Aikido vs Semgrep: Which One Fits Your AppSec Buy?

Procurement often opens the same RFP for both: “we need SAST.” That is the wrong assumption. Aikido and Semgrep both annotate pull requests and both talk about static analysis, so shortlists collapse them into one interchangeable scanner buy.

Between these two, the jobs diverge after that first checkbox. Aikido is a unified developer AppSec platform: SAST and SCA, secrets, cloud and containers, plus attack testing and runtime/device modules in one product. Semgrep is rules-as-code and PR-native static analysis: an OSS engine teams already write YAML for, plus commercial Semgrep Code, Supply Chain, Secrets, and Guardian for AI-written code.

Related reading: the supply-chain-depth split is Socket vs Aikido; the SCA-versus-quality-gate split is Snyk vs SonarQube. Broader AppSec shortlists live under Application Security.

	Aikido	Semgrep
Job	Unified developer AppSec: code, cloud, attack testing, and runtime/device protection in one platform	Rules-as-code SAST and PR-native analysis, with modular Supply Chain, Secrets, and Guardian
How a risk closes	Prioritized findings with AutoFix and triage across scanners; Attack validates exploitability; Protect covers runtime and install surfaces	Rule matches become PR annotations and CI failures; Assistant helps triage and remediate; Guardian scans AI-written code as it is produced
CI fail	CI gating and PR decorations across SAST, SCA, secrets, and related platform scanners	Policy and rule gates on Code, Supply Chain, and Secrets configs in CI and PR checks
Deploy	SaaS freemium; on-prem scanning and broker options on higher tiers	CLI and CI locally or via Semgrep infrastructure; Teams cloud; Enterprise on-prem SCM and custom CI
License/pricing	Free $0 (2 users); Basic $300/mo; Pro $600/mo; Advanced $600/mo (10-user packs); Enterprise quote (checked 6 Sep 2026)	Free Edition up to 10 contributors; Teams from $30/contributor/mo (Code $30, Supply Chain $30, Secrets $15); Enterprise custom (checked 6 Sep 2026)
Who operates it	Engineering and AppSec owning one platform across code, cloud, and attack	AppSec and platform engineers who write, tune, and own rules and PR policy

Recent first-party launches keep the centers visible. Aikido productized AI Code Analysis (also framed as Code Audit) for complex issues inside the platform story. On 23 June 2026 Semgrep announced Guardian to scan and fix AI-generated code in the IDE and coding agents before it lands in a PR.

We reviewed first-party documentation, public pricing pages, product announcements, and live community threads. We did not test the products in paid production environments, so this is not a hands-on benchmark.

Aikido

Semgrep

Editions and pricing

Both publish a free path and a clear paid ladder. Aikido sells flat monthly platform tiers that include a user pack. Semgrep sells Free Edition limits, then per-contributor Teams modules you can mix, then Enterprise quote.

	Aikido	Semgrep
How you buy it now	Self-serve Free / Basic / Pro / Advanced on the pricing page; Enterprise tailored; AWS and Azure marketplace paths (checked 6 Sep 2026)	Self-serve Free Edition and Teams modules; Enterprise contact sales (checked 6 Sep 2026)
Public units	Free $0 with 2 users; Basic $300/mo including 10 users; Pro and Advanced $600/mo including 10 users	Free Edition: Code and Supply Chain at $0 for up to 10 contributors and 10 private repos; Teams: Code $30, Supply Chain $30, Secrets $15 per contributor per month
What paid unlocks	Pro adds malware detection, on-prem scanning, ASM, VM scanning; Advanced adds broker, private registry proxy, FedRAMP ATO path, higher limits	Teams adds SSO, higher private-repo caps, and paid modules; Enterprise adds on-prem SCM, custom CI, unlimited repos/contributors, dedicated onboarding
Contributor / user model	User packs on monthly tiers; Enterprise quote for larger orgs	Contributor counted as a committer to scanned private repos in the past 90 days

If procurement needs a published monthly number without a sales call, both can start. Depth that depends on brokers, private registries, on-prem SCM, or volume still routes to Enterprise on both sides.

What fails CI

	Aikido	Semgrep
Gate shape	CI gating and PR decorations across the platform scanners the org enabled	CI and PR checks driven by selected rulesets, policies, and Code / Supply Chain / Secrets configs
What developers see	Prioritized findings with AutoFix PRs and triage; Attack and Protect appear when those suites are on	Rule hits with message, severity, and often autofix guidance; Assistant and Guardian change when and where the finding appears
Noise story	Reachability, auto-triage, and AI false-positive reduction marketed across the platform	Pro rules, cross-file analysis, and Assistant auto-triage marketed to cut low-value alerts
What teams argue about	Whether one platform gate replaces a tunable rules engine	Whether rule policy is owned by AppSec locally or locked by a central enterprise runner

On Stack Overflow, teams running Semgrep under an enterprise-managed CI runner often cannot change CLI flags, so a disliked rule becomes a nosemgrep comment tax or a Rule Board change rather than a local config tweak. That is a Semgrep operating detail, not proof Aikido is quieter in your repos.

How rules are owned

	Aikido	Semgrep
Primary output	Platform findings across Code, Cloud, Attack, and Protect, with AutoFix and AI Code Analysis on credit-gated lanes	YAML rules and registry packs that match code patterns; commercial Pro engine and Pro rules for deeper analysis
Custom policy shape	Custom SAST rules inside the platform; AI Code Analysis for complex review beyond classic rule hits	Author and share YAML rules; private rules on Teams/Enterprise; community registry for reusable packs
AI layer 2026	AI Code Analysis / Code Audit framed for complex vulnerabilities inside the unified platform	Guardian for AI-written code in agents/IDEs; Multimodal and Assistant for detection, triage, and remediation
What teams argue about	Whether platform breadth plus AI review replaces a team that wants to own every rule	Whether writing and maintaining rules is the product they want to operate weekly

That is the Semgrep job in one sentence: encode an org-specific invariant as a rule and fail the PR when it breaks. Between these two, Aikido still offers custom SAST rules, but the commercial center is the unified platform and AI Code Analysis, not a YAML registry workflow.

Treat that as a POC design note for AI Code Analysis lanes on either vendor: ask for grounded findings and triage quality, not a raw issue count.

Decide the job first. If the product must unify AppSec across code, cloud, attack, and protect, that is Aikido. If the product must deepen rules-as-code SAST and PR-native analysis, that is Semgrep. Only then open the pricing pages.