Checkmarx One vs Polaris Platform comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Checkmarx and Black Duck are both solutions in the Static Code Analysis category. Checkmarx is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while Black Duck is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.0. Checkmarx holds a 8.5% mindshare in SCAS, compared to Black Duck’s 3.2% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Checkmarx users are willing to recommend the solution.

Checkmarx One

Read 81 Checkmarx One reviews

31,996 Views
2,560 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Polaris Platform

Read 1 Polaris Platform review

2,721 Views
762 Comparison Views

0% willing to recommend

Checkmarx One

Polaris Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

Checkmarx One and Polaris Platform are prominent players in the application security market. Checkmarx One stands out for its accessibility and user-friendly design, while Polaris Platform is favored for its comprehensive feature depth.

Features: Checkmarx One provides static and interactive application security testing, seamless integration with popular development environments, and user-friendly access. Polaris Platform offers a diverse feature set with strong code management, sophisticated vulnerability identification, and detailed analytics and reporting capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Checkmarx One's cloud-based deployment is straightforward, providing exceptional customer support and quick resolutions. Polaris Platform, while offering responsive customer support, requires more advanced configurations, making its deployment slightly complex but allowing for tailored implementations.

Pricing and ROI: Checkmarx One is associated with lower upfront setup costs, leading to a solid ROI through cost-effective scalability. Polaris Platform might entail higher initial costs but delivers substantial long-term ROI with its extensive security insights.

To learn more, read our detailed Static Code Analysis Report (Updated: October 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Static Code Analysis

October 2026

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Helped 920,769 peers since 2012

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

Checkmarx One

Ranking in Static Code Analysis

2nd

Ranking in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

2nd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (2nd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (2nd), Vulnerability Management (13th), Container Security (15th), API Security (6th), DevSecOps (3rd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (10th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (4th), AI Security (4th)

Polaris Platform

Ranking in Static Code Analysis

12th

Ranking in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

11th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

3.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (18th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Static Code Analysis category, the mindshare of Checkmarx One is 8.5%, down from 12.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polaris Platform is 3.2%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Static Code Analysis Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Checkmarx One	8.5%
Polaris Platform	3.2%
Other	88.3%

Static Code Analysis

Featured Reviews

Shahzad Shahzad

Senior Solution Architect | L3+ Systems & Cloud Engineer | SRE Specialist at Canada Cloud Solution

Enable secure development workflows while identifying opportunities for faster scans and improved AI guidance

Checkmarx One is a very strong platform, but there are several areas where it can improve to support modern DevSecOps workflows even better. For example, better real-time developer guidance is needed. The IDE plugin should offer richer AI-powered auto-fixes similar to SNYK Code or GitHub Copilot Security, as current guidance is good but not deeply contextual for large-scale enterprise codebases. This matters because it reduces developer friction and accelerates shift-left adoption. More transparency control over the correlation engines is another need. The correlation engine is powerful but not fully transparent. Users want to understand why vulnerabilities were correlated or de-prioritized, which helps AppSec teams trust the prioritization logic. Faster SAST scan and more language coverage is needed since SAST scan can still be slow for very large mono-repos and there is limited deep support for new language frameworks like Rust and Go, along with advanced coverage for serverless-specific frameworks. This matters because large organizations want sub-minute scans in CI/CD as cloud-native ecosystems evolve fast. A strong API security module is another area for enhancement. API security scanning could be improved with active testing, API discovery, full Swagger, OpenAPI, drift detection, and schema-based fuzzing. This is important as API attacks are one of the biggest AppSec risks in 2025. Checkmarx One is strong, but I see a few areas for improvement including faster SAST scanning for large mono-repos, deeper language framework support, more transparent correlation logic, and stronger API security that includes discovery and runtime context. The IDE plugin could offer more AI-assisted fixes, and the SBOM lifecycle tracking can evolve further. Enhancing integration with SIEM and SOAR would also make enterprise adoption smoother, and these improvements would help developers and AppSec teams move faster with more accuracy.

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Alina-Eugenia Negulescu

Head of Procurement and Vendor Manger at twoday

Company consistently identifies security vulnerabilities with current solution but considers moving to a more developer-oriented tool due to complexity and costs

I wouldn't recommend it for small and medium customers, both in terms of the complexity and organizational processes and operational processes around it. I wouldn't go with Black Duck. It's not straightforward as it is with more developer-oriented and plug-and-play versions, so it requires a bit of knowledge and documentation to set it up. On the support part, in the past, we had some issues regarding the availability of the information on the knowledge portal. That was particularly due to the fact that when they integrated their knowledge hub or knowledge portal different kind of documentation, they have not adapted the text. There were circular references on the documentation that was misleading and confusing our people rather than helping them.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Overall, we are very satisfied with Checkmarx and it is a product that I recommend."

