CodeSonar vs Contrast Security Protect comparison

CodeSecure and Contrast Security are both solutions in the Application Security Tools category. CodeSecure is ranked #34 with an average rating of 7.0, while Contrast Security is ranked #33 with an average rating of 8.0. CodeSecure holds a 1.4% mindshare in AS, compared to Contrast Security’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of CodeSecure users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Contrast Security users who would recommend it.

CodeSonar

Read 7 CodeSonar reviews

1,855 Views
1,189 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Contrast Security Protect

Read 3 Contrast Security Protect reviews

641 Views
479 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

CodeSonar

Contrast Security Protect

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Contrast Security Protect and CodeSonar are competitors in the application security and analysis field. Contrast Security Protect has a slight advantage due to its ease of deployment and cost-effectiveness, providing comprehensive real-time protection at a reasonable price.

Features: Contrast Security Protect offers comprehensive real-time application protection that users find easy to use. It is favorably regarded for its extensive coverage of vulnerabilities. CodeSonar, renowned for deep static analysis, assists developers in early vulnerability detection, contributing to secure code development. It is valued for its ability to provide thorough insights into code, helping developers rectify issues early in the cycle.

Room for Improvement: Contrast Security Protect could improve its integration options to cover a wider array of development environments. Users suggest expanding its compatibility range. CodeSonar has feedback regarding its setup process, which users find complex. Simplifying this process can encourage greater adoption. Both tools would benefit from enhancements in integration and user-friendliness at the outset.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Contrast Security Protect receives praise for its straightforward deployment process, easing integration into existing workflows. Its responsive customer service aids businesses in tackling integration challenges. CodeSonar’s deployment process, however, is noted to be more complex, despite its commendable customer support. Organizations desiring a smoother initial integration may find Contrast Security preferable, while those needing detailed customer assistance might consider CodeSonar.

Pricing and ROI: Contrast Security Protect is regarded as reasonably priced, with its capability for proactive threat protection leading to fewer security incidents and clear ROI. CodeSonar, seen as a premium product, presents a higher initial setup cost justified by its detailed analysis features which ensure investing value. Businesses will weigh budget constraints against the need for comprehensive security analysis.

To learn more, read our detailed CodeSonar vs. Contrast Security Protect Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CodeSonar vs. Contrast Security Protect

April 2025

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Helped 847,625 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

CodeSonar

Ranking in Application Security Tools

34th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Code Analysis (8th)

Contrast Security Protect

Ranking in Application Security Tools

33rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of CodeSonar is 1.4%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Contrast Security Protect is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools

Featured Reviews

Mathieu ALBRESPY

Intigration Developer at ez-Wheel

Nice interface, quick to deploy, and easy to expand

This is the first time I've used this kind of software. It was the only one we could apply to analyze with MISRA rules. At my new company, I tried to use Klocwork. I tried to use it, just once so I cannot compare it exactly with CodeSonar. I also have a plugin for my Visual Studio and I try to make it work. It's not easy, however, I don't think that we have this kind of functionality with CodeSonar. It can do some incremental analysis. However, since this feature is also available on CodeSonar, it would be a good idea to have a plugin on Visual Studio just to have a quick analysis.

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ToddMcAlister

Lead Application and Data Security Engineer at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees

It provides us with more in-depth visibility into ongoing attacks.

I rate Contrast Security Protect eight out of 10. Overall, it's a solid product, but I deduct a couple of points because of the interface and some shortcomings in the reporting. If you have a large enterprise where you're dealing with a lot of servers, then it makes sense not to use the internal MySQL database. You should use something like Oracle or Microsoft SQL, but if you don't have many transactions, the embedded MySQL database works great.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"CodeSonar’s most valuable feature is finding security threats."

"There is nice functionality for code surfing and browsing."

"It has been able to scale."

"The tool is very good for detecting memory leaks."

"The most valuable feature of CodeSonar is the catching of dead code. It is helpful."

"What I like best about CodeSonar is that it has fantastic speed, analysis and configuration times. Its detection of all runtime errors is also very good, though there were times it missed a few. The configuration of logs by CodeSonar is also very fantastic which I've not seen anywhere else. I also like the GUI interface of CodeSonar because it's very user friendly and the tool also shows very precise logs and results."

"The most valuable features of CodeSonar were all the categorized classes provided, and reports of future bugs which might occur in the production code. Additionally, I found the buffer overflow and underflow useful."

"The product gives a few false positives. We get 99 percent true positives."

"The solution has excellent real-time capabilities."

"Protect provides us with more in-depth visibility into ongoing attacks."

