Flawfinder vs NodeJsScan
Flawfinder
dwheeler.comNodeJsScan
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Flawfinder | NodeJsScan |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Static Application Security Testing Sast | 8.1 (#6) | 7.8 (#10) |
| Spec score · SAST Tools | 8.1 (#9) | 7.8 (#13) |
| Integrations | The site describes CSV output as useful for integrating with other tools and also offers SARIF output in JSON format. | Documented CI/CD integrations include GitHub Actions, GitHub Code Scanning, GitLab CI/CD, Travis CI, and CircleCI. |
| Intended users | The site presents Flawfinder as an aid for developers seeking to find potential security problems in C/C++ application source before release, and cautions that it does not replace security knowledge or human review. | The project describes use in CI/CD and DevSecOps pipelines to scan Node.js application code. |
| License | Flawfinder is released under GNU General Public License version 2 or later, with SPDX expression GPL-2.0+. | The NodeJsScan repository identifies its license as GPL-3.0. |
| Output formats | It can produce text, HTML, CSV, and SARIF output. | The CLI supports JSON, SARIF 2.1.0, SonarQube, DefectDojo, GitLab SAST, and HTML output. |
| Purpose | Flawfinder examines C/C++ source code and reports possible security weaknesses sorted by risk level. | NodeJsScan is a static application security testing scanner for Node.js applications. |
| Supported systems | The site says Flawfinder works on Unix-like systems, including tested GNU/Linux, and on Windows using Cygwin; it also reports that direct Windows use has been reported to work. | The current njsscan package requires Python 3.10 or newer and supports macOS and Linux; NodeJsScan version 4 onward dropped Windows support. |
Plans
In their own words
Flawfinder
Flawfinder is a free tool for finding possible security weaknesses in C and C++ source code. It compares source text with a built-in database of functions associated with security problems, generally disregarding comments and strings except for Flawfinder directives. Findings are ordered by risk, which depends on the function and its parameter values; the tool may reduce some false positives when it identifies a construct as not risky. Reports can be generated as text, HTML, CSV, or SARIF. The --patch option narrows findings to changed lines in a unified diff, with a one-line margin. Installation is documented through pip, source downloads, and distribution packages, and the tool requires Python 2.7 or Python 3. The project says it works on Unix-like systems, including GNU/Linux, and on Windows with Cygwin; direct Windows use has also been reported to work. Flawfinder is released under GPL-2.0+. It does not perform control-flow or data-flow analysis, so its output is an aid to review rather than a substitute for security knowledge or human judgment.
NodeJsScan
NodeJsScan is a static application security testing scanner for Node.js application source code. Its detection engine uses libsast and Semgrep, and the project provides a web interface, command-line interface, and Python API through njsscan. A local setup runs the web interface at http://127.0.0.1:9090. CLI results can be exported as JSON, SARIF 2.1.0, SonarQube, DefectDojo, GitLab SAST, or HTML. The .njsscan configuration file lets users set scanned file types, ignored paths and rules, severity filters, and severity overrides. Documented CI/CD integrations include GitHub Actions, GitHub Code Scanning, GitLab CI/CD, Travis CI, and CircleCI. Alerts can go to Slack through a webhook or to email using SMTP settings. Teams can run a prebuilt Docker image or build the image locally. The project describes use in CI/CD and DevSecOps pipelines. NodeJsScan is free and licensed under GPL-3.0. The current njsscan package requires Python 3.10 or newer and supports macOS and Linux; NodeJsScan version 4 onward dropped Windows support.