Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis vs FOSSA comparison

Checkmarx Software Composit...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

FOSSA and Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis both compete in the realm of open-source software management. FOSSA appears to have the upper hand due to its seamless integration into build pipelines and high compatibility with developer ecosystems.

Features: FOSSA is known for its robust dependency scanning features during build-time, seamless integration into build pipelines, and high compatibility with various developer ecosystems. Checkmarx offers comprehensive security scans, early-stage vulnerability detection in open-source applications, and strong integration with developer tools.

Room for Improvement: FOSSA could enhance distribution acknowledgments, implement snippet matching, and improve security vulnerability scanning. Checkmarx needs to address the speed of updates, improve the user interface's efficiency, and offer more competitive pricing.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: FOSSA offers flexible deployment options across Public Cloud and On-premises environments with excellent support. Checkmarx supports various deployment options but has experienced some scaling and response time challenges, although the support has improved over time.

Pricing and ROI: FOSSA's pricing is competitive but mid-range, with costs often justified by the benefits provided. Checkmarx's pricing is higher with a complex licensing model. Both products are seen to generate substantial ROI, with FOSSA recognized for its operational benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis vs. FOSSA Report (Updated: July 2025).

Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis vs. FOSSA

July 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Checkmarx Software Composit...

Ranking in Software Composition Analysis (SCA)

8th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

FOSSA

Ranking in Software Composition Analysis (SCA)

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Software Composition Analysis (SCA) category, the mindshare of Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis is 2.6%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FOSSA is 3.1%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Composition Analysis (SCA) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis	2.6%
FOSSA	3.1%
Other	94.3%

Software Composition Analysis (SCA)

Featured Reviews

Tharindu Malwenna

Senior Application Security Engineer at Wiley

Efficient library identification and upgrade suggestions improve application security

We have many third-party libraries in our organization. I used Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis to identify all the libraries we use and determine whether they are used or unused within the application Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis provides identification of libraries and…

Read full review

Hanumanth Ramsetty

Software Engineer at Tech Mahindra Limited

Proactively mitigate deployment vulnerabilities with seamless dependency tracking

Before using FOSSA, we could only identify issues after deployment in the Cloud Run. Now, with FOSSA, we identify dependency issues or vulnerabilities during the CI phase itself. This proactive approach has eliminated the need to search the internet for solutions, as FOSSA provides updated recommendations automatically. This has made the process more efficient and mitigated risks before deployment.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"One of the strong points of this solution is that it allows you to incorporate it into a CICB pipeline. It has the ability to do incremental scans. If you scan a very large application, it might take two hours to do the initial scan. The subsequent scans, as people are making changes to the app, scan the Delta and are very fast. That's a really nice implementation. The way they have incorporated the functionality of the incremental scans is something to be aware of. It is quite good. It has been very solid. We haven't really had any issues, and it does what it advertises to do very nicely."

"It is very easy and user friendly. It never requires any kind of technical support. You can do everything on your own."

"We were able to reduce the number of vulnerable libraries by 50%, leading to significant operational improvement."

"What's most valuable in Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis is that it provides security from the start. In the traditional approach, an enterprise or company validates the solution before launching to a production environment, but in the modern approach, security must be checked and provided from the beginning and from the design, and this is where Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis comes in. The solution helps you make sure that every open-source application that you use is secure, and that there's no vulnerability inside that open-source application."

"The customer service and support were good."

"The tool's visual scan analysis shows me all the libraries' vulnerabilities and license types. It helps identify the most complex issues with licenses. It provides good visibility. SCA shows me all libraries that are vulnerable and the extent of their vulnerability."

"I appreciate the user-friendly interface. The GUI is excellent, providing detailed information on outdated versions, including version numbers and the flow of library calls. This allows me to plan and prioritize library changes based on potential vulnerabilities, even if the affected library is indirectly used in my project. The tool offers specific guidance on addressing these issues."

"The product is stable and scalable."

More Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis pros

"Being able to know the licenses of the libraries is most valuable because we sell products, and we need to provide to the customers the licenses that we are using."

"The scalability is excellent."

"I found FOSSA's out-of-the-box policy engine to be accurate and that it was tuned appropriately to the settings that we were looking for. The policy engine is pretty straightforward... I find it to be very straightforward to make small modifications to, but it's very rare that we have to make modifications to it. It's easy to use. It's a four-category system that handles most cases pretty well."

