Checkmarx vs Trivy

Checkmarx and Trivy are both enterprise application security solutions. Checkmarx enterprise application security platform with deep SAST, SCA, DAST, and supply chain security, while Trivy open-source vulnerability scanner for containers, file systems, IaC, and Kubernetes with zero-config setup. The best choice depends on your organization's size, technical requirements, and budget.

Choose Checkmarx if industry-leading SAST depth and accuracy from two decades of development is your priority and large enterprises that need comprehensive, compliance-driven application security testing with deep SAST accuracy and centralized security governance. Choose Trivy if completely free and open source with no licensing costs matters most and devOps and platform engineering teams that need a fast, open-source vulnerability scanner for containers and Kubernetes environments with zero configuration overhead.

Trivy starts at Free (open source) / Aqua Platform for enterprise features (open source with commercial aqua platform). Checkmarx starts at Custom enterprise pricing (typically $50K+ annually) (enterprise license (project/user-based)). As always, the sticker price only tells part of the story. Factor in add-ons, implementation costs, and what's actually included at each tier.

It depends on how deeply Checkmarx is embedded in your stack. Most teams run both in parallel for a few weeks before cutting over. Check whether Trivy supports importing your existing configs or policies. That's usually the biggest time sink.