ClearlyDefined vs SourceTrust
ClearlyDefined
clearlydefined.ioSourceTrust
sourcetrust.devSide by side
| Figure | ClearlyDefined | SourceTrust |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $24.92/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 6 |
| Spec score · Open Source License Compliance Software | 8.0 (#10) | 7.6 (#20) |
| Integrations | The documented provider list includes GitHub, Maven Central, NpmJS, NuGet, GitLab, crates.io, and other package providers. | The site lists GitHub, GitLab, and Azure DevOps repository connections, plus lockfile and SBOM imports. |
| 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. | SourceTrust helps teams review third-party software licenses and publish a shareable license compliance page for products they ship. |
Plans
SourceTrust
- Open sourceFree
- Per project — monthly$29 a month
- Per project — yearly$299 a year
- Extra watched branch$550 a month
- Custom domain$49,499 a month
- Security monitoringPrice not published
In their own words
ClearlyDefined
ClearlyDefined has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
SourceTrust
SourceTrust helps teams review third-party software licenses and publish shareable compliance pages for shipped products. It collects direct and transitive dependencies from repositories, lockfiles, and SBOMs into one inventory. The service retrieves each shipped package, compares it with the registry digest, and reads the license text inside. Nothing is published until a team reviews and confirms the record, while packages needing a decision are flagged. Connections include GitHub, GitLab, and Azure DevOps, with lockfile and SBOM imports across 14 formats and 9 ecosystems. Outputs include a hosted attestation page, THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md, NOTICE, CycloneDX, SPDX, JSON, CSV, plist, and branded PDF. Repository synchronization and publish-drift checks identify changes from the published snapshot. Pages can be password-protected or excluded from search engines. Eligible public GitHub projects can publish for $0 under fair use and attribution. Yearly project billing is $299.00 per year.