"The license is fairly costly but worth the investment."

"Apart from software scanning, software composition scanning is valuable."

"Our static operation security has been able to identify more security issues since implementing this solution."

"The most valuable features of Checkmarx are the Best Fix Location and the Payments option because you can save a lot of time trying to mitigate the configuration. Using these tools can save you a lot of time."

"After scanning, it shows in-depth code of where actual vulnerabilities are, which helps us to analyze them."

"In my opinion, Checkmarx gives better results, and its protection is better than SonarQube."

"Checkmarx One has definitely helped us to save time and reduce the need for additional security resources, meaning employees."

More Checkmarx One pros

"We have detected security vulnerabilities, which is absolutely one big benefit."

Cons

"As the solution becomes more complex and feature rich, it takes more time to debug and resolve problems. Feature-wise, we have no complaints, but Checkmarx becomes harder to maintain as the product becomes more complex. When I talk to support, it takes them longer to fix the problem than it used to."

"Checkmarx reports many false positives that we need to manually segregate and mark “Not exploitable”."

"We would like to be able to run scans from our local system, rather than having to always connect to the product server, which is a longer process."

"The interactive application security testing, or IAST, the interactive part where you're looking at an application that lives in a runtime environment on a server or virtual machine, needs improvement."

"Their licensing fees are rigid and this causes two main issues. One is a restriction in terms of scaling the product at an enterprise level."

"They should make it more container-friendly and optimized for the CI pipeline. They should make it a little less heavy. Right now, it requires a SQL database, and the way the tool works is that it has an engine and then it has an analysis database in which it stores the information. So, it is pretty heavy from that perspective because you have to have a full SQL Server. They're working on something called Checkmarx Light, which is a slim-down version. They haven't released it yet, but that's what we need. There should be something a little more slimmed down that can just run the analysis and output the results in a format that's readable as opposed to having a full, really big, and thick deployment with a full database server."

"I expect application security vendors to cover all aspects of application security, including SAST, DAST, and even mobile application security testing. And it would be much better if they provided an on-premises and cloud option for all these main application security features."

"I would like to see the DAST solution in the future."

More Checkmarx One cons

"I wouldn't recommend it for small and medium customers, both in terms of the complexity and organizational processes and operational processes around it."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Most of my customers opted for a perpetual license. They prefer to pay the highest amount up front for the perpetual license and then pay for additional support annually."

"Checkmarx is comparatively costlier than other products, which is why some of the customers feel reluctant to go for it, though performance-wise, Checkmarx can compete with other products."

"We got a special offer for a 30% reduction for three years, after our first year. I think for a real source-code scanning tool, you have to add a lot of money for Open Source Analysis, and AppSec Coach (160 Euro per user per year)."

"I would rate the solution’s pricing an eight out of ten. The tool’s pricing is higher than others and it is for the license alone."

"It is the right price for quality delivery."

"The tool's pricing is fine."

"Its price is fair. It is in or around the right spot. Ultimately, if the price is wrong, customers won't commit, but they do tend to commit. It is neither too cheap nor too expensive."

"It is not expensive, but sometimes, their pricing model or licensing model is not very clear. There are similar variables, such as projects or developers, and sometimes, it is a little bit confusing."

More Checkmarx One pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Construction Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	32
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	46

No data available

Questions from the Community

What alternatives are there for Fortify WebInspect and Fortify SCA?

I would like to recommend Checkmarx. With Checkmarx, you are able to have an all in one solution for SAST and SCA as well. Veracode is only a cloud solution. Hope this helps.

See all answers

What is the biggest difference between Veracode and Checkmarx?

According to my experience of using both the tools in different organizations Veracode is a Cloud-native, managed AppSec platform with strong focus on ease of use, it is SaaS delivery, and provide...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Checkmarx?

Checkmarx One is a premium solution, so budget accordingly. Make sure you understand how licensing scales with additional applications and users. I advise negotiating multi-year contracts or bundle...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Polaris Platform?

In my opinion, I think that it's a very good product for mature companies. It is quite expensive compared with competitors, with other providers of similar services of application security manageme...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Polaris Platform?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Polaris Platform?

