IT AI Index
September 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index › Developer platform › SAST › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Static application security testing for small business buyers

Asked as “SAST tool”, and as “static code security scanner”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 47 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Semgrep
Clear leader
70% of first choices, clear leader.
ShowinginAll 67 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small businessSemgrep70%Clear leaderThis pageMid-marketSemgrep47%Clear leaderStanding →EnterpriseCheckmarx One54%Clear leaderStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Semgrep70%2%63endorsed leader
02Snyk Code9%6%36accepted challenger
03Aikido Security9%13%23accepted challenger
04Snyk4%10%10accepted challenger
05SonarQube2%21%52accepted challenger
Show the seven products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
10OpenText Fortify0%89%18criticized challenger
11Veracode0%78%23criticized challenger
12Checkmarx One0%77%30criticized challenger
06CodeQL0%17%24accepted challenger
08CodeAnt AI0%8%12accepted challenger
07Bandit0%6%16accepted challenger
09Codacy0%0%11accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Semgrep vs SonarQubeSemgrep vs Snyk CodeSonarQube vs Snyk Code

One product takes 70% of first choices here, so the chart would put eleven markers in one corner and one at the far edge. The two measurements it plots are columns in the standing above: share, and the negative label rate. Three products carry a negative rate above 25% in this category. Jump to the standing

02What they warned about

Eight of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2 and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Checkmarx One
77%
23 of 30 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 14 hard negative
“Why Avoid: These are built for large teams with dedicated AppSec specialists. (e.g., older versions of Checkmarx One, Fortify, Veracode enterprise plans)” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Veracode
78%
18 of 23 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 12 hard negative
“**Veracode** | Enterprise‑focused, complex workflow, no transparent pricing; typically sold via long sales cycles and annual contracts.” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
OpenText Fortify
89%
16 of 18 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 9 hard negative
“e.g., older versions of Checkmarx One, Fortify, Veracode enterprise plans ... Why Avoid: These are built for large teams” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
SonarQube
21%
11 of 52 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Defaults to high false positives (40–60% untuned ...), demanding custom rules and maintenance that small businesses often can't sustain” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

65 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 828 links across 146 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

dev.to
42 answers · 77 citations · 10 models
corgea.com
vendor site · Corgea31 answers · 35 citations · 10 models
appsecsanta.com
27 answers · 37 citations · 9 models
zeropath.com
vendor site · ZeroPath27 answers · 27 citations · 10 models
g2.com
26 answers · 34 citations · 10 models
ox.security
26 answers · 29 citations · 10 models
safeguard.sh
vendor site · Safeguard23 answers · 33 citations · 8 models
pixee.ai
vendor site · Pixee19 answers · 21 citations · 8 models
endorlabs.com
vendor site · Endor Labs18 answers · 21 citations · 8 models
jit.io
vendor site · Jit16 answers · 17 citations · 8 models
checkmarx.com
vendor site · Checkmarx15 answers · 21 citations · 9 models
codeant.ai
15 answers · 19 citations · 8 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

