Checkmarx One vs Polaris Platform comparison

Checkmarx and Black Duck are both solutions in the Static Code Analysis category. Checkmarx is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2, while Black Duck is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. Checkmarx holds a 10.1% mindshare in SCAS, compared to Black Duck’s 2.3% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Checkmarx users are willing to recommend the solution.

Checkmarx One

Read 81 Checkmarx One reviews

18,784 Views
2,066 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Polaris Platform

Read 1 Polaris Platform review

1,633 Views
261 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: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Static Code Analysis

March 2026

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Helped 884,873 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) (3rd), Vulnerability Management (17th), Container Security (15th), API Security (3rd), DevSecOps (3rd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (8th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (3rd), AI Security (2nd)

Polaris Platform

Ranking in Static Code Analysis

11th

Ranking in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

10th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

3.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (12th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Static Code Analysis category, the mindshare of Checkmarx One is 10.1%, down from 21.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polaris Platform is 2.3%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Static Code Analysis Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Checkmarx One	10.1%
Polaris Platform	2.3%
Other	87.6%

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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It shows in-depth code of where actual vulnerabilities are."

"We were using HPE Security Fortify to scan code for security vulnerabilities, but it can scan only after a successful compile, and if the code has dependencies or build errors the scan fails, while with Checkmarx pre-compile scanning is seamless and allows us to scan more code."

"The most valuable feature is that it actually identifies the different criteria you can set to meet whatever standards you're trying to get your system accredited for."

"Once you implement Checkmarx One, you can be sure that you're getting value from the solution almost immediately because Checkmarx One also handles false positives very effectively, saving you time and saving your developers time."

"Checkmarx pinpoints the vulnerability in the code and also presents the flow of malicious input across the application."

"The solution is always updating to continuously add items that create a level of safety from vulnerabilities. It's one of the key features they provide that's an excellent selling point. They're always ahead of the game when it comes to finding any vulnerabilities within the database."

"The best thing about Checkmarx is the amount of vulnerabilities that it can find compared to other free tools."

"The main thing we find valuable about Checkmarx is the ease of use. It's easy to initiate scans and triage defects."

More Checkmarx One pros

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

Cons

"The resolutions should also be provided. For example, if the user faces any problem regarding an installation due to the internal security policies of their company, there should be a resolution offered."

"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."

"It is an expensive solution."

"There are some downtimes when Checkmarx One is being upgraded to the latest version or some improvement is there."

"Its pricing model can be improved. Sometimes, it is a little complex to understand its pricing model."

"We are trying to find out if there is a way to identify the run-time null values. I am analyzing different tools to check if there is any tool that supports run-time null value identification, but I don't think any of the tools in the market currently supports this feature. It would be helpful if Checkmarx can identify and throw an exception for a null value at the run time. It would make things a lot easier if there is a way for Checkmarx to identify nullable fields or hard-coded values in the code. The accessibility for customized Checkmarx rules is currently limited and should be improved. In addition, it would be great if Checkmarx can do static code and dynamic code validation. It does a lot of security-related scanning, and it should also do static code and dynamic code validation. Currently, for security-related validation, we are using Checkmarx, and for static code and dynamic code validation, we are using some other tools. We are spending money on different tools. We can pay a little extra money and use Checkmarx for everything."

"They can support the remaining languages that are currently not supported. They can also create a different model that can identify zero-day attacks. They can work on different patterns to identify and detect zero-day vulnerability attacks."

"The plugins for the development environment have room for improvements such as for Android Studio and X code."

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

"We're using a commercial version of Checkmarx, and we paid for the solution for one year. The price is high and could be reduced."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The pricing was not very good. This is just a framework which shouldn’t cost so much."

"We have purchased an annual license to use this solution. The price is reasonable."

"Be cautious of the one-year subscription date. Once it expires, your price will go up."

"We have a subscription license that is on a yearly basis, and it's a pretty competitive solution."

"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."

"The license has a vague language around P1 issues and the associated support. Make sure to review these in order to align them with your organizational policies."

More Checkmarx One pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

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 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 needs improvement with Checkmarx?

One way Checkmarx One could be improved is if it could automatically run scans every month after implementation. If it is possible to set it in the SAST portal to scan the repositories automaticall...

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 43% of the time

Veracode vs Checkmarx One

Compared 4% of the time

Checkmarx SAST vs Checkmarx One

Compared 3% of the time

OpenText Core Application Security vs Checkmarx One

Compared 3% of the time

Fortify Software Security Center vs Checkmarx One

Compared 2% of the time

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SonarQube vs Polaris Platform

Compared 20% of the time

Black Duck SCA vs Polaris Platform

Compared 12% of the time

Coverity Static vs Polaris Platform

Compared 12% of the time

Software Risk Manager ASPM vs Polaris Platform

Compared 11% of the time

Mend.io vs Polaris Platform

Compared 5% of the time

More Polaris Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmarx One

March 2026

Download Checkmarx One product report

Buyer's Guide

Software Composition Analysis (SCA)

March 2026

Download Polaris Platform product report

Overview

Checkmarx One is an enterprise cloud-native application security platform focused on providing cross-tool, correlated results to help AppSec and developer teams prioritize where to focus time and resources.

Checkmarx One offers comprehensive application scanning across the SDLC:

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
API security
Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)
Container security
IaC security
Correlation, prioritization, and risk management
Codebashing secure code training
AI security
Tech partnerships extending AppSec into runtime analysis
Developer tool integrations including: CI/CD tools, development frameworks, feedback tools, IDEs, programming languages and SCMs

Checkmarx One provides everything you need to secure application development from the first line of code through deployment and runtime in the cloud. With an ever-evolving set of AppSec engines, correlation and prioritization features, and AI capabilities, Checkmarx One helps consolidate expanding lists of AppSec tools and make better sense of results. Its capabilities are designed to provide an improved developer experience to build trust with development teams and ensure the success of your AppSec program investment.

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

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