Joern vs Qodana

Joern analyzes source code, bytecode and binary code for vulnerability discovery and static program analysis research. It converts programs into code property graphs, providing a common structure for cross-language analysis. Users query those graphs with a strongly typed, extensible Scala-based domain-specific language. Features include parsing, taint analysis, search queries and passes that extend the graph representation. Joern Scan runs predefined queries and reports matching issues with their locations; queries can be selected by tag or name, and community contributions are accepted in the default database. Queries can be wrapped into custom scanners for CI. Joern also works as a library or through REST and HTTP APIs, including a server for graph construction and querying. Documented frontends cover C, C++, C#, Go, Java, JavaScript, Kotlin, PHP, Python, Ruby, Swift, x86/x64 and JVM bytecode, with varying maturity. Distributions target Linux, macOS and Windows on x86_64 and ARM64. Joern is free, Apache-2.0 licensed and requires JDK 21.

Qodana analyzes code from the IDE through CI to find code smells, duplication, complexity, vulnerabilities, and license issues. Its baselines mark findings as new, unchanged, or resolved, and quality gates can block CI/CD pipelines based on issue counts, severity, coverage, or vulnerable and license-incompatible dependencies. Taint analysis identifies risks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, command injection, and path traversal. Qodana supports most JetBrains IDEs, along with VS Code, Visual Studio, and Cursor. Listed CI integrations include GitHub Actions, GitLab, TeamCity, Jenkins, and Azure Pipelines; Docker images can run in CI/CD pipelines. Self-Hosted runs within an organization’s infrastructure with Docker or Kubernetes deployment options. The Community plan is free and includes one team and 30 days of detailed history. Ultimate costs $5.00 per active contributor per month billed annually at $60.00; Ultimate Plus costs $15.00 per active contributor per month billed annually at $180.00. Licensing uses active contributors over the past 90 days, with a minimum of three.