dev.to/rahulxsingh/i-reviewed-32-sast-tools-the-ones-worth-using-283e
37 answers · 9 models
ox.security/blog/static-application-security-sast-tools
26 answers · 10 models
zeropath.com/blog/best-sast-tools
26 answers · 10 models
corgea.com/learn/best-sast-tools
23 answers · 10 models
g2.com/categories/static-application-security-testing-sast/small-business
22 answers · 9 models
pixee.ai/blog/best-sast-tools-2026
18 answers · 8 models
appsecsanta.com/sast-tools
17 answers · 7 models
dev.to/rahulxsingh/11-best-sast-tools-in-2026-static-application-security-t…
17 answers · 9 models
endorlabs.com/learn/best-sast-tools
16 answers · 7 models
jit.io/resources/appsec-tools/best-sast-tools
15 answers · 7 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best SAST tool for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which static code security scanner would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top SAST tools for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best SAST tool for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a SAST tool. What should we look at?”Negative“Which SAST tools should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Aikido Security, Semgrep
One alternativeGitLab SAST
against: Checkmarx OneSnyk CodeChanged
Three alternativesAikido Security, Kiuwan, Semgrep
Aikido Security, Semgrep
Three alternativesGitHub Advanced Security, Snyk Code, SonarQube
Semgrep
Two alternativesCodeQL, SonarQube
no first choiceagainst: Checkmarx One, OpenText Fortify, Veracode
GPT-5.4 miniSemgrep
One alternativeGitHub Advanced Security
against: SonarQubeSemgrepHeld
Three alternativesCheckmarx One, OpenText Fortify, Snyk Code
against: SonarQubeSemgrep
Two alternativesCodeQL, SonarQube
against: Checkmarx OneSemgrep
Two alternativesCodeQL, GitHub Advanced Security
against: AppThreat/sast-scanno first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashAikido Security
One alternativeSemgrep
against: Snyk, SonarQubeAikido SecurityHeld
Two alternativesSemgrep, Snyk
Semgrep
Three alternativesAikido Security, GitLab SAST, Snyk Code
against: CodeQL, SonarQubeSemgrep
Three alternativesOpengrep, Snyk Code, SonarQube
against: CodeQLAikido Security
Two alternativesSemgrep, Snyk
against: Checkmarx One, GitHub Advanced Security, OpenText Fortify, Veracodeagainst: Bandit, Black Duck Coverity, Checkmarx One, CodeQL, OpenText Fortify, PMD, SpotBugs, Veracode
Perplexity SonarSemgrep
Three alternativesCheckmarx One, GitHub Advanced Security / CodeQL, Veracode
against: Aikido Security, CodeAnt AI, ZeroPathSemgrepHeld
Three alternativesCodeQL, Snyk Code, SonarQube
Semgrep
Five alternativesAikido Security, CodeQL/GitHub Advanced Security, GitLab SAST, Snyk Code, SonarQube
Semgrep
Four alternativesAikido Security, CodeAnt AI, CodeQL, Snyk
no first choiceagainst: Black Duck Coverity, Checkmarx One, CodeQL, GitLab SAST, OpenText Fortify, Perforce Klocwork, SonarQube, Veracode
Grok 4.1 FastSemgrep
Two alternativesSnyk Code, SonarQube
SemgrepHeld
Two alternativesSnyk, SonarQube
against: Checkmarx One, VeracodeSemgrep, SonarQube
Four alternativesAikido Security, CodeQL, Codiga, Snyk Code
against: Checkmarx OneSemgrep
Three alternativesBandit, CodeQL, SonarQube
Semgrep
Four alternativesCheckmarx One, CodeQL, Snyk Code, SonarQube
against: Checkmarx One, OpenText Fortify, SonarQube, Veracode
Mistral SmallSemgrep
Two alternativesCodacy, CodeAnt AI
SemgrepHeld
One alternativeAikido Security
CodeQL, Semgrep
Three alternativesBandit, Codiga, SonarQube
Semgrep
One alternativeSonarQube
no first choiceagainst: Checkmarx One, OpenText Fortify, Veracode
DeepSeek V4 FlashSemgrep
Three alternativesCodeQL, Snyk Code, SonarQube
SemgrepHeld
One alternativeSnyk Code
against: Checkmarx One, OpenText Fortify, VeracodeSemgrep
Four alternativesAikido Security, CodeQL, Snyk Code, SonarQube
against: Checkmarx One, OpenText FortifySemgrep
Eight alternativesBandit, Brakeman, CodeAnt AI, CodeQL, Qodana, Snyk Code, SonarQube, gosec
against: Checkmarx One, Veracodeno first choiceagainst: Black Duck Coverity, Checkmarx One, HCL AppScan, OpenText Fortify, SonarQube, Veracode
Llama 4 MaverickSemgrepSemgrepHeld
Two alternativesSnyk, SonarQube
no first choiceSemgrep
Two alternativesCodacy, CodeAnt AI
no first choiceagainst: Semgrep, Snyk Code, SonarQube
Qwen 3.7 FlashSnyk
Two alternativesSemgrep, SonarQube
SemgrepChanged
One alternativeSonarQube
against: Checkmarx One, VeracodeSemgrep
Three alternativesAikido Security, CodeAnt AI, Snyk Code
against: SonarQubeSemgrep
Three alternativesBandit, SonarQube, gosec
against: Checkmarx One, OpenText Fortify, Snyk Code, VeracodeGitHub Advanced Security, GitLab SASTagainst: Checkmarx One, OpenText Fortify, Veracode
Kimi K2Snyk Code
Two alternativesSemgrep, SonarQube
against: Checkmarx One, VeracodeSemgrepChanged
One alternativeGitHub Advanced Security
against: Checkmarx OneSemgrep, Snyk Code
Three alternativesCodacy, CodeQL, SonarQube
Semgrep
Four alternativesBandit, CodeQL, SonarQube, gosec
DeepSource, Semgrep, Snyk Code
Two alternativesAikido Security, SonarQube
against: Checkmarx One, OpenText Fortify, Veracodeagainst: Checkmarx One, OpenText Fortify, Veracode
GLM 4.7 FlashXSemgrep
Two alternativesSnyk Code, SonarQube
against: Aikido SecuritySemgrepHeld
One alternativeSnyk Code
against: SonarQubeSemgrep, SonarQube
Five alternativesAikido Security, CodeQL, DeepSource, GitLab SAST, Snyk Code
against: Pixee, ZeroPathSemgrep
Three alternativesCodacy, Qodana, SonarQube
no first choice
One alternativeSemgrep
