Code security has become an important aspect of modern software development. Nowadays, many developers leverage third-party libraries and open-source components to accelerate the development stage.
However, these integrations often lead to various security risks or create a backdoor for malicious actors to exploit the software. Fortunately, the software composition analysis (SCA) tool has been the savior.
It has emerged as a vital solution that not only manages known and unknown vulnerabilities but also issues that originate from open-source components and software supply chains. Currently, with an ample number of cloud-native SCA platforms in the industry- we understand it can be challenging to find the right one.
To spare you the hassle, we navigated through the research phase and compiled a list of the 10 best software composition analysis tools in 2024. In this article, we have also covered the following aspects to make it easier for you to choose the SCA tool;
- What is software composition analysis?
- What are SCA tools?
- What should you look for in an SCA solution?
- SCA solution comparison in the chart.
Now, let’s get started;
What to Look For in a SCA Solution?
When looking for a SCA solution, you can’t randomly choose a particular tool. You have to be diligent and evaluate various factors that will blend with the software security requirements of your organization. Here are some key factors that you should look into a SCA solution:
Dependency Analysis
The first thing you should check in the SCA tool is the dependency analysis capability. It should be capable of automatically analyzing the codebase to identify all the open-source components, third-party libraries, and other code assets associated with it.
Vulnerability Scanning
The SCA tool should offer vulnerability scanning to identify potential vulnerabilities and security risks present in the software's codebase. It should analyze the vulnerabilities by checking them against known vulnerability databases like the National Vulnerability Database and provide reports about severity.
Automation and Generating Reports
Nowadays, many SCA tools automate the process of security testing to enhance productivity and ensure high accuracy. Along with automation, it is best to get insightful reports that ease up the decision-making process, communicate with stakeholders, and manage compliance audits.
License Compliance
When analyzing an SCA tool, you should make sure that it is capable of analyzing the license embedded with each open-source component. By analyzing the licenses, it enables the organization to adhere to legal obligations and compliance requirements.
Risk Assessment
Offering risk assessment of all the detected vulnerabilities and licensing issues allows the security team to prioritize the issues and remediate them accordingly. If it doesn't remediate automatically, it should at least offer guidance for corrective measures.
Real-Time Threat Detection
It would be a smart move to consider an SCA tool offering real-time threat detection so that it can identify vulnerabilities and other security threats in real-time. It would help in enhancing the overall response time by a large margin.
Integration
It is vital for the SCA tool to offer integration with other development tools and processes because it allows the developers to identify vulnerabilities and compliance issues at the early stage. Integration with CI/CD pipeline, issue tracking system, IDEs, and other tools used in your development and deployment process.
10 Best Software Composition Analysis Tools in 2024
Before we dive into the list of best SCA tools in 2024, we would like you to go through the SCA solution comparison;
| Vulnerability Scanning | CI/CD and IDE Integration | Risk Prioritization | Price |
Available | Available | Available | Pricing starts from $50 per month for every user. Book a Free demo today! | |
CAST Highlight | Available | Available | Available | Pricing starts at $26K for 25 applications. |
Veracode | Available | Available | Available | Pricing starts from $50 per month for every user. |
Checkmarx SCA | Available | Available | Limited. | The pricing is available on quote request. |
Synopsys Coverity | Available | Available | Limited | The pricing starts at $500 per month. |
JFrog Xray | Available | Available | Available | The pricing is available on quote request. |
Mend.io | Available | Available | Available | The pricing starts at $25K per year for 100 developers. |
Snyk Open Source | Available | Available | Limited | The pricing starts from $25 per month. |
SonarCloud | Available | Available | Available | The price starts at $11 monthly for 100K lines of code. |
HCL AppScan | Available | Available | Limited | The price starts at $60 per month for every user. |
CloudDefense.AI
CloudDefense.AI 
Undoubtedly, CloudDefense.AI serves as the obvious choice when you are looking for a comprehensive SCA tool that lets you take control of security and license compliance. It is a highly effective tool that blends deep code analysis and real-time context to assess the vulnerabilities.
