Semgrep Review: Reduce AppSec False Positives By 98% for Your Code

Chasing elusive security bugs in your code again?

If you’re evaluating code security platforms, chances are you’re frustrated with too many false positives and slow, clunky scans that interrupt your workflow.

But the real headache? You waste hours daily sorting real issues from noise, and that’s time you’d rather spend building and shipping features.

Semgrep aims to fix this by focusing on actionable results: their static analysis engine and AI-powered guidance help you find—and actually fix—meaningful vulnerabilities, not just endless alerts. Their unique dataflow analysis limits false positives, while speedy CI/CD integration gives your team near-instant feedback.

In this review, I’ll break down how Semgrep helps you catch vulnerabilities fast with practical workflows tailored to your codebase.

You’ll see in this Semgrep review how I analyze features, pricing, strengths, and where it stands against other top code security solutions, so your evaluation process is easier.

By the end, you’ll know if Semgrep delivers the features you need to make secure development simpler and faster.

Let’s dive into the details.

Semgrep Overview

Semgrep has been around since 2017, based in San Francisco. I like their mission: to make exploiting software expensive through superior, developer-focused code analysis.

They target a wide market, from individuals to large enterprises. What sets them apart is their developer-first application security approach, focusing on actionable results without overwhelming your engineers with noisy alerts. This philosophy resonates well with modern software teams.

Their recent $100 million funding and repeat spot on Fortune’s Cyber 60 list signal strong market validation. I’ll explore how this investment impacts product capabilities through this Semgrep review.

Unlike heavy enterprise tools from vendors like Checkmarx, Semgrep emphasizes speed and usability. Their key advantage is customizable rules that resemble actual source code, which makes security feel like a natural part of the development workflow.

They work with a diverse set of companies, from tech innovators like Snowflake to any organization needing to embed security into modern CI/CD pipelines without adding painful friction that developers rightfully hate.

It’s clear their strategy is about “shifting left” by empowering the people who write the code. This focus on AI and high-fidelity results directly addresses the developer pushback that causes most security initiatives to fail.

Now let’s examine their core capabilities.

Semgrep Features

Is your code security slowing down development?

Semgrep features offer a unified approach to application security, integrating directly into your developer workflows. Here are the five main Semgrep features that address common AppSec pain points.

1. Semgrep Code (SAST)

Tired of endless false positives from SAST tools?

Traditional SAST often flags non-issues, wasting your team’s time sifting through irrelevant alerts. This can lead to security fatigue.

Semgrep Code pinpoints real security vulnerabilities in your source code with high precision, dramatically reducing noise. From my testing, its dataflow analysis effectively tracks complex flaws like taint-sourced SQL injections. This feature helps developers trust the findings and prioritize actual risks.

This means you can finally focus on fixing critical issues, not validating every single alert.

2. Semgrep Supply Chain (SCA)

Are unexploitable vulnerabilities cluttering your SCA reports?

Many SCA tools overwhelm you with every known dependency vulnerability, even if they aren’t reachable. This creates unnecessary remediation work.

Semgrep Supply Chain cuts through the clutter by highlighting only reachable vulnerabilities in open-source dependencies. Here’s what I found: it reduces false positives by up to 98%, ensuring you only fix what’s genuinely exploitable. This feature prioritizes the security work that actually matters.

So you can efficiently secure your software supply chain without wasting resources on non-issues.

3. Semgrep Secrets

Worrying about sensitive keys leaking into your codebase?

Accidentally committing API keys or credentials can expose your systems to severe breaches. This is a constant nightmare for security teams.

Semgrep Secrets automatically detects hardcoded secrets within your code, preventing them from ever reaching production. What I love about this feature is its ability to catch credentials before they become a problem, giving you peace of mind. It acts as a crucial last line of defense.

This means you can significantly reduce your risk of data breaches from exposed sensitive information.

4. Semgrep Assistant (AI)

Struggling to fix vulnerabilities with unclear guidance?

Receiving a vulnerability report without clear remediation steps can leave developers frustrated and slow down fixes. This is a common pain point.

Semgrep Assistant leverages AI to provide precise, step-by-step remediation guidance directly to developers. This is where Semgrep shines: it offers tailored instructions and even suggested code fixes, cutting down research time. This feature ensures developers can address issues swiftly and confidently.

The result is your team gets the actionable intelligence needed to fix security flaws faster.

5. Custom Rules and Rule Packs

Need to enforce unique security policies or coding standards?

Generic security tools often miss vulnerabilities specific to your unique business logic or internal frameworks. This leaves dangerous gaps in your security.

