Mend.io Reviews

The license management of WhiteSource was at a good level. As compared to other tools that I have used, its functionality for the licenses for the code libraries was quite good. Its UI was also fine.

We have ended our relationship with WhiteSource. We were using an agent that we built in the pipeline so that you can scan the projects during build time. But unfortunately, that agent didn't work at all. We have more than 500 projects, and it doubled or tripled the build time. For other projects, we had the failure of the builds without any known reason. It was not usable at all. We spent maybe one year working on the issues to try to make it work, but it didn't in the end. 

We should be able to integrate it with ID and Shift Left so that the developers are able to see the scan results without waiting for the build to fail.

I have used this solution for one year. 

I wouldn't call it stable because we could not build it into the pipeline, and it caused failures.

They were quite responsive, but in the end, they couldn't help with anything to make it work. For any feature requests that we had on our side, they always claimed that they were part of the roadmap, but after that, nothing happened.

It was quite straightforward. It was intended to be done on the DevOps side. It was nothing special. It didn't work after the setup. It caused build failures.

I would rate WhiteSource a three out of ten considering the fact that we couldn't use it while we were paying for it. It had good features, but we couldn't use it.

Its ease of use and good results are the most valuable.

It would be good if it can do dynamic code analysis. It is not necessarily in that space, but it can do more because we have too many tools.

Their partner relationship support is a little bit confusing. They haven't really streamlined the support process when we buy through a reseller. They should improve their process.

I have been using this solution for one month. I am using its latest version.

We are still implementing it. We haven't gone through scalability, but we don't expect any problem.

Their support is average. Their partner relationship support is a little bit confusing. They haven't really streamlined the support process when we buy through a reseller. 

The initial setup was pretty straightforward. The deployment took about three weeks.

We did it ourselves.

I would rate WhiteSource a nine out of ten. It is a good product.

We use this solution for scanning NodeJS and Maven projects during the CI/CD processes. We have hundreds of scans per day for any project that runs on our CI and passes the release build.

This means that any release build runs the WhiteSource scan before deployment to production clusters, which ensures that we are pretty covered in terms of licenses for open source dependencies.

We are running on top of hundreds of microservices and thousands of daily builds, of which part of them are moving to production deployment eventually.  

In general, we are covered for open source licensing issues and CVE errors on particular versions for open source dependencies. Moreover, we have covered ourselves for security auditing by stating that we are users of WhiteSource.

The most valuable feature is the unified JAR to scan for all langs (wss-scanner jar). It helps us to scan easily and is agnostic to the technology.

The dashboard UI and UX are problematic. This solution looks like a 1995 web site and it's very hard to understand what the issue is and why it failed.

I have been using WhiteSource for almost five years.

The stability is great.

Our account manager is the best!

This is my first open-source scanning solution.

The setup was performed independently.

I didn't choose it but I saw a demo of Synk.

Improve the UI please... developers cannot find themselves in this dashboard.

We use WhiteSource mainly to:

1. Detect and automate vulnerability remediation. We started to research solutions since our dev teams are unable to meet sprint deadlines and keep track of product security. Most of our code scans are automated and integrated within our pipeline, which integrates with our CI server. With some, we run them manually using an agent. We recently started using the repository integration with Github, too, pre-build.
2. License reporting and attribution reports. We use attribution reports and due diligence reports to asses risks associated with open-source licenses.

WhiteSource is very easy to run and use. It reduced significantly the time our developers used to spend on issues in open-source libraries. We used a free tool before and the number of alerts was too high to handle.

We recently implemented WhiteSource on our Github account.

It provides our developers with better visibility into open source libraries within their code environment, which helps the company in ensuring dev adoption.

When it comes to open-source licenses, it really simplified reporting as it provides an inventory list in a simple report. Before WhiteSource it was almost impossible, mostly due to transitive dependencies.

The most valuable features for us are:

1. Fix suggestions. Our dev team uses the fix suggestions feature to quickly find the best path for remediation. Before that you would have to research online for fixes, and most of the time it’s not that straightforward.
2. Trace analysis. Trace analysis enables our team to get the fix, including a clear path to the vulnerable method. This saves quite some time.
3. Open-source inventory reports. These reports are easy to manage and provide a clear view of our open-source assets. There’s also an option to create policies around that.

The changes that we would like to see are mostly usability issues.

The UI can be slow once in a while, and we're not sure if it's because of the amount of data we have, or it is just a slow product, but it would be nice if it could be improved.

The UI is also too crowded. I believe that less information, or a different data summary, can be more readable. I know this is something they’re currently working on, but not sure where it stands. 