"Policies and identification of open-source licensing issues are the most valuable features. It reduces the time needed to identify open-source software licensing issues."

"The most valuable feature is definitely the ease and speed of integrating into build pipelines, like a Jenkins pipeline or something along those lines. The ease of a new development team coming on board and integrating FOSSA with a new project, or even an existing project, can be done so quickly that it's invaluable and it's easy to ask the developers to use a tool like this. Those developers greatly value the very quick feedback they get on any licensing or security vulnerability issues."

"The most valuable feature is its ability to identify all of the components in a build, and then surface the licenses that are associated with it, allowing us to make a decision as to whether or not we allow a team to use the components. That eliminates the risk that comes with running consumer software that contains open source components."

"FOSSA allows us to keep track of all dependencies to ensure they are up to date and not causing any vulnerabilities."

"I am impressed with the tool’s seamless integration and quick results."

More FOSSA pros

Cons

"Some of the recommendations provided by the product are generic. Even if the recommendations provided by the product are of low level, the appropriate ones can help users deal with vulnerabilities."

"It can have better licensing models."

"Personally, I currently use it as a standalone tool without integrating it with other systems, and it meets my needs adequately. As a suggestion, I request on considering to add a "what if" feature to the application. Currently, when the tool identifies issues and suggests updates, if I want to explore different scenarios, I need to prepare another file, turn it into a ZIP, and run the analysis again. It would be more convenient if there was a "what if" option in the GUI. This feature could simulate a run, allowing me to quickly check the impact of changing one or more files or versions without the need for a full rerun."

"In terms of areas for improvement, what could be improved in Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis is pricing because customers always compare the pricing among secure DevOps solutions in the market. Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis has a lot of competitors yet its features aren't much different. Pricing is the first thing customers consider, and from a partner perspective, if you can offer affordable pricing to your customers, it's more likely you'll have a winning deal. The performance of Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis also needs improvement because sometimes, it's slow, and in particular, scanning could take several hours."

"Instant updates for end users to identify vulnerabilities as soon as possible will make Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis better. The UI of the solution could also be improved."

"The quality of technical support has decreased over time, and it is not as good as it used to be."

"Its pricing can be improved. It is a little bit high priced. It would be better if it was a little less expensive. It is a good tool, and we're still figuring out how to fully leverage it. There are some questions regarding whether it can scan the MuleSoft code. We don't know if this is a gap in the tool or something else. This is one thing that we're just working through right now, and I am not ready to conclude that there is a weakness there. MuleSoft is kind of its own beast, and we're trying to see how we get it to work with Checkmarx."

"Parts of the implementation process could improve by making it more user-friendly."

More Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis cons

"The technical support has room for improvement."

"On the legal and policy sides, there is some room for improvement. I know that our legal team has raised complaints about having to approve the same dependency multiple times, as opposed to having them it across the entire organization."

"We have seen some inaccuracies or incompleteness with the distribution acknowledgments for an application, so there's certainly some room for improvement there. Another big feature that's missing that should be introduced is snippet matching, meaning, not just matching an entire component, but matching a snippet of code that had been for another project and put in different files that one of our developers may have created."

"On the dashboard, there should be an option to increase the column width so that we can see the complete name of the GitHub repository. Currently, on the dashboard, we see the list of projects, but to see the complete name, you have to hover your mouse over an item, which is annoying."

"The solution provides contextualized, actionable, intelligence that alerts us to compliance issues, but there is still a little bit of work to be done on it. One of the issues that I have raised with FOSSA is that when it identifies an issue that is an error, why is it in error? What detail can they give to me? They've improved, but that still needs some work. They could provide more information that helps me to identify the dependencies and then figure out where they originated from."

"I wish there was a way that you could have a more global rollout of it, instead of having to do it in each repository individually. It's possible, that's something that is offered now, or maybe if you were using the CI Jenkins, you'd be able to do that. But with Travis, there wasn't an easy way to do that. At least not that I could find. That was probably the biggest issue."

"For open-source management, FOSSA's out-of-the-box policy engine is easy to use, but the list of licenses is not as complete as we would like it to be. They should add more open-source licenses to the selection."

"One thing that can sometimes be difficult with FOSSA is understanding all that it can do. One of the ways that I've been able to unlock some of those more advanced features is through conversations with the absolutely awesome customer success team at FOSSA, but it has been a little bit difficult to find some of that information separately on my own through FAQs and other information channels that FOSSA has. The improvement is less about the product itself and more about empowering FOSSA customers to know and understand how to unlock its full potential."

