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GitHub vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

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

GitHub
Ranking in Application Security Tools
6th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
93
Ranking in other categories
Version Control (3rd)
SonarQube Server (formerly ...
Ranking in Application Security Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
114
Ranking in other categories
Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (1st), Software Development Analytics (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of GitHub is 0.8%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) is 25.1%, down from 26.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Pervez Roy - PeerSpot reviewer
Very good for collaboration on software projects
We use GitHub for code repository alongside Bitbucket GitHub is very good for collaboration on software projects. We prefer Bitbucket for commercial use, while GitHub is used for open source. You can get the differences, history of changes, and version control for various pull requests. You can…
Wang Dayong - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to integrate and has a plug-in that supports both C and C++ languages
The product provides false reports sometimes. It also fails to understand the context of the code. It reports that a line of code has issues without considering its relation with the previous line. The product should improve the report quality. While it asks us to improve the code quality, it would be good if it also suggests how to improve the quality.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is really simple to set up."
"The solution has been stable for us."
"Complication free with good ability for third-party integrations."
"The most valuable features are the speed, low latency, and the clear, concise set of commands."
"I'm able to access any repository that I like, whether it's public or private."
"A great feature is being able to have different repositories and different kinds of projects in a single solution at a single time. It's just a click away."
"I did not have any issues with the stability of Github. It worked seamlessly."
"I find GitHub very user friendly."
"SonarQube: Recording of issues over a period of time, with an indication of the addition in the new issues or the reduction of existing issues (which were fixed)."
"The initial setup is simple. It requires some security, but it's simple."
"The static code analysis of the solution is the most important aspect for us. When it comes to security breaches within the code, we can leverage some rules to allow us to identify the repetition in our code and the possible targets that we may have. It makes it very easy to review our code for security purposes."
"This solution is simple to use and can be quickly deployed."
"I like that it covers most programming languages for source code review."
"I am only interested in the security features in SonarQube. There are plenty of features other features, such as test coverage, code anomalies, and pointer access are handled by the business logic teams. They get the reports and they have to fix them in JIRA or Bugzilla."
"The overall quality of the indicator is good."
"It provides the security that is required from a solution for financial businesses."
 

Cons

"The solution's cost is high and should be reduced."
"There is a bit of a learning curve."
"It would be good if there were training materials for junior developers."
"The solution could have better support for the Markdown language."
"The initial setup requires heavy documentation which can be challenging for new developers."
"GitHub could improve in resolving conflicts when multiple developers modify the same line of code."
"One area for improvement in GitHub could be integration with other tools, such as test management or project management tools."
"The solution should have less integration with the AI part, but it needs to add features with other automation tools so that it can be easily integrated."
"Any suggestions for potential improvements may include bill of materials functionality."
"There are limitations to the free version that limit development options as far as languages."
"The tool needs to be more compatible with C/C++ language"
"Although it has Sonar built into it, it is still lacking. Customization features of identifying a particular attack still need to be worked on. To give you an example: if we want to scan and do a false positive analysis, those types of features are missing. If we want to rescan something from a particular point that is a feature that is also missing. It’s in our queue. That will hopefully save a lot of time."
"If you don't have any experience with the configuration or how to configure the files, it can be complicated."
"The solution is a bit lacking on the security side, in terms of finding and identifying vulnerabilities."
"It should be user-friendly."
"We're in the process of figuring out how to automate the workflow for QA audit controls on it. I think that's perhaps an area that we could use some buffing. We're a Kubernetes shop, so there are some things that aren't direct fits, which we're struggling with on the component Docker side. But nothing major."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model from GitHub is very clear."
"It is open-source. There is no license for GitHub."
"The tool offers a free program. As you go, you can upgrade from the community version to the professional one. I believe it costs about ten dollars per person, per month."
"GitHub is an open-source application. It's free to use."
"It's cheaper than Bitbucket."
"You don't have to pay for a license if you are using the free version."
"We have an enterprise licensing agreement, and I am not part of the finance department so I can't say how much it costs."
"I am using the free version of the solution. However, there are some costs my organization pays."
"We are using the community version of the solution and we plan on purchasing licenses for the upgraded version soon. There is a limitation on how many lines of code can be scanned and this is why we are going to purchase a license for an increased amount."
"It's an open-source solution, with no additional costs."
"SonarQube is a fairly affordable solution for a larger scale if you have a specific role or specific department for secure code."
"The solution has a free version and a license version. The license is priced reasonably, the cost of hiring one programmer is more expensive than the solution."
"My guess is that we have a yearly subscription. We use it quite extensively, so a monthly license wouldn't make sense. Yearly subscriptions are usually cheaper. In addition to the standard licensing fee, there is just the cost of running the hardware where it is hosted."
"We are using the free, unlicensed version."
"Some of the plugins that were previously free are not free now."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
University
6%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GitHub?
The control is the most valuable feature as developers can work on a single code.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitHub?
The pricing of GitHub depends on the choice of solutions, such as building one's own GitHub Runners to save money or using GitHub's Runners with extra costs. The pricing is considered reasonable an...
What needs improvement with GitHub?
There are still areas for improvement with GitHub Actions and their deployment workflows, as they have made significant progress but are not yet polished. Occasionally, stability can be an issue, t...
Is SonarQube the best tool for static analysis?
I am not very familiar with SonarQube and their solutions, so I can not answer. But if you are asking me about which tools that are the best for for Static Code Analysis, I suggest you have a look...
Which gives you more for your money - SonarQube or Veracode?
SonarQube is easy to deploy and configure, and also integrates well with other tools to do quality code analysis. SonarQube has a great community edition, which is open-source and free. Easy to use...
How would you decide between Coverity and Sonarqube?
We researched Coverity, but in the end, we chose SonarQube. SonarQube is a tool for reviewing code quality and security. It helps to guide our development teams during code reviews by providing rem...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Sonar
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dominion Enterprises, NASA, Braintree, SAP, CyberAgent
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about GitHub vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
847,862 professionals have used our research since 2012.