Reporting could be easier, as it does not export filtered-down lists. It would be really valuable to add the ability to customize options in the reports.

We have been using WhiteSource for one and a half years.

Stable.

Didn't have any problems related to scale so far.

No

I can easily generate reports and get a quick overview of my status.

Yes, Snyk

We started using WhiteSource mainly to scan dependencies and detect open-source licenses, copyright information, and vulnerabilities.

We’ve managed to establish an integration with our CICD pipelines and use pretty much all of the automation that is offered, including automated policies.

We were able to integrate the product naturally into our development process and it provided results really fast. You can easily use the unified agent and connect your CICD tools. It scans all of your source code quickly and it took us just a few minutes to run. The REST API is really good as well.

In the past, running similar tools or trying to get feedback on our open-source state was almost impossible.

Our primary goal was to get the license reports, but now we have a full end-to-end process that automates all license management, open-source license approval, rejection, ticket assignment, and more.

Our use case focuses on licenses, so the most valuable feature would probably be the license reports and policies, which is why we reached out in the first place.

The reporting capability gives us the option to generate an open-source license report in a single click, which gets all copyright and license information, including dependencies.

We use the Policies feature to approve or reject automatically open-source licenses, according to preset company policy.

With respect to ticketing, we use the JIRA integration to assign a problematic open-source library. It opens a ticket on our end and it is assigned automatically to the right owner. It saves a lot of hassle and simplifies the process internally.

It would be nice to have a better way to realize its full potential and translate it within the UI or during onboarding.

We have been using WhiteSource for six months.

Given the different solutions in that space, WhiteSource was the best solution for our needs. We’ve found it was able to manage all dependencies, automate alerts, and provide us with easy and quick license reports, attribution and copyright information.

I believe we’re still in a stage where we’re trying to gain all the benefits of the solution and understand what features can be maximized.

The product is simple on one hand as it's so easy to use, run and get insights from, but on the other hand, it offers so much that it’s hard to fully grasp all its capabilities.

I’m not sure I have the best knowledge so far to recommend features and capabilities since this is very new to us. Currently, we’re happy to have something that addresses our needs.

We use WhiteSource mainly to automate open source vulnerability detection and remediation, as well as for license compliance.

I’m less on the side of the license but mainly use the service to get control over vulnerabilities, detect the ones that affect us and remediate accordingly.

We integrate WhiteSource to our pipeline via CI server integration and now started using the GitHub integration too. We also run an agent in specific use cases.

WhiteSource improved our team’s ability to deal with vulnerabilities in a timely manner. Most of the time the alerts pile up and no one wants to deal with it, but the process now is much more simplified and convenient. It is still a task, but the service reduces the time spent on it significantly. It is very easy to use and the research decreased to almost none.

The GitHub integration provides us with the option to prevent security issues related to our open source libraries pre-build. It helped our teams discover vulnerabilities before usage, and fix issues within our existing environment and workflow.

The policy automation on effective vulnerabilities feature had a major impact on how we address open source vulnerabilities since it focuses on effective vulnerabilities and directs you to the specific methods. Other services will give a much larger list to remediate. I believe it cuts around 80% of alerts.

With the fix suggestions feature, not only do you get the specific trace back to where the vulnerability is within your code, but you also get fix suggestions. It sounds simple but I haven’t seen this capability with any other solution. This saves quite some time.

There are more small things within the UI that focus on giving the quickest remediation path, and I believe this is the WhiteSource’s strongest area.

The UI is not that friendly and you need to learn how to navigate easily. It also doesn’t run as smoothly as I would want or expect, and I believe it requires some improvements. That said, the Success team is very attentive and does reply and answer related matters quite fast.

Currently, effective vulnerabilities are only available in two languages, which is great, but I would be very happy to see more languages. It does cover most of our libraries, but we do have other languages in use. More coverage on that aspect would be helpful.

I have been using WhiteSource for one and a half years.

We evaluated a few tools before moving forward with WhiteSource, and I have used other free tools as well. Comparing WhiteSource to others, some are stronger in terms of stability and UI performance, but don’t provide as much value as WhiteSource (by far).

On the results side, the databases are updated regularly and the results are very accurate. We requested some libraries for review here and there, but nothing major. 99.9% of the time we have accurate and proactive data.

We started off slowly with WhiteSource and never experienced any issues around this topic.

That said, I’m not sure if it plays a part in the UI issues.

Technical support is the best I’ve ever worked with.

