Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Coverity Scan VS Cppcheck

Compare Coverity Scan VS Cppcheck and see what are their differences

Coverity Scan logo Coverity Scan

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

Cppcheck logo 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 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-13
  • Cppcheck Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-13

Coverity Scan features and specs

  • Comprehensive Analysis
    Coverity Scan offers deep and comprehensive analysis of your codebase, enabling the detection of critical bugs and security vulnerabilities that might be missed by other tools.
  • Wide Language Support
    Coverity Scan supports a wide range of programming languages including C, C++, Java, JavaScript, and Python, making it versatile for various projects.
  • Integration with Development Workflow
    Seamlessly integrates with popular version control systems like GitHub, making it easy to incorporate into your existing development workflow.
  • Actionable Reports
    Provides detailed and actionable reports that help developers understand the root cause of issues and how to fix them efficiently.
  • Free for Open Source
    Available for free for open-source projects, making it an accessible tool for community-driven and non-commercial projects.

Possible disadvantages of Coverity Scan

  • Complex Setup
    Initial setup and configuration can be complex and time-consuming, especially for teams that are new to static code analysis tools.
  • Performance Overhead
    The analysis process can be resource-intensive, potentially slowing down other operations on the server or local machine.
  • Limited Free Usage
    While free for open-source projects, commercial projects require a paid license, which might be a drawback for startups or small enterprises with limited budgets.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    The tool has a steep learning curve, requiring developers to spend considerable time understanding how to best use its features and interpret the results.
  • False Positives
    Like many static analysis tools, Coverity Scan can generate false positives, potentially leading to time spent investigating non-issues.

Cppcheck features and specs

  • Open Source
    Cppcheck is open-source software, which means it is free to use and its source code is available for modification and distribution under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
  • Static Analysis
    Cppcheck excels at performing static code analysis, detecting bugs, memory leaks, and potential issues in C and C++ code without executing the program.
  • Wide Platform Support
    Cppcheck supports a wide range of platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS, making it versatile and accessible to developers on different operating systems.
  • Integrated with IDEs
    Cppcheck can be integrated with popular Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like Visual Studio, Eclipse, and Code::Blocks, providing seamless code analysis during development.
  • Customizable
    Cppcheck allows customization of its analysis through command-line options and configurations, enabling users to tailor the tool to their specific needs and project requirements.
  • Extensive Reporting
    Cppcheck provides detailed reports that highlight various types of issues, making it easier for developers to identify and resolve problems efficiently.
  • Regular Updates
    Cppcheck is actively maintained, with regular updates and improvements that enhance its capabilities and address any newly discovered issues.

Possible disadvantages of Cppcheck

  • False Positives
    Cppcheck may sometimes produce false positives, flagging issues that are not actually problematic, which can lead to unnecessary debugging efforts.
  • Learning Curve
    New users may encounter a learning curve when first using Cppcheck, as they need to understand its configuration options and how to interpret its output effectively.
  • Limited Dynamic Analysis
    Cppcheck focuses on static analysis and does not provide dynamic analysis capabilities, which means it cannot detect issues that only occur at runtime.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running Cppcheck on large codebases can introduce performance overhead, potentially slowing down the development process if not managed properly.
  • Complex Configuration
    For complex projects, configuring Cppcheck to ignore certain false positives or to focus on specific types of issues can be challenging and time-consuming.

Coverity Scan videos

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Cppcheck videos

Cppcheck

More videos:

  • Review - Daniel Marjamäki: Cppcheck, static code analysis

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Coverity Scan and Cppcheck)
Code Analysis
66 66%
34% 34
Code Review
68 68%
32% 32
Code Coverage
62 62%
38% 38
Web Application Security
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Coverity Scan and Cppcheck

Coverity Scan Reviews

8 Best Static Code Analysis Tools For 2024
Coverity by Synopsys is one of the code scanning tools widely used for static code analysis. It can help you easily identify and fix various issues, improving performance and reducing build times.
Source: www.qodo.ai
Ten Best SonarQube alternatives in 2021
Coverity has several lovely pieces of documentation that offer you all the data you would possibly want while writing code. What's greater, if you have any questions about the code you are presently using, you can continually look at it online. The entire enterprise can use Coverity, and most of the records developers in many organizations are currently using it inside nearby.
Source: duecode.io
TOP 40 Static Code Analysis Tools (Best Source Code Analysis Tools)
Coverity Scan is an open-source cloud-based tool. It works for projects written using C, C++, Java C# or JavaScript. This tool provides a very detailed and clear description of the issues which help in faster resolution. A good choice if you are looking for an open-source tool.

