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Black Duck SCA vs Cycode comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Black Duck SCA
Ranking in Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
3rd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cycode
Ranking in Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
17th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (23rd), Software Supply Chain Security (11th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Software Composition Analysis (SCA) category, the mindshare of Black Duck SCA is 9.0%, down from 17.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cycode is 2.3%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Composition Analysis (SCA) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Black Duck SCA9.0%
Cycode2.3%
Other88.7%
Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
 

Featured Reviews

SS
Project Lead at ABB
Compliance checks have improved while vulnerability coverage and SBOM accuracy still need work
I think Black Duck SCA needs to improve on the overall approach. I assume that the people who developed Black Duck SCA believe that users will use this tool for some time in a full-fledged way with all those features. However, the way it really works with product development or in a software development life cycle is that this is just one of the steps for checking whether something is license compliant, whether it has vulnerabilities, or whether the SBOM is generated. It is just one of those steps in the software development process. The expectation from the tool's perspective is that users have to go into the Black Duck SCA portal, look at each of those items, and if something is not correct, try to find it out and update or configure the right CPEs or PURLs or those kinds of things. In reality, most users would not have time for this because they would have done this as part of the build and would generate an SBOM as part of the build. The tool should be quite usable. If a feature works properly and correctly, then nobody will go back and try to spend time on that. For example, if I generate an SBOM and that SBOM has a particular CPE and there are multiple sources, the tool should produce those CPEs with vulnerabilities, put them into the SBOM, and allow me to move forward. If there are more bugs or more configuration requirements, the usage will come down. It is like a mobile application: if there is too much data that needs to be looked at, configured, and used, then the number of users would come down. The tool should be fast, usable, and accurate. Users should just be able to use it without needing to learn too much. The learning curve should be less when using a tool, and the usage should be easy with basic understanding. They should not need to go through complex processes and can assume that whatever data is given is correct. That is where the whole problem with Black Duck SCA lies. The documentation is not really on the mark. For example, if there is a functionality, such as wanting to see a CPE, the documentation should show how to get this via API or see it and how to configure that with examples. Most of the time the tool says it is all in the community, which is not ideal. The community is different from a conceptual view. The community is for bugs and issues that users want to report. However, people who are looking at the tool fresh and need to see functionality such as scan configuration need clear documentation. If I want to see the scan configurations and how to do it, there are videos, but there should be clear documentation with examples, such as how to configure for Docker using specific commands and methods. This example could be clear documentation and should not be redirected to the community every time. If there is a problem or those kinds of issues, they should go to the community and solutions will be found. However, for basic documentation on features being provided, I do not see that kind of clear documentation with clear examples.
reviewer2014131 - PeerSpot reviewer
DevSecOps Security Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Secret scanning has strengthened our code security and now needs better container integration
Regarding container scanning, Cycode can be improved as it does not have a CLI. As a DevSecOps professional, having a CLI is a must-have for any tool to integrate it into systems. Although Cycode does have a CLI, specifically for the container scanning module, a CLI does not exist. This is why all the modules that Cycode offers cannot be fully leveraged. A CLI for the container scanning module is believed to be on Cycode's roadmap, but it is not available today. As a big enterprise dealing with many assets, Cycode being faster would be beneficial. With many assets on-boarded on Cycode, the tool sometimes becomes slow. Making Cycode faster would definitely help. Other than that, things are good.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The tool is giving a range for a given open-source component in a version and provides a list of vulnerabilities based on the sources with a lot of information."
"The most valuable feature of Black Duck is the seamless integration to scan our Docker binary files, it provides us all open vulnerabilities, and it ensures a reference point from where it finds the vulnerability is up to date. For example, if there is any new vulnerability found, they are immediately available in the Black Duck. There is no delay in finding the vulnerabilities, they are called out in our code immediately."
"The most valuable feature is the vulnerability scanning, and that it's easy to use."
"No one tool is perfect, but if you're comparing to the rest of the tools on the market, Black Duck comes out on top."
"The cloud option of the product is always available and a positive aspect of the solution."
"The knowledge base and the management system are the most valuable features of Black Duck Hub. It has a very helpful management environment. They offer an editor where we can check the discovered license, which is retrieved from their knowledge base. They have a huge knowledge base build over the years. It gives you some possibilities, such as this license with possibility A could cause a vulnerability issue or a potential breach."
"The automated code scanning feature and Black Duck's integration with our development tools have enhanced our software compliance process and overall audit readiness."
"The product enables other applications to be secure."
"Cycode has positively impacted the organization by saving time in the pipeline and providing one platform for secret scanning, SAST, and Infrastructure as Code facilities."
"Cycode excels in secret scanning and is brilliant at finding and identifying secrets within code."
 

Cons

"It can be cumbersome to use or invalidate open source software because there is a hold time to check requirements or common regulations to ensure compliance."
"The product's pricing is higher compared to other competitor products."
"Due to the fact that, with our software developer life cycle, we don't need to scan our source code every day or every week. For that reason, we find the cost is too high. We might only actually use it five to ten times a year, which makes it expensive."
"I would like to see more integration with other solutions, such as IntelliJ IDEA."
"Black Duck does not have the SBOM management part. I would like to see this feature added in the future."
"The SBOMs that are being generated from Black Duck SCA are not sometimes fully complete, and the vulnerabilities that are being verified after generating this SBOM seem to be incorrect or missing."
"It's still a bit inconsistent. For example, if I scan today, it might not show the same results tomorrow."
"The tool needs to improve its pricing. Its configuration is complex and can be improved."
"Currently, Cycode does not have good container security, and while it is a full solution, companies desiring a single platform must seek additional tools to scan container images."
"Regarding container scanning, Cycode can be improved as it does not have a CLI."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the product's price one on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low price."
"The price is low. It's not an expensive solution."
"The pricing is a little high."
"The price charged by Black Duck is exorbitant."
"Depending on the use case, the cost could range from $10,000 USD to $70,000 USD."
"Black Duck is more suitable if you require a lot of licensing compliance. For smaller organizations, WhiteSource is better because its pricing policies are not really suitable for huge organizations."
"It is expensive."
"The price is quite high because the behavior of the software during the scan is similar to competing products."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
University
5%
Manufacturing Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
7%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise17
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does WhiteSource compare with Black Duck?
We researched Black Duck but ultimately chose WhiteSource when looking for an application security tool. WhiteSource is a software solution that enables agile open source security and license compl...
What needs improvement with Black Duck?
I think Black Duck SCA needs to improve on the overall approach. I assume that the people who developed Black Duck SCA believe that users will use this tool for some time in a full-fledged way with...
What is your primary use case for Black Duck?
The primary use cases are compliance and scanning in terms of license compliance and trying to identify snippets, particularly if there are any snippets being identified that are coming from open s...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cycode?
Cycode is aggressively priced across the board with respect to other tools when it comes to pricing, setup cost, and licensing.
What needs improvement with Cycode?
Regarding container scanning, Cycode can be improved as it does not have a CLI. As a DevSecOps professional, having a CLI is a must-have for any tool to integrate it into systems. Although Cycode d...
What is your primary use case for Cycode?
Cycode is used for multiple types of scanning including secrets, SAST scanning, and IAC misconfiguration scanning. Secret scanning was one of the first services launched using Cycode and is integra...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Blackduck Hub, Black Duck Protex, Black Duck Security Checker
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Samsung, Siemens, ScienceLogic, BryterCX, Dynatrace
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Black Duck SCA vs. Cycode and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.