Snyk provides security for GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure DevOps, while GitHub Advanced Security remains exclusive to the GitHub platform. GitHub recently expanded its free tier to include security features for public repositories. This change forces teams to weigh multi-platform flexibility against deep, native integration. Snyk remains the superior choice for organizations that manage code across various Git providers.
Snyk pricing structures and developer limits
Snyk uses three primary tiers: Free, Team, and Enterprise. The Free plan allows 200 Open Source tests and 100 Snyk Code tests per month. It also includes 300 tests for Infrastructure as Code and 100 tests for Snyk Container. This plan works for individual developers or very small teams with fewer than five active repositories. The Free plan does not include team collaboration, advanced reporting, or custom security policies.
The Team plan costs $25 per contributing developer per month when billed annually. This tier provides higher test limits and includes Jira integration and license compliance management. A significant constraint exists at the 10-developer mark. Snyk caps the Team plan at 10 licenses per organization. A team with 11 developers must move to the Ignite or Enterprise tier, which requires negotiating with Snyk sales.
Snyk defines a contributing developer as anyone who commits code to a private repository monitored by the platform within a 90-day window. This definition includes DevOps engineers who commit infrastructure changes and contractors who commit code once within the 90-day period. It excludes security engineers who only review findings and anyone who contributes only to public repositories. The jump from the $25 Team plan to Enterprise pricing can be steep because the minimum engagement for Enterprise often starts at $15,000 per year.
GitHub Advanced Security pricing and the free tier
GitHub Advanced Security provides free access to security features for all public repositories. For organizations using GitHub Enterprise, the service uses a per-active-committer billing model. This model charges for anyone who pushes a commit to a GHAS-enabled repository during the billing month. Organizations with 300 or fewer seats can start a 30-day trial of GitHub Advanced Security.
| Feature | Snyk Free Plan | Snyk Team Plan | GitHub Advanced Security (Public) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly OSS Tests | 200 | Higher limits | N/A |
| Monthly SAST Tests | 100 | Higher limits | N/A |
| User Limit | 1 User | 10 Users | N/A |
| Pricing Model | $0 | $25/dev/mo (annual) | $0 |
| Platform Reach | Multi-platform | Multi-platform | GitHub only |
GitHub Advanced Security relies on the GitHub Enterprise plan for private repository usage. Users can manage licenses through the billing and licensing section of their enterprise account. If a team uses GitHub Enterprise with metered billing, they can pay for Advanced Security products even after a trial ends. You probably already know that managing security across different Git providers adds friction to your workflow.
Comparing SAST engines: Snyk Code versus CodeQL
Snyk Code and CodeQL serve as the primary static application security testing engines for their respective platforms. Snyk Code uses DeepCode AI models to scan code in the IDE, in pull requests, and in CI/CD pipelines. It focuses on developer feedback speed and provides fix suggestions based on the same AI model family. Snyk Code has an advantage in runtime-heavy JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python projects where the AI model reduces false positives.
CodeQL acts as the semantic analysis engine for GitHub Advanced Security. It treats code as data and allows users to query vulnerabilities across a codebase. GitHub Security Lab maintains over 2,000 queries for CodeQL. CodeQL performs well on C, C++, and C# because of its compiler-backed analysis. Teams that write custom rules often prefer CodeQL because its queries are expressive and well-documented.
Snyk provides a simpler setup for teams that want out-of-the-box coverage without extensive tuning. CodeQL provides more power for security research teams that need to write complex cross-function data-flow rules. Snyk Code supports a wide language set including Java, Python, Ruby, Go, and Swift. CodeQL also supports these languages but is particularly strong in compiled languages.
SCA capabilities and vulnerability intelligence
Snyk Open Source and GitHub Dependabot address software composition analysis, but they use different intelligence sources. Snyk Open Source uses a proprietary vulnerability database. This database catches CVEs an average of 47 days before public sources like the NVD. This intelligence feeds reachability analysis for Java, JavaScript, and Python. Snyk Open Source also generates fix pull requests that include upgrade paths to minimize breaking changes.
Dependabot uses the GitHub Advisory Database, which contains more than 23,000 reviewed advisories. It covers 30 plus ecosystems, including npm, pip, Maven, Gradle, Cargo, Docker, and Terraform. Dependabot opens version updates and security updates through a single dependabot.yml file. It does not perform reachability analysis or function-level prioritization. Dependabot reports every known vulnerability in a dependency tree, regardless of whether the code is reachable from the application.
