ShipSafe vsSemgrep
Semgrep is a brilliant rule engine for AppSec teams. But it matches patterns you write — not the auth logic an AI tool quietly broke in your repo. Here's the honest comparison.
The honest version
Semgrep is one of the best static-analysis engines on the planet. The open-source CLI is free, runs in seconds, ships 2,800+ community rules, and lets you write your own in YAML. Security teams love it — and so do we.
Two things matter for a solo founder shipping AI-generated code. First, Semgrep matches patterns: you (or its rules) have to know the shape of the bug in advance. In a 2025 Doyensec study Semgrep funded (Doyensec kept editorial control), the free Community Edition found 44–48% of the known vulnerabilities in OWASP Juice Shop and WebGoat (the paid Semgrep Code found 72–75%); cross-file analysis and the AI Assistant live in the paid AppSec Platform (about $30 per contributor per month after a free 10-seat tier). Second, the output is built for engineers — rule IDs, CWE references, SARIF — not “any logged-out visitor can read invoice #43.”
ShipSafe is the opposite trade. No rules to write, no SARIF to triage. Paste a GitHub URL and get the logic-level bugs AI tools actually ship — IDOR, inverted auth, frontend-only admin checks — explained in plain English with a copy-paste fix.
ShipSafe vs Semgrep, side by side
Where Semgrep is the right call
- You have a security engineer who wants to write and version custom rules.
- You need to enforce specific patterns org-wide in CI across many repos.
- You want a free, open-source CLI you can run locally with zero account.
- You're standardizing AppSec tooling across a whole engineering org.
Where it leaves a solo founder exposed
- Pattern rules miss an inverted auth check or an IDOR unless someone wrote a rule for that exact shape.
- The free Community Edition is single-file: in the 2025 Doyensec study Semgrep funded (Doyensec kept editorial control), it found under half of the known vulnerabilities in OWASP Juice Shop and WebGoat.
- Findings arrive as rule IDs and SARIF — you still translate them into 'what can an attacker actually do.'
- No copy-paste fix tuned for the AI tool that wrote the bug.
- Source-only analysis never touches your running app, so it can't see a secret shipped in your deployed JS bundle, a Supabase table left readable to the public internet, or an IDOR proven across two real accounts.
- Semgrep tells you a rule matched. ShipSafe, on a subscription, sends the fixes to your GitHub for you to approve and re-checks each fixed file, telling you which findings it no longer detects, which are still there, and which it could not re-check.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Semgrep free?
Can Semgrep find IDOR or broken auth?
Do I need to write rules to use Semgrep?
Should I use both?
See what pattern matching missed
Paste your GitHub URL. 2 minutes. The logic-level bugs Semgrep's rules can't see — in plain English, with a copy-paste fix.
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This is an independent comparison provided for informational purposes. All product names, logos, and brands are the property of their respective owners; ShipSafe is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by them. Statements about other products reflect publicly available information at the time of writing and may change, so please verify current details on each provider’s own website.