Gitleaks vs scan4secrets
Gitleaks
github.comscan4secrets
scan4secrets.m14r41.inSide by side
| Figure | Gitleaks | scan4secrets |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Secrets Scanning Software | 7.8 (#11) | 7.3 (#19) |
| License | The repository is distributed under the MIT License, which permits use, copying, modification, distribution, sublicensing, and sale subject to its terms. | The project is MIT licensed. |
| Purpose | Gitleaks detects secrets such as passwords, API keys, and tokens in Git repositories, files, and stdin. | The tool scans source trees, running web apps, and CI logs for leaked credentials, code vulnerabilities, and misconfigurations. |
| Reports | Gitleaks can output reports in JSON, CSV, JUnit, SARIF, or template format. | Output formats include SARIF, JSON, JSONL, CSV, HTML, Excel, and PDF. |
Plans
In their own words
Gitleaks
Gitleaks is free, MIT-licensed software that detects secrets such as passwords, API keys, and tokens in Git repositories, files, and standard input. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted systems. Scans can target repositories, directories, individual files, or streamed data. Custom rules can use Go regular expressions, entropy checks, path matching, keywords, and allowlists. A previous report can serve as a baseline so later scans show only new findings. Output is available in JSON, CSV, JUnit, SARIF, or template formats. The project documents pre-commit hook and GitHub Action use, plus CI/CD, pull-request, and supported VCS workflows for GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Gitea, and Bitbucket. Installation options include Homebrew, Docker, Go, and prebuilt release binaries. A redaction option masks secrets in logs and standard output, with a default redaction value of 100%. The project describes itself as feature complete, with future releases limited to security patches, and its security policy supports only the latest version.
scan4secrets
scan4secrets has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.