product page, not independent benchmarks, and we did not verify them hands-on. Enterprise pricing is quote-only, AI credits are capped (60 free, 20 per developer on Team), and the per-contributor model gets expensive as your team grows. The free tier’s 10-repository limit also forces an early upgrade decision for active teams.

Verdict: Who Should Buy Semgrep in 2026

Buy Semgrep: start on the $0 free tier if you have 10 or fewer contributors, move to Team at $30 per contributor per month when you need SSO, SCA, or Secrets, and engage sales for Enterprise only if you need on-prem SCM support or volume pricing official Semgrep pricing page. The free tier is usable, not a trial. Small teams (≤10 contributors): Free Edition covers real SAST needs. Mid-size orgs needing SCA+Secrets+SSO: Team tier at $30/$30/$15 per contributor. Large/regulated orgs: Enterprise for on-prem SCM and volume pricing. For the broader scanner market, see our vulnerability scanning hub and our Trivy review.

FAQ

Is Semgrep free for small teams?

Yes, within limits. Semgrep’s Free Edition costs $0 for up to 10 contributors and 10 repositories and includes cross-file analysis with Pro rules plus 60 AI credits official Semgrep pricing page. Teams above that size need Team or Enterprise, billed per contributor per month.

How does Semgrep compare to Snyk Code?

We did not run a head-to-head benchmark, so we will not rank them on detection. Both are developer-first SAST tools, but Semgrep is open source with a $0 free tier, while Snyk Code is commercial. For the broader scanner market, see our Trivy review and our Nessus review.

Can Semgrep scan AI-generated code?

Yes. Semgrep Guardian is purpose-built to scan AI-generated code, and Semgrep ships an MCP server so AI coding tools like Cursor and Replit can trigger scans official Semgrep docs. Vendor claims say Multimodal finds up to 3.5x more true positives at lower cost — treat that as a vendor claim, not independent proof.

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