Application Security Platform

My main use case is to perform SAST , static application security testing. I have been using it for the last 10 months. Initially, I was planning to use it just for the code review part so that developers can get secure code. However, it can also be integrated in CI/CD pipelines and other tools, which makes it robust.

I deployed Semgrep  with my development team in their IDEs, such as VS Code and other notebook tools that my developers use. Semgrep  helps to identify code-level issues, such as the possibility of SQL injection, XSS, or hard-coded values. It initially triggers alerts and shows which aspects are not correct and need correction.

First, it is very easy to use. It has customization features that allow me to customize it to find particular types of vulnerabilities that I am looking for. There is scanning efficiency which allows for rapid issue detection early in the development process. The customizable rule engine is the best thing because I can customize it according to my needs.

I can customize my rules according to my needs. The YAML file is easy to write. A person with good basic knowledge of coding can generate custom rules particular to the type of vulnerability they are targeting. Therefore, it is customizable.

The feature is easy to use, saves a lot of time, and is streamlined in nature. That is the best aspect.

It has helped my code review part significantly. It saves around two to three hours per day of going through each line of code to find mistakes and identify issues that are present at the code level. Code review is a tedious task for any security engineer or developer to do, so it helps tremendously while reviewing code.

By avoiding these tedious tasks, my team gets to focus on other important tasks that are required. Sometimes there are urgent tasks that need to be done before code reviews can be completed. The time I save is utilized elsewhere, which effectively benefits my team.

Semgrep can be improved by making it more user-friendly. There are tools in the market, such as Aqua Security, that have features worth utilizing. However, there are some comprehensive scanning capabilities which I feel Semgrep lacks. For code-level review, it is very good.

I have been using Semgrep for around nine to 10 months for detection of security flaws in the code.

It is stable in nature.

It is also good. I can scale it for small to large-scale teams. I can use it with a small number of people or a large-sized team.

Customer support is good because I have not needed much customer support until now, which is very good. I think that is a good part. Their documentation and community are very active, so most of the time when problems occur, I get a solution.

I have used SonarQube . However, the results of Semgrep are much better. I compared them both, so I switched to Semgrep only, and it works very well. I do not have to pay any licensing fee or anything like that. It has been good to work with Semgrep.

I evaluated a tool such as SonarQube , which is in the market and is also open-source. However, the results provided by Semgrep are much more effective and efficient with fewer false positives. The number of true positives is higher, which effectively saves time from checking whether false positives are right or wrong.

The accuracy I would rate at 85 to 90%. Sometimes it gives false positives, but compared to its peers, it is better.

At a team level, I can say that per day I save around two hours, which can result in eight hours a week. Monthly, I save around 30 to 35 hours because of this.

The best case is that it solves a lot of things, and for the vulnerabilities that will arise in the future, I solve them at the initial stage.

It is basically open-source, so the cost to set up is no cost.

If you are looking for an open-source tool that can perform SAST  in your environment and you are a technical person with a team that can grasp new technologies in a short period of time, then you can use Semgrep directly to perform SAST and code reviews at the development level. Early detection of security issues and bugs can be fixed.

It streamlines with the governance and compliance of the country where the company operates. It follows GDPR guidelines and EU guidelines. In India, I follow certain guidelines, so it also passes that criteria to go through those guidelines and follow the restrictions and suggestions provided at a national level.

My main use case for Semgrep  is as a SAST  tool. Since I work with code directly, I use it to scan the code for vulnerabilities and relay information to developers so they can address any issues. This approach ensures I maintain a security focus as a DevOps person, which is crucial.

Semgrep  fits into my workflow by allowing me to scan code and ensure there are no breaches before running it in containers.

The best feature of Semgrep is its ability to highlight high priority issues during scanning, making it critical for developers to address these vulnerabilities promptly. This seamless process enhances efficiency and expedites issue resolution within our systems.

I find Semgrep's user-friendliness valuable, allowing me to run scans easily with simple commands, which clearly indicate vulnerabilities and their priority levels, effectively meeting my needs.

When receiving high-priority findings, I act as a DevOps person who incorporates security into my culture by notifying developers about issues I find and urging them to check the code. I advocate that all developers have Semgrep installed on their laptops, ensuring they avoid pushing vulnerable code.

