ClearlyDefined vs FOSSA
ClearlyDefined
clearlydefined.ioFOSSA
fossa.comSide by side
| Figure | ClearlyDefined | FOSSA |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Spec score · Open Source License Compliance Software | 8.0 (#10) | 8.1 (#8) |
| Integrations | The documented provider list includes GitHub, Maven Central, NpmJS, NuGet, GitLab, crates.io, and other package providers. | Documented integrations include Jira, GitHub, Slack, Bitbucket, GitLab, APIs, and OIDC providers. |
| Purpose | ClearlyDefined is an open source project that crowdsources the gathering, curation, and upstreaming of licensing, security, and other data about free and open source projects. | FOSSA scans software to identify dependencies, vulnerabilities, and license issues across the software development lifecycle. |
Plans
In their own words
ClearlyDefined
ClearlyDefined has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
FOSSA
FOSSA scans software projects for dependencies, vulnerabilities, and license issues across the development lifecycle. Its open-source dependency analysis covers more than 30 languages, and its policy engine can enforce organization-wide license, security, and quality requirements, including build-blocking rules. Teams can generate, import, export, and manage software bills of materials (SBOMs). Scanning options include CLI and CI/CD workflows, container analysis, snippet detection, Quick Import from code hosts, and enterprise binary and SBOM uploads. Quick Import scans source without running the build, so its results are less complete than a CLI scan. Documented integrations include Jira, GitHub, Slack, Bitbucket, GitLab, APIs, and OIDC providers. FOSSA offers web, Linux, API, and self-hosted options; customers can operate its on-premises deployment using Kubernetes and Helm. Free includes five projects, 10 contributing developers, and five imported SBOMs. Business is listed at $2,020,710 a year; Enterprise pricing is custom and not listed.