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Coverity Scan VS SonarSource

Compare Coverity Scan VS SonarSource 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

SonarSource logo SonarSource

Sonar empowers developers and organizations to achieve Clean Code, systematically and predictably.
  • Coverity Scan Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-13
  • 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 – SonarLint, SonarCloud, and SonarQube – 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.

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.

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.

Analysis of Coverity Scan

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Coverity Scan is widely regarded as a good tool for static code analysis.

Why this product is good

  • Integration
    Provides integrations with various CI/CD tools and can be easily incorporated into existing workflows.
  • Code quality
    It helps in improving code quality by detecting defects in the codebase.
  • Community trust
    Trusted by a large community of open-source projects with a proven track record.
  • Wide language support
    Supports a wide range of programming languages, making it versatile for different projects.

Recommended for

  • Open-source projects looking to improve code quality for free.
  • Development teams needing thorough static analysis to enhance code security and quality.
  • Projects requiring support for multiple programming languages.
  • Teams aiming to integrate static analysis into their continuous integration processes.

Coverity Scan videos

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SonarSource videos

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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Coverity Scan and SonarSource)
Code Analysis
91 91%
9% 9
Code Review
100 100%
0% 0
Development
0 0%
100% 100
Code Coverage
94 94%
6% 6

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 SonarSource

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.

SonarSource Reviews

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Coverity Scan should be more popular than SonarSource. It has been mentiond 4 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: about 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

SonarSource mentions (1)

  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2022)
    Vulnerability Researcher³ 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 Coverity Scan and SonarSource, 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.

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.

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

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

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

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