Clang Static Analyzer vs Kythe
Clang Static Analyzer
clang-analyzer.llvm.orgKythe
kythe.ioSide by side
| Figure | Clang Static Analyzer | Kythe |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Static Analysis Tools | 8.2 (#11) | 6.7 (#26) |
| Community support | LLVM provides a Discourse forum and mailing-list announcement category for release notifications. | The repository lists separate Google Groups for the general Kythe community and Kythe development. |
| License | Current LLVM releases are distributed under the Apache-2.0 with LLVM-exception license. | The repository identifies its license as Apache-2.0. |
| Purpose | Clang Static Analyzer finds bugs in C, C++ and Objective-C programs. | Kythe is a pluggable, mostly language-agnostic ecosystem for building tools that work with code. |
Plans
In their own words
Clang Static Analyzer
Clang Static Analyzer finds selected bugs in C, C++, and Objective-C programs. It uses symbolic execution to examine paths through code across function calls, and is part of the open-source Clang project. The analyzer is also implemented as a reusable C++ library for other tools and applications. Official releases include scan-build, a command-line tool for analyzing a codebase. On macOS, users can invoke it from Xcode; it can also run alongside clang-tidy when clang-analyzer checks are enabled. Clang-based IDEs may integrate the analyzer directly, and the documentation covers scan-build and CodeChecker. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and is self-hosted. The tool only detects bugs it has been designed to find, and analysis can take much longer than compilation. Some algorithms have exponential worst-case time, and results may include false positives. The listed free plan costs nothing.