The cutting-edge scanning capability and ability to provide deep insights into third-party components leave no stone unturned when it comes to identifying issues. It serves as a comprehensive tool to enhance the overall application security and compliance.
Features
Here are some of the key features of CloudDefense.AI that make it a brilliant choice:
Deep SCA Analysis
CloudDefense.AI helps you deploy deep code analysis through a single command that scans every part of the application code to discover vulnerabilities. It utilizes a unique database that goes beyond NVD and helps it identify many unknown vulnerabilities, ultimately helping to enhance security against emerging threats.
Integration Into DevOps
This solution seamlessly integrates with DevOps workflow and offers end-to-end security from code to runtime. This integration enables open-source risk management in your development workflow that helps in getting a clear view of all the potential risks. It also helps in offering fixes for each version of open-source packages.
Dependency Tree View
CloudDefense.AI's Dependency Tree View has revolutionized the application security realm as it provides security teams with a holistic view of all the vulnerabilities associated with the software. Dependency Tree View also helps prioritize vulnerabilities based on their impact and helps channel resources to the most severe vulnerability.
Simple Remediation
The SCA solution from CloudDefense.AI simplifies the remediation process by guiding developers regarding which latest library version supports the remediation process. It eliminates the guesswork and ensures effective remediation without waste of resources.
Simplified Setup and Convenient Usage
Simplicity is a key aspect of CloudDefense.AI as it is extremely easy to set up and enables you to protect your software with ease. It helps you to implement the solution within 2 minutes. Moreover, the platform is extremely developer-friendly, making it easy for everyone to safeguard their application without going through any steep learning curve.
Pros
It offers complete end-to-end security to secure your code and the application.
Helps in discovering vulnerabilities that are not listed in the NVD.
Provides a holistic view of all the vulnerabilities associated with your application, including direct and nested.
This solution streamlines the remediation process and ensures quick fixes by providing you with actionable insights.
Cons
This CSA tool is mostly focused on vulnerability detection.
The basic subscription fee is slightly higher than others.
What Sets CloudDefense.AI Apart from Others?
CloudDefense.AI is known for its distinguished SCA tool, and the features that set it apart from others are:
Unique Dependency Tree View
CloudDefense.AI, through its unique Dependency Tree View features, provides you complete visibility into your software's security statutes and helps you identify potential risks.
Advanced Vulnerability Database
Unlike other tools, CloudDefense.AI has an exclusive vulnerability database that goes beyond NVD. It lists many unknown vulnerabilities that are not listed in NVD, thus helping you stay ahead of emerging threats.
Single Command Execution
It helps in executing SCA scans effortlessly through a single command. Not only does it help you streamline the scanning process, but it also saves you a lot of time and effort.
Don’t just take our word for it. Book a free demo and witness firsthand the power and simplicity of CloudDefense.AI.
CAST Highlight
CAST Highlight
You can consider CAST Highlight as a comprehensive SCA tool that offers security from code to development and deployment in your application.
This automated application governance solution provides a deep analysis of vulnerability, and it works well with organizations of any size. It is one of those solutions that focuses on a green software development approach without disturbing productivity.
Features
It provides developers and security teams with automatic recommendations on prioritized vulnerabilities and helps them focus on the most critical issues.
Offers developers a single and integrated view of their applications and components associated with them.
Through centralized control towers, it performs rapid analysis to identify and address security vulnerabilities and IP licensing exposures.
Promotes a green software development approach by identifying areas where CO2 emission can be reduced.
Veracode
Veracode
Among top-tier SCA vendors, Veracode has established itself as one of the leading tools that goes beyond traditional code scanning and NVD. It has been designed in such a way that not only fixes code issues but also automates the finding of vulnerabilities. With this tool, maintaining software security gets easier as you get a bunch of advanced tools.
