

Mend.io and Black Duck SCA both provide software composition analysis solutions with a focus on open-source license and vulnerability management. Mend.io appears to have an edge with its ease of automation and language support, while Black Duck excels in component management and binary scanning.
Features: Mend.io is known for its automation in identifying vulnerabilities and effective policy implementation, support for multiple languages, and integration with CI/CD pipelines. Black Duck SCA offers strong component management, policy management, and effective binary scanning capabilities. Black Duck is also renowned for its robust reporting features and extensive knowledge base.
Room for Improvement: Mend.io could improve its scanning for containers and images, enhance customer service, and offer more flexible role/action models. Improvement is needed in UI design and reporting customization. Black Duck SCA's initial setup can be complex, and its reporting capabilities could be enhanced. Scalability, pricing, and solution documentation are other areas for improvement.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Mend.io provides flexible deployment options including public and hybrid cloud environments and has received positive feedback on its customer service. Its technical support and workflow integration are highlighted as efficient. Black Duck SCA, mainly available for on-premises and private cloud, has robust support but sometimes faces challenges in streamlining partner relationship support. Both solutions offer responsive technical support.
Pricing and ROI: Mend.io is noted for its competitive pricing and clear SLA-based support, demonstrating substantial ROI by reducing vulnerabilities. Black Duck SCA's pricing is based on user count or code size and can be perceived as expensive for smaller organizations, though it supports effective large-scale deployments. Both solutions allow for negotiating customized pricing reflecting their value.
If you're using it on critical external programs where there is regulatory compliance on ensuring that the source code is clean from open-source, there's substantial ROI.
Mend.io has provided a good return on investment by significantly reducing vulnerabilities.
There are some pain points with the response time and first-level support quality.
They prioritize providing the best experience to large organizations like ours, belonging to the Fortune 100.
I have noticed that the speed to respond has decreased over time.
Mend.io provides pretty good support.
I would rate the scalability of Black Duck 8 or 9.
Mend.io is very stable; we did not have any issues.
AI integration in code security tools like Mend.io is still in its early stages and relatively immature.
It can improve on the security side of it, specifically vulnerabilities identification.
Black Duck does not have the SBOM management part.
There are areas for improvement such as false positives and the scanning of containers.
That's not a limitation of Mend.io; I think that's a general problem with any tool in the market because no tool in the market will actually know what portion of the code I'm actually using from that particular library if it is vulnerable or not.
I strongly recommend that they start working with AI for the reporting part.
The actual challenge is how easy it is to integrate it in the early phase of the software development life cycle.
The cost of Mend.io is competitive, being quite low compared to others.
The most valuable feature of Black Duck is the composition analysis feature, which is effective for security risk management.
Black Duck's ability to identify dependencies very accurately has been most valuable in identifying and mitigating risks.
The software composition analysis is most effective for security risk management.
We find it 100% accurate in detecting vulnerabilities.
Mend.io's reporting tools are beneficial for my use case; from a UI perspective and generation of reports, including the SBOM, it has the flexibility and is easy to generate and share with the developer teams.
Mend.io is very efficient, highly efficient, and it is the best scanning tool for SCA.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Black Duck SCA | 12.5% |
| Mend.io | 6.2% |
| Other | 81.3% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 6 |
| Large Enterprise | 16 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 10 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 3 |
| Large Enterprise | 20 |
Black Duck is an essential tool for software composition analysis and license compliance. It identifies vulnerabilities effectively and supports security management in DevOps environments, offering integration, performance stability, and community support.
Organizations rely on Black Duck for seamless integration in CI/CD pipelines, thorough scanning of source and binary codes, and management of operational risks associated with open-source and commercial licenses. It plays a crucial role in security risk management and delivers a robust policy management framework. Users value its ease of use and reliable community support while benefiting from its comprehensive dependency visualization capabilities. Despite its strengths, there is room for enhancement in integration with other tools, UI friendliness, and reporting features.
What are Black Duck's key features?
What should users look for in ROI?
Enterprise environments use Black Duck extensively for security, compliance, and risk management, ensuring software meets regulatory standards and mitigates vulnerabilities. Its implementation in specific industries aids in controlled and secure software development processes, underlining its role in maintaining rigorous security standards while delivering dependable performance.
Mend.io is a software composition analysis tool that secures what developers create. The solution provides an automated reduction of the software attack surface, reduces developer burdens, and accelerates app delivery. Mend.io provides open-source analysis with its in-house and other multiple sources of software vulnerabilities. In addition, the solution offers license and policy violation alerts, has great pipeline integration, and, since it is a SaaS (software as a service), it doesn’t require you to physically maintain servers or data centers for any implementation. Not only does Mend.io reduce enterprise application security risk, it also helps developers meet deadlines faster.
Mend.io Features
Mend.io has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
Mend.io Benefits
There are many benefits to implementing Mend.io. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:
Reviews from Real Users
Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Mend.io solution.
Jeffrey H., System Manager of Cloud Engineering at Common Spirit, says, “Finding vulnerabilities is pretty easy. Mend.io (formerly WhiteSource) does a great job of that and we had quite a few when we first put this in place. Mend.io does a very good job of finding the open-source, checking the versions, and making sure they're secure. They notify us of critical high, medium, and low impacts, and if anything is wrong. We find the product very easy to use and we use it as a core part of our strategy for scanning product code moving toward release.”
PeerSpot reviewer Ben D., Head of Software Engineering at a legal firm, mentions, “The way WhiteSource scans the code is great. It’s easy to identify and remediate open source vulnerabilities using this solution. WhiteSource helped reduce our mean time to resolution since we adopted the product. In terms of integration, it's pretty easy.”
An IT Service Manager at a wholesaler/distributor comments, “Mend.io provides threat detection and an excellent UI in a highly stable solution, with outstanding technical support.”
Another reviewer, Kevin D., Intramural OfficialIntramural at Northeastern University, states, "The vulnerability analysis is the best aspect of the solution."
We monitor all Software Composition Analysis (SCA) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.