Semgrep’s custom rule engine lets you define bespoke rules using a syntax that looks like code, making it highly accessible. From my testing, this feature allows incredible flexibility to enforce specific organizational policies or detect niche bugs. You can publish these rules privately within your team.

This means you can tailor your security scans precisely to your codebase, covering vulnerabilities others might miss.

You’ll appreciate how these Semgrep features work together to create a developer-centric AppSec workflow that significantly improves your security posture.

Semgrep Pricing

What will Semgrep pricing really cost you?

Semgrep pricing offers a transparent tiered model, from a free Community Edition to paid Team and custom Enterprise tiers, ensuring you can find a plan that fits your business needs.

Plan	Price & Features
Community Edition	Free • Popular language support • DevOps platform integration • Fast analysis • Sonarlint IDE integration
Team	$40/developer/month • Semgrep Code (SAST) & Supply Chain (SCA) • Secrets Detection • Pro rules & engine (600+ high-confidence rules) • Unlimited public/private repo scanning • CI/CD integration & award-winning support
Enterprise	Custom pricing – contact sales • Volume pricing • Roadmap visibility & influence • Early access to new features • Tailored support

1. Value Assessment

Solid value for your budget.

What impressed me is how Semgrep’s Team tier bundles both SAST and SCA, offering a comprehensive security solution without separate module costs. From my cost analysis, this integrated approach delivers significant value, especially with its focus on reducing false positives, saving your team valuable time.

This means your budget gets a more effective security tool, avoiding the frustration and wasted effort of traditional SAST.

2. Trial/Demo Options

Try before you buy.

A free trial of Semgrep is available, allowing you to thoroughly test the platform’s capabilities with your own code. What I found valuable is that you can evaluate its real-world impact on your development and security workflows before making any financial commitment.

This ensures you can validate the benefits and integration before committing to the full pricing.

3. Plan Comparison

Choosing the best plan for you.

The Community Edition is great for individual use, but for teams needing advanced features and support, the Team tier is a strong contender. Budget-wise, the Team tier scales with your developer count, ensuring you pay only for what you need up to 10 contributors, then per user beyond.

This helps you match Semgrep pricing to actual usage requirements, providing flexibility as your team grows.

My Take: Semgrep’s pricing structure is designed to offer clear value at each tier, balancing accessibility for small teams with enterprise-level customization, making it suitable for various company sizes.

The overall Semgrep pricing reflects transparent value for comprehensive application security.

Semgrep Reviews

What do actual Semgrep users say?

I’ve dived into numerous Semgrep reviews to give you a balanced analysis of real user experiences, helping you understand what customers truly think about this software.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Users seem largely satisfied.

From my review analysis, Semgrep consistently receives high marks, often replacing multiple SAST scanners for users. What I found in user feedback is a strong appreciation for its robust solution, which leads to high confidence in its findings and widespread adoption by developer teams.

This indicates you can expect a reliable and trustworthy static analysis experience for your code.

2. Common Praise Points

Its speed and ease truly impress users.

Users consistently highlight Semgrep’s user-friendly interface, quick setup, and fast scanning capabilities as major advantages. From the reviews I analyzed, scans often complete in under five minutes, enabling seamless integration into existing developer workflows without causing any friction.

This means you’ll get rapid feedback directly in your pull requests, saving valuable development time.

3. Frequent Complaints

Some areas could use refinement.

While generally positive, some Semgrep reviews mention less comprehensive documentation and a desire for further performance optimization. What stands out in user feedback is how certain configurations aren’t always intuitive, suggesting a slight learning curve for specific advanced setups.

These issues appear to be minor points, not deal-breakers, for most users adopting the tool.

The overall Semgrep reviews reflect strong user satisfaction with clear benefits and only minor areas for improvement.

Best Semgrep Alternatives

Considering Semgrep’s top competitors?

The best Semgrep alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business situations, team sizes, and specific security priorities you might have.

1. Snyk

Focused on open-source dependencies and containers?

Snyk’s primary strength lies in its extensive database for open-source scanning and container security, integrating broadly across development environments and CI/CD. From my competitive analysis, Snyk provides comprehensive open-source dependency scanning, though its pricing can be less transparent compared to Semgrep.

Choose Snyk if your core concern is thorough open-source and container security, especially for large enterprise needs.

2. SonarQube

Seeking holistic code quality management alongside security?

