Bandit vs gosec
Bandit
github.comgosec
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Bandit | gosec |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 1 |
| Spec score · SAST Tools | 9.0 (#1) | 8.6 (#4) |
| Spec score · Static Application Security Testing Software | 9.0 (#1) | 8.6 (#4) |
| Configuration | Configuration files can select or skip tests, change plugin settings, exclude paths, and define profiles. | A JSON configuration file supports global settings such as audit mode and suppression behavior. |
| Documentation depth | The documentation site includes getting started, configuration, integrations, plugin references, formatter references, CI/CD guidance, FAQs, and API modules. | Secure Go publishes per-rule guidance pages and links to API reference, Stack Overflow and Slack support channels. |
| License | The project is distributed under the Apache License 2.0. | The repository states that gosec is licensed under Apache License 2.0. |
| Purpose | Bandit scans Python code to find common security issues by building an AST and running plugins against its nodes. | gosec inspects Go source code for security problems by scanning its AST and SSA code representation. |
| Report formats | Documented formatters include CSV, custom, HTML, JSON, SARIF, screen, text, XML, and YAML. | Output formats include text, JSON, YAML, CSV, JUnit XML, HTML, SonarQube, golint and SARIF. |
| Reports | After scanning files, Bandit generates a report. | Supported output formats include text, JSON, YAML, CSV, JUnit XML, HTML, SonarQube, golint, and SARIF. |
| What it does | Bandit parses Python files into abstract syntax trees, applies security-test plugins, and produces a report. | gosec scans Go source code by analyzing Go abstract syntax trees and static single-assignment representations for security problems. |
Plans
In their own words
Bandit
Bandit is free software for finding common security issues in Python source code. It builds an abstract syntax tree from scanned files and runs plugins against that tree, then produces a report. A JSON baseline can exclude findings that a team considers non-issues. The project is distributed through PyPI and recommends installation with pip. It runs on Linux and macOS and can be used in self-hosted environments. Optional installation extras add TOML support, the bandit-baseline command-line tool, and SARIF output formatting. Documentation describes pre-commit configuration and integrations with Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, Vim, Neovim, Emacs, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Ruff, and Flake8. A published container image supports amd64, arm64, armv7, and armv8 architectures. The project says images are signed with Sigstore Cosign and provides source-verification instructions. Bandit is licensed under Apache License 2.0, with support links to GitHub issues and Discord.
gosec
gosec is a free Go source-code security checker that analyzes abstract syntax trees and static single assignment representations. It applies pattern rules, SSA analyzers, and taint analysis to detect issues including injection, path traversal, SSRF, unsafe deserialization, cryptography and TLS problems, blocklisted imports, and Go-specific risks. Findings map to Common Weakness Enumeration entries. Users can select or exclude rules, define path-based exclusions, and change settings such as audit mode. Reports are available as text, JSON, YAML, CSV, JUnit XML, HTML, SonarQube, golint, and SARIF. The project documents GitHub Actions and SARIF uploads to GitHub code scanning; its goanalysis package supports tools such as Bazel nogo. Local installation requires Go 1.25 or newer, with dependencies loaded through Go modules. An optional AI feature suggests fixes through Atlas Cloud, Gemini, Claude, OpenAI, or custom OpenAI-compatible APIs. Automated detection can produce false positives, which annotations can suppress. It is licensed under Apache License 2.0.