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Fortify Static Code Analyzer vs Snyk comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortify Static Code Analyzer
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Static Code Analysis (3rd)
Snyk
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (4th), Container Security (7th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (3rd), Software Development Analytics (2nd), DevSecOps (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Fortify Static Code Analyzer is designed for Static Code Analysis and holds a mindshare of 23.2%, up 18.9% compared to last year.
Snyk, on the other hand, focuses on Application Security Tools, holds 7.6% mindshare, down 8.5% since last year.
Static Code Analysis
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Vishal Dhamke - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 29, 2023
An expansive platform with comprehensive security rules and patterns to identify vulnerabilities
Setting up Fortify Static Application Security Testing (SAST) involves several steps to ensure that the tool is correctly configured and integrated into your development workflow, for example: installation, license activation, user access and permissions, integration with the development environment, project configuration, custom rules and policies, etc. The initial setup is very easy. I have used the enterprise version and a standalone version. The enterprise version definitely takes an ample amount of time to deploy because it needs to have a server, other logistics, and a proper RBAC in place. The enterprise version would take an ample amount of time, but the standard version is just a few clicks. A team of four to five people is required for the maintenance, and frequent updates are required to keep all the signatures up to date. I would rate the setup a nine out of ten.
Jayashree Acharyya - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 4, 2024
Used for image scanning and identifying vulnerabilities, but its integration with other services could be improved
The solution has improved or streamlined our process a lot for securing container images. We wanted to make sure we are deploying the secure Docker images. Snyk allowed us to check whether it is following our standard of docker images or not. We use Azure DevOps as our platform, and Snyk's integration with Azure DevOps was okay. However, Snyk's integration with JFrog Artifactory didn't go well. We use JFrog Artifactory to store the artifacts we download. We wanted to integrate Snyk with JFrog Artifactory to scan the binary artifacts we downloaded, but that broke our JFrog Artifactory for some reason. Instead of using it there, we are calling it directly from the pipeline. Snyk's automation features significantly reduced remediation times a couple of times. Sometimes, our developers scan the code from the environment and find some Java vulnerabilities. We fixed those vulnerabilities in the lower environment itself. The solution does not require any maintenance. The accuracy of Snyk's vulnerability detection is pretty good compared to other tools. I rate the solution's vulnerability detection feature an eight out of ten. I would recommend Snyk to other users because it is easy to implement and integrate with Azure DevOps and GitHub. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We've found the documentation to be very good."
"Integrating the Fortify Static Code Analyzer into our software development lifecycle was straightforward. It highlights important information beyond just syntax errors. It identifies issues like password credentials and access keys embedded in the code."
"The reference provided for each issue is extremely helpful."
"It's helped us free up staff time."
"Automating the Jenkins plugins and the build title is a big plus."
"The integration Subset core integration, using Jenkins is one of the good features."
"I like the Fortify taxonomy as it provides us with a list of all of the vulnerabilities found. Fortify release updated rule packs quarterly, with accompanying documentation, that lets us know what new features are being released."
"Fortify Static Code Analyzer tells us if there are any security leaks or not. If there are, then it's notifying us and does not allow us to pass the DevOps pipeline. If it is finds everything's perfect, as per our given guidelines, then it is allowing us to go ahead and start it, and we are able to deploy it."
"Snyk is a developer-friendly product."
"Our customers find container scans most valuable. They are always talking about it."
"Snyk is a good and scalable tool."
"Provides clear information and is easy to follow with good feedback regarding code practices."
"The most valuable feature is that they add a lot of their own information to the vulnerabilities. They describe vulnerabilities and suggest their own mitigations or version upgrades. The information was the winning factor when we compared Snyk to others. This is what gave it more impact."
"It has improved our vulnerability rating and reduced our vulnerabilities through the tool during the time that we've had it. It's definitely made us more aware, as we have removed scoping for existing vulnerabilities and platforms since we rolled it out up until now."
"Snyk performs software composition analysis (SCA) similar to other expensive tools."
"Its reports are nice and provide information about the issue as well as resolution. They also provide a proper fix. If there's an issue, they provide information in detail about how to remediate that issue."
 