SonarQube provides a more extensive solution for overall code quality, including metrics for maintainability and technical debt, with broader mindshare in the SAST category. What I found comparing options is that SonarQube offers deeper code quality metrics than Semgrep, though it’s less flexible for custom rules.

Consider this alternative for larger projects needing in-depth quality metrics and governance beyond just security.

3. Checkmarx

Requiring enterprise-grade compliance and deep policy management?

Checkmarx offers robust policy management, compliance, and governance features, catering to large enterprises with complex security requirements across the SDLC. From my analysis, Checkmarx provides extensive enterprise security features, though its proprietary rule-writing and higher cost can be barriers for some.

Choose Checkmarx when comprehensive, enterprise-level compliance support and thorough security testing are paramount for your organization.

The best Semgrep alternatives depend on your specific security needs and team workflow, not just feature lists alone.

Semgrep Setup

What does Semgrep implementation really entail?

For this Semgrep review, I’ve analyzed its deployment approach. You’ll find it refreshingly straightforward compared to many AppSec tools, setting realistic expectations for your implementation journey.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Is Semgrep deployment simple or complex?

Semgrep is known for its lightweight nature and quick setup, allowing you to get actionable findings very fast. What I found about deployment is that you can sign up and scan a project within 10 minutes, demonstrating remarkable ease of implementation for most businesses.

You should plan for integrating it into your CI/CD, which involves creating a job and sending findings to the platform.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

How will Semgrep integrate with your systems?

Semgrep runs locally or within your existing CI container, parsing source code to understand its structure. From my implementation analysis, it seamlessly integrates with popular SCM and CI tools, requiring you to store a SEMGREP_APP_TOKEN as an environment variable or secret.

Your IT team will appreciate its compatibility with over 30 languages, minimizing the need for new infrastructure.

3. Training & Change Management

Will your developers actually use it?

Semgrep’s rules are designed to be readable and writable by developers without deep static analysis expertise. From my analysis, this intuitive rule syntax significantly reduces the learning curve, leading to higher adoption rates among your development teams.

You’ll find developers are more likely to align with and utilize Semgrep due to its ease of use and actionable feedback.

4. Support & Success Factors

What support can you expect during implementation?

Semgrep offers “award-winning” customer success and technical resources, providing support for integration, operational errors, and rule implementation. What I found about deployment is that their defined SLAs ensure timely assistance for critical issues, helping you stay on track.

You should leverage their private Slack channel and AppSec Platform for case submissions, ensuring a smooth implementation and ongoing success.

Overall, Semgrep setup is remarkably user-friendly and quick, making it an excellent choice for businesses prioritizing fast deployment and developer adoption in their security tooling.

Bottom Line

Semgrep: A decisive recommendation?

This Semgrep review synthesizes my comprehensive analysis, providing clear guidance on who should use this software and why, based on overall value.

1. Who This Works Best For

Modern dev teams prioritizing developer-friendly security.

Semgrep excels for organizations and development teams that value fast, customizable application security deeply integrated into their existing CI/CD workflows. From my user analysis, teams wanting to empower developers to fix issues without sacrificing velocity will find Semgrep to be an ideal fit.

You’ll see significant success if your goal is to “shift left” security and reduce false positives in your AppSec program.

2. Overall Strengths

Speed and customizability truly set it apart.

The software succeeds by offering lightning-fast scans, a highly customizable rule engine, and significant false positive reduction, delivering actionable security insights. From my comprehensive analysis, its developer-centric design fosters rapid remediation, making security an integral part of the development process rather than a bottleneck.

These strengths mean your team can implement robust security without hindering development velocity, leading to efficient and effective code security.

3. Key Limitations

Limited out-of-the-box advanced features.

While powerful, Semgrep’s extensive customizability means some advanced use cases might require more initial configuration and rule development than fully automated, prescriptive tools. Based on this review, organizations needing extensive dynamic analysis capabilities might find it necessary to supplement Semgrep with other specialized tools.

These limitations are manageable trade-offs for its core strengths, primarily affecting those with highly complex, legacy systems or niche security requirements.

4. Final Recommendation

Semgrep earns a strong, confident recommendation.

You should choose Semgrep if your organization prioritizes fast, flexible, and developer-empowering application security that integrates seamlessly into modern dev workflows. From my analysis, it offers exceptional value for securing modern applications by providing actionable insights and fostering a “shift-left” security culture.

My confidence in recommending Semgrep is high for teams aiming for efficient and effective code security, making it a top contender.

This Semgrep review shows clear value for modern dev and AppSec teams, providing a strong solution for integrating security into your development lifecycle with confidence.