Cppcheck Reviews

Top 9 C++ Static Code Analysis Tools
Cppcheck is a popular, open-source, free, cross-platform static code analysis tool dedicated to C and C++. It is known for being easy to use and its simplicity is one of its pros. To get started with it you don’t have to do any adjustments or modifications, which is why it’s often recommended for beginners. It also has a reputation of reporting a relatively small number of...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Cppcheck should be more popular than Coverity Scan. It has been mentiond 10 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.

Coverity Scan mentions (4)

  • I created this point of sale system for restaurants and hospitality. The All-In-One has a 15.6" touchscreen running a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4L and is made by Chipsee in Bejing, China. I'm helping a friend install it in a restaurant on the St. Lawrence River where he is the Executive Chef.
    You can use Coverity for free on open source code. I use it on an app I open sourced for packet processing. https://scan.coverity.com/. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Free for dev - list of software (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, etc.)
    Scan.coverity.com — Static code analysis for Java, C/C++, C# and JavaScript, free for Open Source. - Source: dev.to / almost 4 years ago
  • CDN dollar just hit 6 year high.
    I personally remember Coverity Scan being completely offline for like 6 months while they tried to deal with infrastructure abuse from people mining bitcoin on their computing clusters. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • GCC 10.3 has been released
    > Does anyone know any good static analysers other than gcc's or clang's? Visual C++ as well, because since the XP SP2 issues, Microsoft has come up with SAL, which you can also use on your own code, https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/code-quality/using-sal-annotations-to-reduce-c-cpp-code-defects?view=msvc-160 Then specialized tooling just for this purpose, just two examples, https://scan.coverity.com/... - Source: Hacker News / about 4 years ago

Cppcheck mentions (10)

  • Configuring Cppcheck, Cpplint, and JSON Lint
    I dedicated Sunday morning to going over the documentation of the linters we use in the project. The goal was to understand all options and use them in the best way for our project. Seeing their manuals side by side was nice because even very similar things are solved differently. Cppcheck is the most configurable and best documented; JSON Lint lies at the other end. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Enforcing Memory Safety?
    Using infer, someone else exploited null-dereference checks to introduce simple affine types in C++. Cppcheck also checks for null-dereferences. Unfortunately, that approach means that borrow-counting references have a larger sizeof than non-borrow counting references, so optimizing the count away potentially changes the semantics of a program which introduces a whole new way of writing subtly wrong code. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Static Code analysis
    For my own projects, I used cppcheck. You can check out that tool to get a feel. Depending on what industry your in, you might need to follow a standard like Misra. Source: about 2 years ago
  • How do you not shoot yourself in the foot ?
    Https://cppcheck.sourceforge.io/ (there are many other static analysis tools, I just haven't used them or didn't care for them). Source: about 2 years ago
  • Linting tool for prohibiting the use of specific std types
    Sounds like something that could simply be communicated with the team that writes the tests. Unless you have dozens of such classes. In that case, you could just use e.g. Cppcheck and add a rule (regular expression) that searches for usages of the forbidden classes. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Coverity Scan and Cppcheck, you can also consider the following products

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.

Checkmarx - The industry’s most comprehensive AppSec platform, Checkmarx One is fast, accurate, and accelerates your business.

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

Veracode - Veracode's application security software products are simpler and more scalable to increase the resiliency of your application infrastructure.

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

HCL AppScan - Fast, Accurate, Agile Application Security Testing