Cons

"I know the areas that they are trying to improve on. They've been getting feedback for several years. There are two main points. The first thing is keeping current with static code languages. I know it is difficult because code languages pop up all the time or there are new variants, but it is something that Fortify needs to put a better focus on. They need to keep current with their language support. The second thing is a philosophical issue, and I don't know if they'll ever change it. They've done a decent job of putting tools in place to mitigate things, but static code analysis is inherently noisy. If you just take a tool out of the box and run a scan, you're going to get a lot of results back, and not all of those results are interesting or important, which is different for every organization. Currently, we get four to five errors on the side of tagging, and it notifies you of every tiny inconsistency. If the tool sees something that it doesn't know, it flags, which becomes work that has to be done afterward. Clients don't typically like it. There has got to be a way of prioritizing. There are a ton of filter options within Fortify, but the problem is that you've got to go through the crazy noisy scan once before you know which filters you need to put in place to get to the interesting stuff. I keep hearing from their product team that they're working on a way to do container or docker scanning. That's a huge market mover. A lot of people are interested in that right now, and it is relevant. That is definitely something that I'd love to see in the next version or two."
"The product shows false positives for Python applications."
"It can be tricky if you want to exclude some files from scanning. For instance, if you do not want to scan and push testing files to Fortify Software Security Center, that is tricky with some IDEs, such as IntelliJ. We found that there is an Exclude feature that is not working. We reported that to them for future fixing. It needs some work on the plugins to make them consistent across IDEs and make them easier."
"Their licensing is expensive."
"The generation of false positives should be reduced."
"Fortify's software security center needs a design refresh."
"False positives need improvement in the future. Fortify's vulnerability remediation guidance helps improve code security, but I think they need to improve the focus of the solution, as it still contains many bugs and needs a thorough review."
"It comes with a hefty licensing fee."
"They need to improve the Snyk plugins and make it easier to make your optimizations based on your own needs or features."
"We were using Microsoft Docker images. It was reporting some vulnerabilities, but we were not able to figure out the fix for them. It was reporting some vulnerabilities in the Docker images given by Microsoft, which were out of our control. That was the only limitation. Otherwise, it was good."
"Offering API access in the lower or free open-source tiers would be better. That would help our customers. If you don't have an enterprise plan, it becomes challenging to integrate with the rest of the systems. Our customers would like to have some open-source integrations in the next release."
"They were a couple of issues which happened because Snyk lacked some documentation on the integration side. Snyk is lacking a lot of documentation, and I would like to see them improve this. This is where we struggle a bit. For example, if something breaks, we can't figure out how to fix that issue. It may be a very simple thing, but because we don't have the proper documentation around an issue, it takes us a bit longer."
"The tool should provide more flexibility and guidance to help us fix the top vulnerabilities before we go into production."
"Generating reports and visibility through reports are definitely things they can do better."
"We have seen cases where tools didn't find or recognize certain dependencies. These are known issues, to some extent, due to the complexity in the language or stack that you using. There are some certain circumstances where the tool isn't actually finding what it's supposed to be finding, then it could be misleading."
"The reporting mechanism of Snyk could improve. The reporting mechanism is available only on the higher level of license. Adjusting the policy of the current setup of recording this report is something that can improve. For instance, if you have a certain license, you receive a rating, and the rating of this license remains the same for any use case. No matter if you are using it internally or using it externally, you cannot make the adjustment to your use case. It will always alert as a risky license. The areas of licenses in the reporting and adjustments can be improve"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Fortify Static Code Analyzer could be reduced."
"The licensing is expensive and is in the 50K range."
"It has a couple of license models. The one that we use most frequently is called their flexible deployment. We use this one because it is flexible and based on the number of code-contributing developers in the organization. It includes almost everything in the Fortify suite for one developer price. It gives access to not just the secure code analyzer (SCA) but also to FSC, the secure code. It gives us accessibility to scan central, which is the decentralized scanning farm. It also gives us access to the software security center, which is the vulnerability management platform."
"From our standpoint, we are significantly better off with Fortify due to the favorable pricing we secured five years ago."
"Although I am not responsible for the budget, Fortify SAST is expensive."
"I rate the pricing of Fortify Static Code Analyzer as a seven out of ten since it is a bit expensive."
"There is a licensing fee, and if you bring them to the company and you want them to do the installation and the implementation in the beginning, there is a separate cost. Similarly, if you want consultation or training, there is a separate cost. I see it as suitable only for enterprises. I do not see it suitable for a small business or individual use."
"The setup costs and pricing for Fortify may vary depending on the organization's needs and requirements."
"Despite Snyk's coverage, scalability, reliability, and stability, it is available at a very competitive price."
"The product's price is okay."
"The solution is less expensive than Black Duck."
"The pricing is acceptable, especially for enterprises. I don't think it's too much of a concern for our customers. Something like $99 per user is reasonable when the stakes are high."
"We are using the open-source version for the scans."
"The price of the solution is expensive compared to other solutions."
"Cost-wise, it's similar to Veracode, but I don't know the exact cost."
"We do have some missing licenses issues, especially with non-SPDX compliant one, but we expect this to be fixed soon"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Fortify Static Code Analyzer?
Integrating the Fortify Static Code Analyzer into our software development lifecycle was straightforward. It highlights important information beyond just syntax errors. It identifies issues like pa...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortify Static Code Analyzer?
I rate the pricing of Fortify Static Code Analyzer as a seven out of ten since it is a bit expensive.
What needs improvement with Fortify Static Code Analyzer?
False positives need improvement in the future. Fortify's vulnerability remediation guidance helps improve code security, but I think they need to improve the focus of the solution, as it still Con...
How does Snyk compare with SonarQube?
Snyk does a great job identifying and reducing vulnerabilities. This solution is fully automated and monitors 24/7 to find any issues reported on the internet. It will store dependencies that you a...
What do you like most about Snyk?
The most effective feature in securing project dependencies stems from its ability to highlight security vulnerabilities.
What needs improvement with Snyk?
I'm not responsible for the tool. As far as I know, there are no major concerns or features that we lack. We had some issues integrating into our pipeline, however, they were resolved.
 

Also Known As

Fortify Static Code Analysis SAST
No data available
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
StartApp, Segment, Skyscanner, DigitalOcean, Comic Relief
Find out what your peers are saying about Veracode, Checkmarx, OpenText and others in Static Code Analysis. Updated: November 2024.
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