Cons

"It was expensive."

"CodeSonar could improve by having better coding rules so we did not have to use another solution, such as MISRA C."

"In terms of areas for improvement, the use case for CodeSonar was good, but compared to other tools, it seems CodeSonar isn't a sound static analysis tool, and this is a major con I've seen from it. Right now, in the market, people prefer sound static analysis tools, so I would have preferred if CodeSonar was developed into a sound static analysis tool formally, in terms of its algorithms, so then you can see it extensively used in the market because at the moment, here in India, only fifty to sixty customers use CodeSonar. If the product is developed into a sound static analysis tool, it could compete with Polyspace, and from its current fifty customers, that number could go up to a hundred."

"The scanning tool for core architecture could be improved."

"There could be a shared licensing model for the users."

"In a future release, the solution should upgrade itself to the current trends and differentiate between the languages. If there are any classifications that can be set for these programming languages that would be helpful rather than having everything in the generic category."

"It would be beneficial for the solution to include code standards and additional functionality for security."

"Protect's reporting GUI is very basic. To get all statuses from the APIs, we needed to write our own KPI dashboard to provide reports."

"There's room for improvement in the initial setup."

"Contrast Security Protect needs to improve integration."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's price depends on the number of licenses needed and the source code for the project."

"Pricing is a bit costly."

"Our organization purchased a license to use the solution."

"The application’s pricing is high compared to other tools."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

25%

Computer Software Company

12%

University

Financial Services Firm

27%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

13%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about CodeSonar?

CodeSonar’s most valuable feature is finding security threats.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CodeSonar?

The application’s pricing is high compared to other tools. I rate its pricing a four out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with CodeSonar?

Our license model allows one user per license. Currently, we have limitations for VPN profiles. We can’t share the key with other users. There could be a shared licensing model for the users. It wi...

See all answers

What do you like most about Contrast Security Protect?

The product gives a few false positives. We get 99 percent true positives.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Contrast Security Protect?

Contrast Security Protect needs to improve integration.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Contrast Security Protect?

We use the product for DevSecOps.

See all answers

Comparisons

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs CodeSonar

Compared 61% of the time

Coverity vs CodeSonar

Compared 21% of the time

Polyspace Code Prover vs CodeSonar

Compared 8% of the time

Klocwork vs CodeSonar

Compared 2% of the time

Understand vs CodeSonar

Compared 2% of the time

More CodeSonar Competitors

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs Contrast Security Protect

Compared 39% of the time

Mend.io vs Contrast Security Protect

Compared 26% of the time

Fortify on Demand vs Contrast Security Protect

Compared 13% of the time

Sonatype Lifecycle vs Contrast Security Protect

Compared 12% of the time

Acunetix vs Contrast Security Protect

Compared 10% of the time

More Contrast Security Protect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

April 2025

Download CodeSonar product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

April 2025

Download Contrast Security Protect product report

Also Known As

No data available

Contrast Protect

Overview

GrammaTech enables organizations to develop software applications more efficiently, on-budget, and on-schedule by helping to eliminate harmful defects that can cause system failures, enable data breaches, and ultimately increase corporate liabilities in today’s connected world. GrammaTech is the developer of CodeSonar, the most powerful source and binary code analysis solution available today. Extraordinarily precise, CodeSonar finds, on average, 2 times more serious defects in software than other static analysis solutions. Designed for organizations with zero tolerance for defects and vulnerabilities in their applications, CodeSonar provides static analysis for applications where reliability and security are paramount - widely used by software developers in avionics, medical, automotive, industrial control, and other mission-critical applications. Some of GrammaTech's customers include Toyota, GE, Hyundai, Kawasaki, LG, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Panasonic, and Samsung.

CodeSecure

Contrast Security is the world’s leading provider of security technology that enables software applications to protect themselves against cyberattacks, heralding the new era of self-protecting software. Contrast's patented deep security instrumentation is the breakthrough technology that enables highly accurate assessment and always-on protection of an entire application portfolio, without disruptive scanning or expensive security experts. Only Contrast has sensors that work actively inside applications to uncover vulnerabilities, prevent data breaches, and secure the entire enterprise from development, to operations, to production.

Contrast Security

Sample Customers

Viveris, Micrel Medical Devices, Olympus, SOFTEQ, SONY

Williams-Sonoma, Autodesk, HUAWEI, Chromeriver, RingCentral, Demandware.

Buyer's Guide

CodeSonar vs. Contrast Security Protect

April 2025

Free Report: CodeSonar vs. Contrast Security Protect

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