Black Duck Coverity vs PMD

Black Duck Coverity is a paid static analysis solution for finding security vulnerabilities and code quality defects in source code before software ships. It analyzes code without executing it, scanning across files and libraries in entire codebases. Black Duck lists support for 22 programming languages and more than 250 frameworks, along with standards including MISRA, AUTOSAR, ISO 26262, PCI DSS, CERT C/C++/Java, DISA STIG, OWASP Top 10, and CWE Top 25. Coverity is TÜV SÜD certified for IEC 61508-3 support-tool requirements and qualified for use up to ASIL D under ISO 26262 and Level A under DO-178C. The Code Sight IDE plug-in offers real-time results, issue summaries, and code fixes. IDE, SCM, and CI integrations can trigger scans on commits and pull requests; listed connections include GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, and others. Deployment can be fully air-gapped on premises, including Kubernetes clusters. Pricing is customized to team size and codebase and supplied by quote.

PMD is a free, extensible static code analyzer that checks source code for programming flaws such as unused variables, empty catch blocks, and unnecessary object creation. It includes more than 400 built-in rules, and teams can write custom rules in Java or XPath. Its bundled CPD tool finds duplicated code across many programming languages. PMD checks source directories from the command line and can run as a Maven, Ant, Gradle, or bld build operation. Supported languages include Java, JavaScript, Salesforce Apex and Visualforce, Kotlin, Swift, Modelica, PL/SQL, Apache Velocity, JSP, WSDL, Maven POM, HTML, XML, and XSL; Scala is supported without Scala rules. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows and requires Java 8 or above. For CI, its GitHub Action can create SARIF reports and fail builds based on violation counts; documentation also covers GitLab, Jenkins, and Bamboo integrations. IDE integrations include Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and Visual Studio Code, though some listed plugins are not actively maintained. Only the latest major version is actively developed.