PullGuard vs Semgrep — a Semgrep alternative for whole-PR coverage

Capability	PullGuard	Semgrep
OWASP Top 10 detection	15 checks	Pro tier ($)
Inter-procedural / cross-file taint	Cross-file	Pro tier ($)
Code quality analysis	13 analyzers	No
Dependency CVE scanning	5 ecosystems	No
Cost-of-change ($/finding)	Yes	No
SOC 2 security evidence	8 controls	No
Multi-framework compliance (HIPAA, PCI DSS, NIST 800-53, ISO 27001 + AI-era)	8 total*	No
AI-era risk + AI×security composite	Yes	Partial†
Committed agent & MCP config scanning (rules files, MCP servers, hooks, drift)	Yes	No
AI Bill of Materials (CycloneDX ML-BOM) & Shadow-AI inventory	Yes	No
Signed, verifiable release images (Sigstore keyless + SLSA provenance + SBOM)	Cosign-signed	No
PR-delta / baselines (Clean as You Code)	Yes	Yes
Air-gapped reports & dashboard	Self-contained HTML	SaaS
Self-hosted / air-gapped scan	Docker (offline key)	Yes

Capabilities reflect each tool's publicly documented tiers; "$" denotes a paid tier. PullGuard's OWASP parity is backed by a runnable fixture corpus (18/18 vs Semgrep Pro). *8 compliance frameworks = 5 classic (SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS 4.0, NIST 800-53, ISO 27001) + 3 AI-era (EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 42001, NIST AI RMF); AI-era frameworks are opt-in and provide evidence supporting compliance, not certification. †Semgrep ships real-time scanning of AI-written code (LLM-assisted); it does not statically scan committed agent/MCP configuration, compose AI context with security findings, or map findings to AI compliance frameworks. Last reviewed 2026-08-08.

What PullGuard adds over Semgrep

✓Code-quality and architecture analysis (Semgrep focuses on SAST)
✓Dependency CVE scanning across 5 ecosystems (EPSS + CISA KEV)
✓8 compliance frameworks — 5 classic (SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, NIST 800-53, ISO 27001) + 3 AI-era (EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 42001, NIST AI RMF; opt-in, evidence supporting)
✓AI-era risk detection + an AI×security composite
✓AI Bill of Materials (CycloneDX ML-BOM) and Shadow-AI usage inventory
✓Cosign-signed release images (Sigstore keyless signing + SLSA provenance + SBOM)
✓Cost-of-change estimates ($/finding)
✓Full OWASP coverage and cross-file taint without a Pro tier
✓Self-contained, air-gapped HTML reports and dashboards

Where Semgrep is a strong fit

Semgrep is a strong fit when you want a large community and custom-rule registry plus a fast, scriptable pattern engine, and you are happy to assemble quality, SCA, and compliance from separate tools.

PullGuard's goal isn't to win every row — it's to give most teams one GitHub-native tool that covers security, quality, dependencies, and compliance on every PR, with your code never leaving your runner.

Try PullGuard on your next pull request

Free tier, no account required. Migrating from Semgrep? We help with migration.

Read the install guide