Snyk provides a more granular view of risk by identifying if a vulnerable function is actually called by the application. Dependabot provides a simpler experience for GitHub users because it requires no external service or login. Snyk provides a unified dashboard for containers and infrastructure as code alongside its SCA findings. Dependabot stays focused on dependency management within the GitHub ecosystem.
Secrets and the defensive edge of push protection
GitHub Advanced Security includes secret scanning that runs on both public and private repositories. This tool supports push protection, which blocks commits containing known secret formats before they reach the server. GitHub partners with dozens of cloud providers to detect verified tokens with high accuracy. The platform also provides AI-detected secrets to find unstructured credentials like passwords.
Snyk includes secret detection in Snyk Code and Snyk Container. However, Snyk does not replicate the exact push-protection flow that exists on github.com. Many teams that adopt Snyk on a GitHub-heavy estate continue to use GHAS secret scanning to maintain push-time blocking. Push protection remains a strong defense against leaked credentials.
GitHub provides custom patterns to detect organization-specific secrets and delegated bypass controls to manage who can approve sensitive actions. Snyk provides security scanning through its various modules but requires users to manage these via its own UI and integrations. GitHub integrates these alerts directly into the pull request review UI and the Security tab. Snyk routes its findings through its own dashboard and IDE plugins.
AI-driven security: Evo Continuous Offensive Security
Snyk released Evo Continuous Offensive Security in August 2026 to address the growing attack surface from AI-generated code. This tool provides autonomous, AI-powered pentesting and agent red teaming. It attacks applications as they change and provides validated proof of what an attacker could exploit. This addresses the risk of credentials leaking from AI-generated code and flaws in AI agents.
Evo Continuous Offensive Security uses an AI harness that reasons about application intent to find architectural flaws. This capability attempts to find business-logic vulnerabilities that traditional scanners miss. It receives context from Snyk Code, Snyk Open Source, and Snyk API and Web findings. Snyk also provides Agent Red Teaming to simulate prompt injection and data exfiltration against running AI agents.
Snyk provides AI-SPM to give visibility into models, agents, MCP servers, and tools. This module includes an upgraded model risk taxonomy and scoring engine. Snyk also provides a remediation agent in public preview that fixes vulnerabilities automatically via a command line interface or an agentic development environment. This helps teams remediate the inherited backlog before autonomous attackers exploit it.
Agent scanning and runtime protection
Snyk Agent Scan discovers installed agent components, including harnesses, MCP servers, and skills. It scans these components for prompt injections, sensitive data handling, and malware patterns. This scan provides a report that teams can use to gate a CI pipeline. Sipelock provides a different approach as an open-source agent firewall that inspects HTTP, WebSocket, and MCP traffic at runtime.
Pipelock flags drift when a tool description changes during a session. It also inspects traffic for credentials in request bodies or SSRF attempts. Snyk Agent Scan finds what is installed, while Pipelock checks what a component does while it runs. A poisoned skill in a marketplace is caught at install time by a scanner, but a response that carries an injection is caught on the wire by a firewall.
Snyk provides the Agent Scan as a way to check components before a team trusts them. Pipelock provides enforcement and evidence by blocking or warning on mediated traffic. Teams that want both scanning and runtime protection often run both tools. Will Snyk eventually release a dedicated runtime firewall to compete directly with tools like Pipelock?
Selecting a platform for your development workflow
The decision between Snyk and GitHub Advanced Security depends on your repository hosting and your need for multi-platform visibility. Snyk is the better choice if your code lives on GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps. It provides a single dashboard for SCA, SAST, containers, and infrastructure as code. Snyk is also the better choice if you require reachability analysis for Java, JavaScript, and Python.
GitHub Advanced Security is the stronger pick if GitHub is your only source platform. It provides a native experience where alerts appear in the Security tab and PR checks gate merges. It is also the preferred choice if you require push-time secret protection or the custom query power of CodeQL. GitHub Advanced Security remains more predictable for large organizations that prefer billing by active committer.
Choose Snyk if you need to manage security for a diverse set of repositories and want a proprietary vulnerability database. Choose GitHub Advanced Security if you want security to feel like a native part of the GitHub product. Both tools belong on a shortlist of serious candidates for application security.