More FOSSA cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My customers need to pay for the licensing part, and they need to opt for an annual subscription."

"It is a little bit high priced. It would be better if it was a little less expensive."

"We don't have a license. The usage is limited to one, two, three, five, or ten people. It is currently used for all projects, and there are plans to increase its usage."

"The license model is somewhat perplexing as it comprises multiple aspects that can be confusing for customers. The model is determined by the number of registered users and the number of projects being scanned, along with a third component that adds to the complexity."

"Pricing for Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis needs to be competitive."

"The solution's pricing is good and reasonable because you can literally use a lot of it for free."

"FOSSA is a fairly priced product. It is not either cheaper or expensive. The pricing lies somewhere in the middle. The solution is worth the money that we are spending to use it."

"Its price is reasonable as compared to the market. It is competitively priced in comparison to other similar solutions on the market. It is also quite affordable in terms of the value that it delivers as compared to its alternative of hiring a team."

"FOSSA is not cheap, but their offering is top-notch. It is very much a "you get what you pay for" scenario. Regardless of the price, I highly recommend FOSSA."

"The solution's cost is a five out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

33%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

23%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis?

The tool's visual scan analysis shows me all the libraries' vulnerabilities and license types. It helps identify the most complex issues with licenses. It provides good visibility. SCA shows me all...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis?

Pricing is complex and high for small organizations but offers great benefits for larger organizations. It is notably different compared to competitors like GitHub Advanced Security.

What needs improvement with Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis?

The solution could improve by determining the success factor of an upgrade, which is currently lacking.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FOSSA?

The solution's pricing is good and reasonable because you can literally use a lot of it for free. You have to pay for the features you need, which I think is fair. If you want to get value for free...

What needs improvement with FOSSA?

FOSSA does not show the exact line of code with vulnerabilities, which adds time to the process as we have to locate these manually. Some other tools like Check Point or SonarQube provide exact lin...

What is your primary use case for FOSSA?

I have worked with FOSSA primarily to manage the dependencies in our projects. For example, if I take a Spring Boot application, FOSSA helps in identifying mismatches or unsupported dependencies th...

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Comparisons

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Compared 9% of the time

Snyk vs Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis

Compared 4% of the time

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Black Duck vs FOSSA

Compared 40% of the time

Snyk vs FOSSA

Compared 19% of the time

Mend.io vs FOSSA

Compared 14% of the time

JFrog Xray vs FOSSA

Compared 9% of the time

Sonatype Lifecycle vs FOSSA

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis

August 2025

Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis report

Download Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis product report

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August 2025

Also Known As

CxSCA

No data available

Overview

Checkmarx Software Composition Analysis (SCA) helps organizations manage the risks associated with open source and third-party components in their software applications. While leveraging open source libraries and third-party dependencies is common practice, it can also introduce security vulnerabilities and license risks.

Checkmarx SCA offers a multifaceted approach to managing these risks by:

Automatically scanning project repositories, build configurations, and manifests to create a comprehensive inventory of all components, including version information and associated licenses.
Performing vulnerability assessments on each component, including identifying and prioritizing actual exploitable or reachable vulnerabilities.
Protecting organizations from software supply chain attacks involving malicious packages, such as the XZ Utils backdoor.
Identifying licenses associated and providing insights into license obligations, restrictions, and potential conflicts.
Integrating seamlessly into existing development workflows and CI/CD pipelines.
Providing actionable remediation guidance to help organizations address identified vulnerabilities and compliance issues effectively.

Checkmarx

Up to 90% of any piece of software is from open source, creating countless dependencies and areas of risk to manage. FOSSA is the most reliable automated policy engine for legal teams to maintain license compliance, security to fix vulnerabilities, and engineering to improve code quality across the entire software supply chain. As the only developer-native open source management platform, FOSSA fully integrates with your existing CI/CD pipeline to provide complete visibility and context earlier in the software development lifecycle. For the first time, teams can collaboratively shift left and audit, analyze, control, and remediate license issues and vulnerabilities right in their existing workflows.

Sample Customers

AXA, Liveperson, Aaron's, Playtech, Morningstar

AppDyanmic, Uber, Twitter, Zendesk, Confluent