ActiveState Platform vs Socket
ActiveState Platform
docs.activestate.com
Socket
socket.devSide by side
| Figure | ActiveState Platform | Socket |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $25/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 4 |
| Spec score · Dependency Management Software | 9.1 (#1) | 7.6 (#19) |
| API | The Platform API uses GraphQL to programmatically build open source software for different operating systems and languages without managing build infrastructure. | Socket provides a REST API and a JavaScript SDK for customized integrations and automation. |
| CLI | The State Tool command line interface can be installed on Windows, Linux, and macOS. | Socket CLI is installed with npm and requires Node.js 18.20.8 or newer. |
| Compliance | ActiveState says it achieved SOC 2 Type 2 certification and provides access to its audit report and third-party penetration testing results through its Trust Center, with some materials available on request. | Socket's pricing feature matrix lists SOC 2 Type II compliance. |
| Founded | 1997 | 2021 |
| Headquarters | Vancouver, BC, Canada | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Integrations | The maker lists JFrog Artifactory, Sonatype Nexus, Kubernetes, Cloudera, CI/CD pipelines, IDEs, Trivy, and Wiz as integrations. | Socket lists integrations including AWS CodePipeline, Azure Pipelines, Bitbucket Pipelines, CircleCI, Jenkins, Vanta, and Drata. |
| What it does | The Platform hosts custom runtimes whose projects define components, track project history, and provide deployment instructions. | Socket is a developer-first security platform that protects code from vulnerable and malicious dependencies. |
Plans
ActiveState Platform
- Free organizationFree
- Paid organizationPriced on request
Socket
- Team$25 a month
- Business$50 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- FreePrice not published
In their own words
ActiveState Platform
ActiveState Platform hosts custom runtimes assembled from source. Projects specify runtime components, preserve project history and provide deployment instructions; their artifacts may include packages, dependencies, patches and bundles, but not contributors’ first-party code. Create projects in the web interface or with the State Tool CLI, then deploy and activate them locally. Projects can remain personal, be shared with an organization or be public. The platform supports Windows, macOS and Linux deployments, and its GraphQL API can build open-source software for different operating systems and languages without requiring users to manage build infrastructure. It provides immutable SBOMs in SPDX formats and describes build safeguards including reproducible builds, checksum checks and isolated containers. A free organization plan costs nothing and is limited to public projects. Curated Catalog annual pricing is $25,000 for fewer than 100 employees, $50,000 for 100–999 employees and $150,000 for 1,000 or more; those prices do not apply to legacy Platform subscriptions.
Socket
Socket is a security platform for finding and blocking vulnerable or malicious software dependencies. Its GitHub App scans dependency changes in pull requests and gives feedback before a merge; Socket Firewall intercepts package-manager requests to stop malicious direct or transitive dependencies before installation. The free Firewall supports JavaScript and TypeScript package managers, Python pip and uv, and Rust cargo. Reachability analysis uses full application analysis and can eliminate up to 90% of irrelevant CVEs. The platform supports JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, Ruby,.NET, Scala, Kotlin, Rust, PHP, Swift, C/C++, Julia, Dart, Elixir/Erlang, and GitHub Actions. It offers a REST API, JavaScript SDK, SBOM generation, and integrations including AWS CodePipeline, Azure Pipelines, Bitbucket Pipelines, CircleCI, Jenkins, Vanta, and Drata. Socket says it analyzes dependency manifests and lockfiles, not source code. It is available through cloud deployment, web, API, extension, Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted options. Open-source projects can use it free. The Free plan includes 1,000 scans per month; Team is $25 a month per developer, with a five-developer minimum.