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Clang Static Analyzer VS SonarSource

Compare Clang Static Analyzer VS SonarSource and see what are their differences

Clang Static Analyzer logo Clang Static Analyzer

The Clang Static Analyzer is a source code analysis tool that finds bugs in C, C++, and Objective-C...

SonarSource logo SonarSource

Sonar empowers developers and organizations to achieve Clean Code, systematically and predictably.
  • Clang Static Analyzer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-28
  • SonarSource Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-11

Sonar solves the trillion-dollar challenge of bad code. Sonar equips developers and organizations to systematically achieve a state of Clean Code so that all code is fit for development and production. By applying the Sonar Clean as You Code methodology, organizations minimize risk, reduce technical debt, and derive more value from their software in a predictable and sustainable way.

The open source and commercial Sonar solution โ€“ SonarLint, SonarCloud, and SonarQube โ€“ supports over 30 programming languages, frameworks, and infrastructure technologies. Trusted by 7 million developers and 400,000 organizations globally to clean more than half a trillion lines of code, Sonar has become integral to delivering better software.

Sonar is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland with additional offices in Austin, Texas; Annecy, France; Bochum, Germany, and Singapore. The company is rapidly growing with over 450 employees and more than 21,000 customers deploying Sonar products worldwide.

Clang Static Analyzer features and specs

  • Integration with Clang
    The Clang Static Analyzer is built as part of the Clang project, ensuring seamless integration with the Clang compiler. This allows for easy adoption in projects that already use Clang for compiling, as there is no need for additional tooling setup.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source tool, Clang Static Analyzer is freely available for anyone to use and modify. This encourages a community-driven approach to improvements and provides the flexibility to tailor the tool to specific needs.
  • Path-sensitive Analysis
    Clang Static Analyzer performs path-sensitive analysis, which means it evaluates different execution paths in the code to detect complex bugs that may only manifest under certain conditions.
  • Deep C/C++ Support
    As part of the LLVM project, Clang Static Analyzer offers robust support for C and C++ languages, leveraging the deep language understanding from the Clang front-end.

Possible disadvantages of Clang Static Analyzer

  • Limited Language Support
    While it is excellent for C and C++, Clang Static Analyzer has limited support for other programming languages, which can be a drawback for projects involving multiple languages.
  • False Positives
    Like many static analysis tools, Clang Static Analyzer can generate false positives, where it reports issues that are not actual bugs. This can require developers to spend additional time reviewing and dismissing spurious warnings.
  • Complex Setup for Non-Clang Projects
    Projects that are not already using Clang might face a more complex setup process to integrate Clang Static Analyzer, as it requires adapting build configurations to use Clang.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running Clang Static Analyzer can introduce significant performance overhead during the analysis phase, which might lead to longer build or integration times, especially for large codebases.

SonarSource features and specs

  • Comprehensive Code Analysis
    SonarSource offers a wide range of code analysis tools that support multiple programming languages. It helps in identifying bugs, vulnerabilities, and code smells, leading to better code quality and maintainability.
  • Continuous Integration Support
    SonarSource integrates well with popular CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitLab, and GitHub Actions, allowing for automated code quality checks as part of the development workflow.
  • Customizable Rules
    Users can customize the rules and quality profiles according to project requirements, making it flexible and adaptable for different development environments.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The platform offers a clean and intuitive user interface that helps developers easily navigate through issues and improve their code effectively.
  • Active Community and Support
    SonarSource has an active user community and provides good support, including comprehensive documentation and forums, which facilitate problem-solving and knowledge sharing.

Possible disadvantages of SonarSource

  • Resource Consumption
    The platform can be resource-intensive, requiring significant computational power and memory, especially for large codebases.
  • Complex Setup for Custom Integrations
    While it provides strong integration capabilities, setting up custom integrations or configuring advanced features might require a steep learning curve for some users.
  • Licensing Costs
    For enterprise use, SonarSource's licensing fees can be quite high, potentially impacting small to medium-sized businesses' budgets.
  • Limited Out-of-the-Box Functionality for Some Languages
    Although it supports multiple languages, out-of-the-box functionality can be limited for less common languages, necessitating additional configuration or plugin development.
  • Potential Overhead in Development Time
    Integrating thorough code reviews and fixes based on SonarSource's analysis can initially increase development time, which might be a challenge for teams with tight deadlines.

Clang Static Analyzer videos

2019 LLVM Developersโ€™ Meeting: A. Dergachev โ€œDeveloping the Clang Static Analyzerโ€

More videos:

  • Review - Clang Static Analyzer - Eduard Bachmakov, Linux Foundation (GSoC)

SonarSource videos

Web Security 0x19 | Source-Code Review SonarSource #CodeChallenge !

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Clang Static Analyzer and SonarSource)
Code Analysis
74 74%
26% 26
Code Coverage
79 79%
21% 21
Code Review
100 100%
0% 0
Development
70 70%
30% 30

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Clang Static Analyzer should be more popular than SonarSource. It has been mentiond 7 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Clang Static Analyzer mentions (7)

  • Improvements to static analysis in GCC 14
    Clang has a similar tool, the Clang Static Analyzer: https://clang-analyzer.llvm.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Memory Safe or Bust?
    Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment [CI/CD] pipelines play a crucial role in enforcing code quality, especially when working with memory-unsafe languages. By integrating automated dynamic analysis tools like Valgrind or AddressSanitizer, static analysis tools like Clang Static Analyzer or cppcheck, and manual code review processes, developers can identify and mitigate many memory-related... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Static Code analysis
    No one static analyzer catches everything. It's best to run multiple. Popular ones are cppcheck, clang-analyzer, GCC static analyzer in GCC 10+, flawfinder, lizard. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Checked C
    With "cross translation units" (CTU) analysis a static analyzer could derive a constraint on `some_function` return value and check this against the array size to detect a possible bug. The Clang static analyzer [1], used through CodeChecker (CC) [2], do support CTU (enabled with `--ctu`). I'm very happy with the result on the code I'm working on. Of course this is not magic, and it's important to understand the... - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
  • What's in your tool belt?
    Cppcheck and Clang Analyzer: statically analyze your code to find bad style and bugs (undefined behavior) respectively. Clang Analyzer can actually be frighteningly clever and has a low false positive rate (unlike most other non-commercial static checkers). Source: about 3 years ago
View more

SonarSource mentions (1)

  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2022)
    Vulnerability Researcherยณ SonarSource builds world-class products (SonarQube, SonarCloud, SonarLint) for Code Security and Code Quality, with over 15k customers and 300k instances of our Community Edition. Our Security Research & Development team drives the innovation and promotion of our security analysis engines used by millions of developers around the globe to find vulnerabilities. We are looking for Security... - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Clang Static Analyzer and SonarSource, you can also consider the following products

Cppcheck - Cppcheck is an analysis tool for C/C++ code. It detects the types of bugs that the compilers normally fail to detect. The goal is no false positives. CppCheckDownload cppcheck for free.

Coverity Scan - Find and fix defects in your Java, C/C++ or C# open source project for free

LDRA Testbed - Liverpool Data Research Associates (LDRA) is a provider of software analysis, test and requirements...

SonarQube - SonarQube, a core component of the Sonar solution, is an open source, self-managed tool that systematically helps developers and organizations deliver Clean Code.

lgtm.com - lgtm.com is a platform for code analytics.

Parasoft C/C++test - Ensure compliance with a variety of functional safety, security, and coding standards in embedded C/C++ software.