Coverity vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) comparison

Black Duck and Sonar are both solutions in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category. Black Duck is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0, while Sonar is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.1. Black Duck holds a 7.5% mindshare in SAST, compared to Sonar’s 24.9% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Black Duck users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 81% of Sonar users who would recommend it.

Coverity

Read 42 Coverity reviews

11,994 Views
8,326 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

SonarQube Server (formerly ...

Read 114 SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) reviews

37,723 Views
31,727 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Coverity

SonarQube Server (formerly ...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

SonarQube Server and Coverity are tools for code quality and security analysis. SonarQube stands out with extensive language support and community plugins, appealing to open-source and cost-sensitive users, while Coverity excels in deeper code analysis and security detection, particularly for C++ and C#.

Features: SonarQube supports over 20 programming languages, custom coding rules, and robust integration with CI/CD tools. Users appreciate its Time Machine tool and Quality Gates feature. Coverity is noted for its low false positive rate and comprehensive analysis focusing on security vulnerabilities with a detailed graphical interface and reporting capabilities.

Room for Improvement: SonarQube could enhance multi-language support and simplify integration with platforms like JIRA. It needs better handling of security vulnerabilities and a faster analysis time. Coverity needs improvements in its user interface, integration support with IDEs, and expansion of language support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SonarQube supports deployment on multiple platforms including Hybrid, On-premises, and Public Cloud, delivering flexibility across environments. Its community-driven support is highly rated. Coverity is primarily on-premises, with limited cloud support, and its technical support is considered expensive, catering more to larger installations.

Pricing and ROI: SonarQube offers a compelling ROI with its open-source Community edition and competitive pricing for additional features, making it a popular choice for budget-constrained organizations. Coverity is often criticized for its high cost relative to value, particularly with user-based pricing which can challenge potential ROI compared to SonarQube’s flexible model.

To learn more, read our detailed Coverity vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Coverity vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

April 2025

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Helped 852,764 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

Coverity

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

4th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SonarQube Server (formerly ...

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

114

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (1st), Software Development Analytics (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of Coverity is 7.5%, up from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) is 24.9%, down from 27.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Featured Reviews

Md. Shahriar Hussain

Information Security Analyst at Banglalink

Offers impressive reporting features with user-friendliness and high scalability

The solution can be easily setup but requires heavy integration due to the multiple types of port and programming languages involved. Comparing the resource requirements of the solution I would say it can be installed effortlessly. I would rate the initial setup an eight out of ten. A professional needs some pre-acquired knowledge to manage Coverity's deployment process, but the local solution partners provide support well enough for trouble-free deployment. The overall deployment process of Coverity took around two and a half hours in our organization. The deployment duration depends upon the operating system and resources including high-end RAM and CPU processors.

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Wang Dayong

Senior Software Engineering Manager at Hill

Easy to integrate and has a plug-in that supports both C and C++ languages

The product provides false reports sometimes. It also fails to understand the context of the code. It reports that a line of code has issues without considering its relation with the previous line. The product should improve the report quality. While it asks us to improve the code quality, it would be good if it also suggests how to improve the quality.

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

"Coverity integrates with issue-tracking systems like Jira and provides email notifications, alerts, and other features."

"The ability to scan code gives us details of existing and potential vulnerabilities. What really matters for us is to ensure that we are able to catch vulnerabilities ahead of time."

"Considering the analysis part and the benchmarking process involving the product that my company carried out, the solution is good for finding bugs and violations"

"It help us identify the latest security vulnerabilities."

"The product has deeper scanning capabilities."

"We were very comfortable with the initial setup."

"The interface of Coverity is quite good, and it is also easy to use."

"Coverity is scalable."

More Coverity pros

"There are many options and examples available in the tool that help us fix the issues it shows us."

"There's plenty of documentation available to users."

"It is working fine. It provides a good value for money."

"SonarQube is good for checking and maintaining code quality."

"It is very good at identifying technical debt."

"We've configured it to run on each commit, providing feedback on our software quality. ]"

"The most valuable features are code scanning and Quality Gates."

"SonarQube has a lot of value, it reviews the basic coding standards and security vulnerabilities of code that help to reduce issues."

More SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) pros

Cons

"The product should include more customization options. The analytics is not as deep as compared to SonarQube."

"The product lacks sufficient customization options."

"I would like to see integration with popular IDEs, such as Eclipse."

"Right now, the Coverity executable is around 1.2GB to download. If they can reduce it to approximately 600 or 700MB, that would be great. If they decrease the executable, it will be much easier to work in an environment like Docker."

"The reporting tool integration process is sometimes slow."

"The product could be enhanced by providing video troubleshooting guides, making issue resolution more accessible. Troubleshooting without visual guides can be time-consuming."

"Sometimes it's a bit hard to figure out how to use the product’s UI."

"When I put my code into Coverity for scanning, the code information of the product is in the system. The solution could be improved by providing a SBOM, a software bill of material."

More Coverity cons

"An improvement is with false positives. Sometimes the tool can say there is an issue in your code but, really, you have to do things in a certain way due to external dependencies, and I think it's very hard to indicate this is the case."

"There are times that we have the database crash. However, this might be an issue with how we have configured it and not a software issue. Apart from this, I do not see any issues with the solution."

"A robust credential scanner would be a huge bonus as it would remove the need for yet another niche product."

"The handling of the contents of Docker container images could be better."

"This solution finds issues that are similar to what is found by Checkmarx, and it would be nice if the overlap could be eliminated."

"If there was an official Docker image of SonarQube that could easily integrate into the pipeline would help the user to plug in and plug out and use it directly without any custom configuration. I am not sure if this is being offered already in an update but it would be very helpful."