against: Aikido Security, Black Duck Coverity, Checkmarx One, OpenText Fortify, SonarQube, Veracode, ZeroPath
MiniMax M2.5Semgrep, Snyk Code
Three alternativesCodiga, Corgea, GitHub Advanced Security / CodeQL
Semgrep, SnykChanged
One alternativeSonarQube
Semgrep
Five alternativesAikido Security, Codacy, DeepSource, Snyk Code, SonarQube
Semgrep, SonarQube
Two alternativesCodeAnt AI, Qodana
no first choiceagainst: Black Duck Coverity, Checkmarx One, OpenText Fortify, Veracode
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 11:54yes97 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:08yes45 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:42yes1527 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:05yes187 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 09:42yes3518 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:06yes98 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:35yes1716 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 13:04yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:13no035 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:45yes1432 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:55yes1228 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:12yes836 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:29yes98 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 09:53yes25 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:37yes1625 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:20yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 09:59yes4115 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 09:49yes96 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 10:18yes2319 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 14:04yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:45yes539 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:11yes1527 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:55yes2590 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:12yes538 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:50yes1610 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:44yes48 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:01yes1434 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:21yes207 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:36yes3516 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:55yes2918 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 14:06yes1636 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 09:27yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 14:16yes2662 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:14yes1457 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 09:41yes9120 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:19yes518 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:51yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:30yes47 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:27yes920 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:27yes206 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:43yes127 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:26yes55 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:08yes1112 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:10yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:19yes1021 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:09yes538 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:53yes1954 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 13:10yes519 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 11:34no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 14:02no013 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 10:06yes928 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:36yes207 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 10:26yes1611 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:36no06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 10:58yes916 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:58yes54 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:45yes536 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:18yes1427 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:20yes10174 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 13:14no013 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:14no05 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:47no05 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:12yes1430 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:52yes207 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 10:58yes3615 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:38yes55 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 10:23yes1722 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 13:45yes54 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:25yes2079 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:09yes2833 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:55yes2370 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 09:23yes2144 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
Aikido read as Aikido Security
Checkmarx read as Checkmarx One
Checkmarx (Checkmarx One) read as Checkmarx One
Checkmarx (CxSAST) read as Checkmarx One
GitLab Ultimate read as GitLab SAST
Unresolved, counted raw
AppThreat/sast-scan
Jit.io
Kiuwan
Open-source linters / language-specific analyzers
Opengrep
ZeriFlow
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in developer platform

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
← Source controlData warehouses →