They really take seriously customers' requests (and we sent over quite a few), and always reach out to help us make the most out of the platform.

I have never received a late reply, and the CS has a really good relationship with the team.

We didn't use anything before, only manually.

The initial setup was quick and easy. The CS team and the documentation were very helpful. We kicked off in a few days and the integration went smoothly.

We’ve evaluated Snyk, also used their free version and free dependency checkers.

We needed a tool to ensure that we are not using vulnerable libraries or open-source libraries with a copyleft license. We integrated WhiteSource with our repositories and CI server and set up automated policies to reject copyleft licensed libraries because our legal department doesn't allow them. We also have it open Jira issues automatically when a vulnerable library is detected and assign it to an engineer so we can shorten our response time to vulnerabilities detected in our applications. It integrates nicely with our existing workflow.

The best thing is that it changed the mindset of our developers. They are now more aware and proactive when it comes to the security risks in open source vulnerabilities and the need to update packages from time to time.

It gives us full visibility into what we're using, what needs to be updated, and what's vulnerable, which helps us make better decisions.

The WhiteSource prioritization feature provides us with the greatest value as it has cut down the number of security alerts by about 90%. It is only relevant for Java and JS for now, but we understand more is yet to come. This has saved us a lot of time.

WhiteSource is very accurate and covers all of our languages (including C++).

WhiteSource Prioritize is amazing. If we are using a vulnerable library, it shows us if we are actually using the vulnerable method or not. This saves us a lot of time that we can instead invest in other projects.

It also does a great job of automating many activities we used to do manually. Now the system does it for us and it generates a great security dashboard that shows us whether our remediation velocity is improving or not.

WhiteSource Prioritize should be expanded to cover more than Java and JavaScript.
We are currently using WhiteSource Prioritize for Java and it cuts our vulnerability alerts by almost 90%. However, Prioritize doesn't cover python or other languages at this point and our developers are required to deal with many open source security alerts. The problem is that now our developers are aware that most open source security alerts are not impacting the security of their applications and it's harder to get their cooperation. We are waiting for WhiteSource to announce support ifor Python and other languages.

We have been using WhiteSource for almost a year.

From my experience, WhiteSource is pretty solid.

We had a problem with a new library that their engine didn't process. I wrote them an email and got a response within an hour. Two days later they added it to their system.

They provide accurate results and our customer success manager is great.

No complaints so far.

We tested Black Duck as well but detected quite a lot of false positives.

The good thing is that their product just keeps getting better. They are very attentive to their customers.

All in all, if you care about security, this product is a must. We all love open source, but I was always afraid of the headache in handling all the licensing/updates/vulnerabilities. The peace of mind we have now is a total game-changer.

We use WhiteSource to monitor our open-source usage. Specifically to avoid legal issues with open-source licensing, which may deter potential buyers or investors. Additionally, we analysed the code for security vulnerabilities.

We found the effective vulnerabilities report very useful since it lowered the number of actual defects found in the product and saved us a lot of work. Our environment is made of micro-services running in Kubernetes using NodeJS and Typescript for the backend, and AngularJS for the frontend. We use MongoDB, Redis, RabbitMQ, and ELK. 

WhiteSource allowed us to minimize our exposure to open-source vulnerabilities with ease. Aside from identifying the out-dated or compromised packages really easily, it allows us to actually see which vulnerabilities are effectively relevant for us. In this case, it saved us *A LOT* of refactors and redesigns of code, which would have been considered vulnerable otherwise.

We integrated WhiteSource into our build system to ensure we keep our code secure and don't introduce new problems as we go. This allows us to have more predictability into the work process as security now becomes a constant work-in-progress instead of a major bulk of work every now and then.

For us, the most valuable tool was open-source licensing analysis. Although we don't use it on a weekly basis, when we needed to produce a reliable analysis of our open-source licensing exposure, we found it very very effective. Considering the alternatives, which were to analyse manually, WhiteSource saved us a ton of work that we really needed to complete in a short time. It would have involved finding all the different packages, be them in package.json files or analyse the docker images, and then find their effective license, which in itself is not a simple task.

The agent usage was not as smooth as the online experience. It lacks in terms of documentation and the errors and warnings it produces are not always very clear. We were able to get it up and running in a short while by getting help from support, which was very approachable and reliable.

If anything, I would spend more time making this more user-friendly, better documenting the CLI, and adding more examples to help expand the current documentation.

I would also like to get better integration with Google Docs.

We have been using WhiteSource for a few months.

We did not use another solution prior to this one.

We did not evaluate other options.

Overall, this is a great product.