Features
Scans for vulnerabilities through the command line in the pipeline and IDE, enabling developers to fix errors at the early stage.
Automates scanning and remediating of open-source vulnerabilities and license risks and prevents the organization from hefty penalties.
Offers a premium database of vulnerabilities that helps identify many emerging threats that are yet to be discovered.
Enables developers to create SBOM for the open-source components and it is saved in CycloneDX format.
Checkmarx SCA
Checkmarx SCA
Checkmarx SCA is undoubtedly one of the finest SCA tools you will come across that scans your applications and keeps all the open-source vulnerabilities in check.
Besides, this SCA tool also helps developers maintain license compliances and recommended updates. It is a leading vendor that is trusted by 1400 organizations throughout the world, including many top Fortune 100 organizations.
Features
Efficiently finds vulnerable open-source packages in your application code and provides remediation guidance to solve them.
Enables developers to prevent all types of compliance risks by helping to apply accurate licenses to open source code and make sure all the attributions are correct.
Employs an open-source security research team that helps organizations with remediation guidance and details regarding known CVEs and specialized vulnerabilities.
It integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines and SDLC and alerts users regarding new threats, including threats affecting previous applications.
Synopsys Coverity
Synopsys Coverity
When it comes to getting one of the best SCA tools, you have to consider Synopsys Coverity. It provides the organization with a detailed static analysis and enables the developers to deliver high-quality software that maintains security, industry regulations, and functional safety.
Features
Synopsys Coverity goes through numerous libraries and files across your codebase and identifies code quality and security issues to fix them.
It can scale and analyze applications of any size, even large web apps with millions of lines of code.
Makes it easy for the security team to track and manage compliance by providing security teams with insights into issues and prioritize remediation.
Supports more than 22 programming languages, 200 frameworks, and various IaC platforms to enhance overall code quality.
JFrog Xray
JFrog Xray
JFrog Xray is a one-of-a-kind universal SCA tool that efficiently analyzes the source and binary files to identify vulnerabilities and resolve them. It is an all-around SCA tool that urges developers and DevSecOps teams to emphasize introducing security assessments as early as possible in the development stage.
Features
Deploys automated and continuous scanning and auditing of software artifacts and other components through the development stage to prevent security issues.
It works well with self-hosted platforms, AWS, GCP, Azure, and other popular cloud platforms.
Offers an extensive JFrog vulnerability database that sources data from NVD, GitHub, Red Hat, and other databases to provide rich insights into vulnerabilities.
Allows DevSecOps teams to analyze and understand all the dependencies of the components associated with the application.
Mend.io
Mend.io
Trusted by top organizations in the world, Mend.io is truly an exceptional SCA that helps you discover and fix vulnerable open-source dependencies and other vulnerabilities.
It is well-suited for organizations working with GitHub and integrates easily with such an environment. A highlight aspect that makes Mend.io a great choice is that it reduces the burdens on developers by integrating security into registries, repositories, and IDEs.
Features
The 360-degree Malicious package protection efficiently detects and mitigates malicious packages in your codebase.
Offers a comprehensive vulnerability database and efficient tracking system to identify new critical vulnerabilities and prevent them from affecting the application.
Curbs MTTR by 80% by leveraging automated remediation processes and ensuring security throughout the development.
It offers path analysis that enables developers to detect and analyze vulnerabilities that have the highest impact potential.
Snyk Open Source
Snyk Open Source
If you are looking for a developer-focused SCA tool that will help you find, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities, then Snyk Open Source serves as a possible choice. Unlike others, it offers an advanced software composition analysis that combines application and security intelligence to find vulnerabilities throughout the development cycle.
Features
Enables developers to discover vulnerabilities while coding in the IDE or CLI, ultimately saving them from hefty fixes in the future.
Deploys automated Snyk tests at the CI/CD pipeline and prevents any new vulnerabilities from reaching the deployment stage.
