Alternatives to ast-grep

{"intro": "ast-grep works on syntax trees rather than source text, combining structural search with linting and rewriting. Its YAML rules can mix pattern, kind, regex, relational, and composite conditions, while the CLI supports rule creation, snapshot-based testing, severity levels, and interactive rewrite previews. It covers more than 20 languages, accepts custom languages, integrates with editors, and offers JavaScript and WebAssembly APIs. A browser playground provides pattern and rewrite experiments without local installation. The project describes parallel Rust processing for searches and replacements across thousands of files.\n\nReaders may look elsewhere when ast-grep’s limits matter: its FAQ says some advanced static-analysis information is unsupported, and one rule cannot target multiple languages at once. Alternatives differ in indexing, navigation, collaboration, and deployment. Compare AST matching and rewriting with symbol graphs, full-text or repository-wide search, web browsing, AI-agent access, and code-host integrations. Also weigh platform coverage, local or self-hosted operation, editor support, and price before changing tools.", "rows": [{"ref": "sw:code-search", "name": "Code Search", "best_for": "Self-hosted multi-repository search and changes", "pricing": "Free plan; pricing on request", "key_difference": "Code Search adds Zoekt repository search, SCIP navigation, automatic branches and merge requests, code-host connectors, and an MCP server.", "choose_when": "Choose it when cross-repository operations, hosted-code integrations, or enterprise repository permissions matter more than AST linting."}, {"ref": "sw:opengrok", "name": "OpenGrok", "best_for": "Web-based source browsing and cross-references", "pricing": "Free; open source", "key_difference": "OpenGrok provides read-only web browsing across full text, symbols, definitions, histories, revisions, and many version-control systems.", "choose_when": "Choose it when searchable web navigation and revision history matter more than rewriting or configurable AST rules."}, {"ref": "sw:semantic-designs-source-code-search-engine", "name": "Semantic Designs Source Code Search Engine", "best_for": "Large structured searches with code metrics", "pricing": "Pricing on request; free plan and trial", "key_difference": "Semantic Designs adds interactive language-structure queries, complexity metrics, line counts, and searches spanning millions of lines.", "choose_when": "Choose it when code metrics, numeric ranges, or very large indexed source collections outweigh ast-grep’s open-source workflow."}, {"ref": "sw:sourcebot", "name": "Sourcebot", "best_for": "Enterprise code search for humans and agents", "pricing": "Free plan; paid from $20/user/mo; 14-day trial", "key_difference": "Sourcebot combines repository-and-branch search, symbol navigation, MCP agent context, and connectors for major cloud and self-managed code hosts.", "choose_when": "Choose it when organization-wide agent access and enterprise code-host coverage are priorities."}, {"ref": "sw:sqry", "name": "sqry", "best_for": "Local symbol-graph queries and call relationships", "pricing": "Free plan", "key_difference": "sqry builds an AST and symbol graph for callers, callees, implementations, dependency cycles, unused symbols, and AI-assistant MCP tools.", "choose_when": "Choose it when local privacy and relationship queries matter more than ast-grep’s lint rules and rewriting."}, {"ref": "sw:chromium", "name": "Chromium", "best_for": "Building and studying an open-source browser", "pricing": "Free; open source", "key_difference": "Chromium is a browser project with Blink and V8, sandboxing, Safe Browsing, and web-platform support rather than a code-analysis tool.", "choose_when": "Choose it when you need a browser engine or browser development project, not structural code search."}, {"ref": "sw:shebe", "name": "Shebe", "best_for": "Local ranked full-text code search", "pricing": "Free plan", "key_difference": "Shebe uses local BM25 full-text search with Boolean and phrase queries, MCP tools, and repository indexing instead of AST-pattern matching.", "choose_when": "Choose it when local, cloud-free ranked text search and coding-agent tools are more useful than syntax-aware rewrites."}]}