A free repository scanner can usually tell you which known vulnerabilities affect your dependencies and often your secrets and licences. It typically will not give you cross repository reporting, policy enforcement, tailored prioritisation, audit evidence or support commitments. For one team or a first look, that can be plenty.
What free usually includes
- A dependency scan against public advisory data
- A list of vulnerable packages with severity and fixed versions
- Sometimes basic secret detection or licence listing
- Pull request comments or a command line report
What free often leaves out
- Prioritisation beyond severity. You may get a long list with little context on what is exploitable in your code.
- History and trends. Free tiers tend to show a point in time, not progress.
- Policy and gates. Blocking a merge on a rule you define is frequently a paid feature.
- Evidence for auditors or customers. Reports in a form you can hand over.
- Scale. Limits on repositories, scans or users.
Read the limits page of any free tool before you build a process around it.
A 20 minute test
- Pick a repository you know well.
- Run the scanner and note the count of findings.
- Check five findings by hand. Is the package really used? Is the fixed version real?
- Check whether a package you know is vulnerable shows up.
- Note what you would still need to do by hand every week.
If the scanner passed step 4 and the weekly manual work is small, free is probably enough.
Privacy points to check
Does the tool read source code or only manifests? Is the code stored? Where does the scan run? Choose accordingly for private repositories.
Free for whom
The word free hides different models. Some tools are open source and you run them yourself. Some are hosted with limits on repositories or scans. Some are a trial that ends. Each has a different long term cost. A self run tool costs engineer time for upkeep, a hosted free tier can disappear into a paid plan when you hit a limit, and a trial gives you no baseline once it ends. Write down which one you are dealing with before you integrate it into CI.
Try it yourself
Click through it at your own pace, or open it full screen.
Look at what you would want beyond a plain list: grouping, status, ownership.
Where Safeguard fits
Safeguard runs a free scan for dependencies, and the platform adds SBOM, reachability analysis, policies and gates when you need them.
Quick check
Is a free scanner accurate?
Accuracy depends on the data and matching logic, not the price. Spot check findings as in the test above.
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