The impact of Semgrep on my organization includes the recommendation I made as an external consultant to incorporate it into projects. It is easy for developers to use and helps monitor our security posture by scanning code before production pushes.

Since implementing Semgrep, I have noticed significant outcomes. For example, I can resolve vulnerabilities that previously took four days in under a day, saving both time and money, thus enhancing our return on investment.

Semgrep needs ongoing improvements, and gathering user feedback will help enhance its effectiveness and provide better solutions globally.

I suggest improving documentation and integrating agentic AI to help users get quicker answers to security problems when scanning.

That first use was in 2022, so that is about four years now, and I continue to use Semgrep on my MacBook, finding it very useful, and I still recommend it to developers.

Semgrep is absolutely stable.

Semgrep's scalability is impressive, being designed as cloud-native and cloud-agnostic, making it easy to integrate and grow within any environment without concern for crashes.

I have not contacted Semgrep's customer service because their documentation usually provides solutions for my inquiries.

I have not used any solution prior to Semgrep.

I find Semgrep's pricing and setup reasonable and recommended its installation for developers to facilitate code scanning and avoid vulnerabilities.

The return on investment from using Semgrep is evident as I save time and money. For example, tasks that previously took days are completed in significantly less time, enabling faster business responses and improved profit margins.

I did not evaluate other options before choosing Semgrep. I found it through an online review and decided to try it based on that.

My advice for others considering Semgrep is to adopt it, as it stands out in the open-source market and shows solid growth. You can trust it based on its innovative developments.

I believe Semgrep will scale effectively with the rise of agentic AI and security needs, leading to broader adoption among companies. Sharing wins at open-source conferences will help demonstrate its potential impact.

I rate this review an 8.

I have used Semgrep  more as a testing and a POC tool. So, there is no consistent usage of Semgrep , but I have used the tool multiple times for POC purposes.

As a DevSecOps  Security Engineer, my main use case for Semgrep when I do use it for POCs or testing is to deal with SAST , secret scanning, and types of testing, white-box testing, AppSec, and those types of activities. Semgrep is a tool for that. Hence, when we perform POCs and try to understand what it is providing for such different types of scanning, Semgrep turns out to be useful in setting benchmarks.

Even if we mainly use Semgrep for POCs, it has positively impacted our organization. So when we are in the process of identifying new tools or trying to understand how to improve our existing tools, that is where Semgrep comes in handy.

As a result of using Semgrep, it helped us compare tools more effectively. It helped us understand what are the expected must-haves of a tool in this domain. That way, other tools that were not even offering these were easily left out because Semgrep is an open-source tool, and when we are trying to acquire paid tools, it is almost definite they should be offering capabilities at least that an open-source tool is offering.

Semgrep flourishes with the SAST , secret scanning, and Software Composition Analysis types of scanning. That is where Semgrep shines. With SCA , it helps find vulnerabilities, SAST weaknesses, and secrets. These are three existing services that are there in my enterprise, and we have other tools that perform the same. Semgrep, as I said, helps us benchmark that while running POCs.

The Software Composition Analysis is the most valuable feature in Semgrep.

As we use Semgrep for secret scanning, I know it is an open-source tool. Oftentimes, that leads to the refinement of the engine, but oftentimes Semgrep ends up flagging a lot of false positive values. If the name of a variable or any text in the code has the word secret in it, then it flags it as a secret violation or as a secret finding, which may not be the case. It might just be a false positive. It might just be a variable called secret but may not contain a value that is actually secret information.

Of course, there are a bunch of additions and improvements that can be done on Semgrep, but it is an open-source tool. I have at least used the open-source version of it. Of course, that comes only with the CLI. The UI and additional dashboarding and other details would definitely make the tool more user-friendly and more of a candidate to be implemented in an enterprise such as the one that I work for. I have not seen any other areas where Semgrep could be improved, aside from the false positives and dashboarding mentioned earlier.

I give Semgrep a six out of 10 simply because there are other tools that are better than this out there. This is an open-source tool, so it absolutely does the job, but if you were to implement a tool such as this in an enterprise, this would probably not be scalable.

My advice to others looking into using Semgrep is to keep in mind that this is an open-source tool. I gave Semgrep an overall rating of 6.5 out of 10.