Snyk Open Source assesses the product environment to ensure it is free from the impact of existing vulnerabilities and looks for new issues.
It automates the monitoring of your application and codebase to identify vulnerabilities and also provides reports of the latest NVEs.
SonarCloud
SonarCloud
SonarCloud is an emerging SCA tool that garners a lot of attention with superior analysis capability and precision reports to reduce false positives. It is a cloud-based solution that offers developers complete scalability and flexibility to work on their application development.
Features
SonarCloud protects your application across different frameworks, IaC platforms, and numerous programming languages.
It offers automated analysis and code checks to identify vulnerabilities and provides quick feedback regarding the issue.
Features Sonar Quality Gate, whose main function is to prevent codes that don't meet the required quality requirement.
Maximizes the remediation process through precision analysis and helps you focus on issues with high severity.
HCL AppScan
HCL AppScan
Another top software composition tool that you can take into consideration is HCL AppScan. It is a dynamic SCA tool that offers you a suite of technologies to identify vulnerabilities in your application. Automating the testing throughout the SDLC ensures continuous security and prevents any malicious component from entering production.
Features
It enables the DevOps team to deploy automated testing through the development lifecycle and accelerate the remediation process.
Maintain a shift left paradigm by integrating into CI/CD pipelines and IDEs and discover vulnerabilities from the start of the development.
Offers auto-fix capability by leveraging machine learning and auto-issue correlation to prioritize vulnerabilities according to their impact level.
It provides a centralized dashboard for real-time visibility into your risk posture and compliance.
What is Software Composition Analysis (SCA)?
Software composition analysis is a security practice that involves the automated analysis of open-source packages leveraged by software. It helps in performing deep analysis of security, code quality, and license in dependencies.
In essence, it helps an organization identify the third-party libraries, open-source components, compliance issues, and potential vulnerabilities integrated into the application codebase. Previously, tracking open source license obligations and issues manually took a lot of work, and it often missed out on various codes along with vulnerabilities associated with it.
However, SCA solves it by helping analyze the composition of the software, including code quality and security. The arrival of SCA has allowed DevSecOps to integrate the shift left paradigm and enhance productivity without compromising on code security. Organizations also utilize SCA to create a software bill of materials for all resources so that they can show it to the stakeholders and partners.
What are SCA Tools?
Software composition analysis or SCA tools are software development tools that enable security analysts and developers to discover, manage, and mitigate vulnerabilities and issues associated with open-source components.
Most of the SCA tools automate the process of identifying and managing open-source components and third-party libraries associated with the software. It has become a vital part of DevOps and DevSecOps as it disassembles every component of software’s source code to provide complete visibility into the software’s composition and dependencies.
It automatically creates a complete inventory of all the components, which are then analyzed and compared with known vulnerabilities and practices to highlight potential issues.
Not only do these tools enable developers to identify potential vulnerabilities, but also help in discovering code quality issues, version updates, and licensing issues. Many SCA tools also provide insights regarding ways to fix the identified issues when they generate reports after an analysis. Nowadays, developers often integrate these tools with static code analysis software to enhance overall software security and code reliability.
Conclusion
Choosing the right SCA tool from the list of 10 best software composition analysis tools in 2024 might seem difficult at first. However, we are confident that this guide will ease up the process of finding the appropriate SCA tool that will cater to your organization’s requirements and prevent vulnerabilities from affecting the development stage.
All the SCA tools we have added offer a range of capabilities and functionalities that make them an ideal choice for organizations of any size. From code quality and vulnerability detection to providing an extensive vulnerability database, these SCA tools will provide all the features you need.
Anshu Bansal, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture capitalist, currently co-founds CloudDefense.AI, a cybersecurity solution with a mission to secure your business by rapidly identifying and removing critical risks in Applications and Infrastructure as Code. With a background in Amazon, Microsoft, and VMWare, they contributed to various software and security roles.
