──[ ▮ ]── comparison
ShipGuard vs Snyk vs Semgrep
Different tools for different jobs — honestly. Snyk, Semgrep and GitGuardian are security platforms built for teams with a security engineer. ShipGuard is a secure-ship agent built for individual developers and their AI agents. Here's the real comparison.
Short answer: If you have a security team and a large estate, use Snyk or Semgrep — they're best-in-class at that job. If you're a solo founder shipping an AI-built Next.js + Supabase app and you want a deterministic go / no-ship verdict in seconds, locally, free — that's ShipGuard. They coexist: ShipGuard is your first gate, the platform is your deep audit.
| ShipGuard | Snyk | Semgrep | |
|---|---|---|---|
| built for | solo devs + AI agents | security teams | security engineers |
| form factor | local CLI | platform + CLI | platform + CLI |
| scan time | ~2s (changed files) | minutes | seconds–minutes |
| binary go / no-ship verdict | ✓ JSON recommendation | ✗ alert list | ✗ findings list |
| code stays local | ✓ always | ~ cloud features | ~ cloud features |
| free tier | ✓ local unlimited, no account | ~ test-count gated | ✓ OSS rules |
| setup | one command, zero config | account + project import | rule selection + config |
| AI-mistake focus (the 5 checks) | ✓ purpose-built | ✗ general vulns | ✗ general patterns |
| Supabase RLS / Firebase checks | ✓ Pro | ✗ | ✗ |
| dependency / SCA scanning | ✗ not the job | ✓ best-in-class | ~ via supply chain |
| custom rule language | ~ policy file (Pro) | ~ limited | ✓ full DSL |
| price for individuals | $0 · Pro $29/mo | $0–$25+/dev/mo | $0–$30+/contributor |
Two markets, one gap
The tools that could secure an AI-built app fall into two camps — and neither is built for the solo builder shipping at midnight with a credit card and no security background.
enterprise platforms
Snyk, Semgrep, GitGuardian. Deep, powerful, team-oriented — they assume a security engineer to configure rules and triage an alert queue.
priced and built for teams of 10+
▮ the gate (ShipGuard)
A local CLI with a deterministic go / no-ship verdict, tuned for the exact ways AI agents break a Next.js + Supabase app. Zero onboarding, private by default.
solo founders + their agents
vibe-coder scanners
Aikido, VibeEval and friends. Right audience — but web-based and post-deploy: they need a live URL, so they scan after you've already shipped.
post-deploy, no CLI gate
When you should use Snyk or Semgrep instead
If you're a security team scanning a large estate, need dependency / SCA coverage, license compliance, or a full custom-rule DSL — use them. They're excellent at that job, and ShipGuard doesn't try to be. ShipGuard has no dependency scanner; that's a different threat model, by design.
When ShipGuard is the right gate
You're shipping AI-written code — solo or with agents — and you need a deterministic yes / no before deploy, in seconds, locally, free. ShipGuard checks the five things agents actually get wrong: secrets, auth, payments, database, deployment — including the backend-as-a-service (BaaS) failures (Supabase RLS off, Firebase open reads) the platforms don't model at all.
────────[ ▮ verdict ]────────
The honest verdict
They can coexist. ShipGuard is your first gate — on every commit, before every deploy. A security platform is your deep audit. Most solo builders only ever need the first one; teams run both.
$ npx @agenticcli/shipguard scan