The product teams use them under supervision from the security department. I'm not extremely familiar with the details on how the product teams are using it, but I think they have integrated it int...

See all answers

Comparisons

SonarQube vs Checkmarx One

Compared 20% of the time

Veracode vs Checkmarx One

Compared 3% of the time

Checkmarx SAST vs Checkmarx One

Compared 2% of the time

Snyk vs Checkmarx One

Compared 2% of the time

HCL AppScan vs Checkmarx One

Compared 2% of the time

More Checkmarx One Competitors

Software Risk Manager ASPM vs Polaris Platform

Compared 14% of the time

Black Duck SCA vs Polaris Platform

Compared 12% of the time

Snyk vs Polaris Platform

Compared 12% of the time

Veracode vs Polaris Platform

Compared 10% of the time

SonarQube vs Polaris Platform

Compared 8% of the time

More Polaris Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmarx One

October 2026

Download Checkmarx One product report

Buyer's Guide

Software Composition Analysis (SCA)

October 2026

Download Polaris Platform product report

Overview

Checkmarx One delivers robust security through seamless integration with SCM and CI/CD tools, ensuring reliable SAST and SCA. Primarily used by organizations for vulnerability detection, it supports cloud and on-premises deployment to enhance secure coding practices.

Checkmarx One provides organizations with comprehensive tools for secure software development, integrating effectively with CI/CD pipelines to scan thousands of applications. Its capabilities extend to identifying vulnerabilities in both code bases and third-party software. Enhancing workflow by supporting SCM solutions, it assists in maintaining secure coding standards and compliance. While excelling in various areas, it requires improvements in scan speed, reduction of false positives, and broader platform integration, particularly for COBOL and Swift. Its pricing model is noted as high, and demand exists for better tutorials and documentation.

What are the key features of Checkmarx One?

Comprehensive Integration: Seamlessly connects with SCM, CI/CD tools to streamline security workflows.
Accurate SAST and SCA: Precisely identifies vulnerabilities down to the exact line of code.
Custom Rules Configuration: Allows tailored security measures to match specific needs.
Quick Scanning: Provides fast analysis to speed up the development process.
Automated Code Remediation: Helps in efficiently fixing code vulnerabilities.

What benefits should users expect in reviews?

Improved Security: Enhances code safety, reducing vulnerabilities efficiently.
Effective False Positivity Management: Optimizes time spent on genuine issues.
Enhanced Development Processes: Integrates smoothly to boost secure coding initiatives.
Comprehensive Language Support: Facilitates scanning in multiple programming languages, accommodating diverse needs.

Industries implement Checkmarx One for secure coding compliance and vulnerability management across varying environments, choosing between cloud and on-premises deployment based on requirements. Its extensive language support and integration with DevSecOps practices make it a popular choice for organizations aiming to enhance software security.

Checkmarx

Polaris Platform is a cloud-native application security testing solution tailored for modern development and DevSecOps teams, integrating multiple security-analysis engines to enhance software security.

As a unified platform, Polaris consolidates static code analysis, open-source dependency scanning, and dynamic testing, offering comprehensive security assessments suited to different stages of the software development lifecycle. This approach allows for strategic, flexible security testing that aligns with specific project or application needs, seamlessly integrating into existing workflows without requiring generic scans.

What are the key features of Polaris Platform?

Static Code Analysis: Efficiently detects security vulnerabilities in the source code.
Open-source Dependency Scanning: Identifies and manages risks associated with third-party libraries.
Dynamic Testing: Simulates real-world attacks to evaluate application security in active environments.
Integrated Platform: Combines various security tools for a streamlined testing process.

What benefits should users expect from using Polaris Platform?

Enhanced Security Insight: Provides detailed, actionable reports on potential vulnerabilities.
Seamless Integration: Fits smoothly into existing development workflows, minimizing disruption.
Flexibility: Allows tailored security assessments according to project phases or requirements.

Polaris Platform implementation varies across industries, with tech companies utilizing it for securing app ecosystems, while financial sectors leverage its comprehensive testing to protect sensitive data. Healthcare providers adopt it to ensure compliance with regulations and maintain data integrity.

Black Duck

Sample Customers

YIT, Salesforce, Coca-Cola, SAP, U.S. Army, Liveperson, Playtech Case Study: Liveperson Implements Innovative Secure SDLC

Information Not Available

Find out what your peers are saying about Veracode, Checkmarx, Semgrep and others in Static Code Analysis. Updated: October 2026.

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