ggshield vs GitGuardian

ggshield is GitGuardian’s command-line tool for finding hardcoded secrets before code is pushed. It can scan local files and repositories, run before commits or in CI pipelines, and act as a pre-receive hook for self-managed version control. It also scans Docker image layers, build arguments, and Dockerfiles. GitGuardian’s documentation describes detection for more than 600 secret types. The open-source CLI uses a closed-source secrets detection library behind GitGuardian’s public API. It runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows, with API and self-hosted options. Standard installation needs Git and a supported, non-end-of-life Python version; standalone packages are an exception. Scans require an API key for a GitGuardian workspace, and the login command can provision and store a personal access token. Files over 1 MB are ignored, and API calls accept up to 20 documents each. The free Starter plan is free, billed Always; it includes up to 25 developers, 10K API calls per month, up to 500 historical scan detections, and unlimited real-time scanning.

GitGuardian helps enterprises find leaked secrets and manage non-human identities and AI agent security. Internal Secrets Monitoring looks across code, CI/CD, and collaboration tools, while Public Secrets Monitoring detects secrets exposed on public GitHub. Repository scans can run in real time or historically, and the ggshield command-line tool supports scanning during development, including pre-commit hooks. Listed capabilities also include CI/CD, pull-request, and push-protection scanning, plus custom detection rules. Growth includes remediation playbooks, Slack, Jira, and ServiceNow integrations, AI risk scoring, and false-positive filtering. Enterprise adds non-human identity governance and self-hosted deployment through GitGuardian Bridge, with Helm or KOTS deployment support. Supported version-control systems include GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure DevOps. Starter is free for up to 25 developers, with unlimited real-time scanning, up to 500 historical scan detections, and 10,000 API calls per month. Growth and Enterprise pricing requires contacting sales; a 30-day trial is listed.