Semgrep

About Semgrep

Semgrep is a software security platform developed by Semgrep, Inc., founded in 2017 by Isaac Evans, Luke O'Malley, and Drew Dennison. The platform provides static application security testing, software composition analysis, and secrets detection through both an open-source Community Edition and a commercial AppSec Platform. The name derives from combining semantic and grep, reflecting its ability to understand code semantics while searching like a text utility.

The Semgrep Community Edition, launched in 2020 and licensed under LGPL-2.1, offers lightweight single-file static analysis across 30+ programming languages using pattern-matching rules that resemble source code. This open-source foundation has garnered over 14,300 GitHub stars and more than 60 million Docker pulls, establishing broad adoption among developers and security researchers.

The Semgrep AppSec Platform extends the open-source core with enterprise capabilities including cross-file dataflow analysis, reachability-based SCA, semantic secrets detection with validation, and AI-powered triage through Semgrep Assistant. The platform emphasizes developer experience with sub-minute scan times, IDE integrations, and pull request comments that surface findings directly in development workflows. Semgrep has been recognized in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Application Security Testing.

Key Features

• Dual Offering Model: Community Edition provides free open-source SAST with 3,000+ community rules, while AppSec Platform adds Pro Rules, cross-file analysis, and team management.
• Cross-File Analysis: Pro Engine traces dataflow across file boundaries and functions, detecting 50-70% more true positives than single-file analysis while maintaining low false positive rates.
• Semgrep Supply Chain: SCA with reachability analysis determines which vulnerable dependencies are actually exploitable, significantly reducing noise from transitive dependency alerts.
• Semgrep Secrets: Detects 630+ credential types using semantic analysis, entropy detection, and validation to confirm active secrets before alerting.
• AI-Powered Assistant: Automated triage, prioritization, and remediation guidance with 97% human agreement rate on decisions and 80% helpfulness rating for fix suggestions.
• Developer First Workflow: Native IDE plugins for VS Code and JetBrains, PR comments in GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket/Azure DevOps, and CLI integration with 10-second median scan times.
• Custom Rule Authoring: YAML-based rule syntax that mirrors source code patterns, enabling security teams to write custom checks without AST manipulation or complex DSLs.
• Memory-Efficient Multicore Engine: Fall 2025 release delivers up to 3x faster scans on large monorepos while maintaining memory usage below 3 GB through shared analysis state across cores.
• Native Windows Support: Runs directly on Windows without WSL requirement, expanding accessibility to enterprise development environments.
• Semgrep Registry: Repository of 20,000+ Pro rules and 3,000+ community rules covering security vulnerabilities, coding standards, and compliance requirements.