"The solution could improve the management reports by making them easier to understand for the technical team that needs to review them."

"The reporting can be improved."

More SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Depending on the usage types, one has to opt for different types of licenses from Coverity, especially to be able to use areas like report viewing or report generation."

"The solution is affordable."

"Offers varying prices for different companies"

"Coverity’s price is on the higher side. It should be lower."

"The tool's price is somewhere in the middle. It's neither cheap nor expensive. I would rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"Coverity is very expensive."

"Coverity is quite expensive."

"It is expensive."

More Coverity pricing and cost advice

"We are using the Community edition of SonarQube."

"We have a license with 125,000 lines of code. We did not purchase a lot of lines but it is specific to our code environment."

"There is both a free and licensed version. The free version has limitations on development languages and support."

"I think comparing the product to competitors it should be less expensive."

"I was using the Community Edition, which is available free of charge."

"My guess is that we have a yearly subscription. We use it quite extensively, so a monthly license wouldn't make sense. Yearly subscriptions are usually cheaper. In addition to the standard licensing fee, there is just the cost of running the hardware where it is hosted."

"I use the full trial version of SonarQube."

"The beauty of this solution is the free open-source version is capable enough in doing pretty much what an enterprise-level version can do."

More SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

33%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

How would you decide between Coverity and Sonarqube?

We researched Coverity, but in the end, we chose SonarQube. SonarQube is a tool for reviewing code quality and security. It helps to guide our development teams during code reviews by providing rem...

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What do you like most about Coverity?

The solution has improved our code quality and security very well.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Coverity?

I do not know about the pricing.

See all answers

Is SonarQube the best tool for static analysis?

I am not very familiar with SonarQube and their solutions, so I can not answer. But if you are asking me about which tools that are the best for for Static Code Analysis, I suggest you have a look...

See all answers

Which gives you more for your money - SonarQube or Veracode?

SonarQube is easy to deploy and configure, and also integrates well with other tools to do quality code analysis. SonarQube has a great community edition, which is open-source and free. Easy to use...

See all answers

How does Snyk compare with SonarQube?

Snyk does a great job identifying and reducing vulnerabilities. This solution is fully automated and monitors 24/7 to find any issues reported on the internet. It will store dependencies that you a...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 7% of the time

Fortify on Demand vs Coverity

Compared 6% of the time

Veracode vs Coverity

Compared 5% of the time

Polyspace Code Prover vs Coverity

Compared 5% of the time

Checkmarx One vs Coverity

Compared 4% of the time

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Checkmarx One vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 13% of the time

GitHub Advanced Security vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 11% of the time

SonarQube Cloud (formerly SonarCloud) vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 8% of the time

Veracode vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 7% of the time

Semgrep vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Coverity

May 2025

Download Coverity product report

Buyer's Guide

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

April 2025

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) report

Download SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) product report

Also Known As

Synopsys Static Analysis

Sonar

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Black Duck

Sonar

Overview

Coverity gives you the speed, ease of use, accuracy, industry standards compliance, and scalability that you need to develop high-quality, secure applications. Coverity identifies critical software quality defects and security vulnerabilities in code as it’s written, early in the development process, when it’s least costly and easiest to fix. With the Code Sight integrated development environment (IDE) plugin, developers get accurate analysis in seconds in their IDE as they code. Precise actionable remediation advice and context-specific eLearning help your developers understand how to fix their prioritized issues quickly, without having to become security experts.

Coverity seamlessly integrates automated security testing into your CI/CD pipelines and supports your existing development tools and workflows. Choose where and how to do your development: on-premises or in the cloud with the Polaris Software Integrity Platform (SaaS), a highly scalable, cloud-based application security platform. Coverity supports more than 20 languages and 200 frameworks and templates.

Black Duck

SonarQube Server enhances code quality and security via static code analysis. It detects vulnerabilities, improves standards, and reduces technical debt, integrating into CI/CD pipelines.

SonarQube Server is a comprehensive tool for enhancing code quality and security. It offers static code analysis to identify vulnerabilities, improve coding standards, and reduce technical debt. By integrating into CI/CD pipelines, it provides automated checks for adherence to best practices. Organizations use it for code inspection, security testing, and compliance, ensuring development environments with better maintainability and fewer issues.

What are the key features of SonarQube Server?

Support for 20+ languages: Extensive programming language support suitable for diverse coding environments.
Custom coding rules: Allows for tailored rule sets to match specific coding standards.
Flexible quality gates: Define criteria for code acceptance at various intervals.
CI/CD integration: Seamless integration with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment tools.
Rich interface: User-friendly dashboard with detailed visual insights.

What benefits should users expect from SonarQube Server?

Improved code quality: Enhanced analysis contributes to fewer bugs and improved coding practices.
Security enhancements: Identifies and mitigates security vulnerabilities pre-emptively.
Maintainability: Reduces technical debt, yielding long-term development efficiency.
Customizable: Flexibility in configuration aligns with specific project needs.

Many industries implement SonarQube Server to uphold coding standards, maintain security protocols, and streamline their software development lifecycle. In sectors like finance and healthcare, adhering to regulations and ensuring reliable software is critical, making SonarQube Server invaluable. It is often integrated into CI/CD pipelines, ensuring that code changes meet set standards before deployment. This approach enhances productivity and maintains compliance with industry-specific requirements.

Sonar

Sample Customers

SAP, Mega International, Thales Alenia Space

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Coverity vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

April 2025

Free Report: Coverity vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Find out what your peers are saying about Coverity vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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