Customers routinely find and fix exploitable vulnerabilities missed by scanner-first workflows within 24 hours.
Hacktron vs Semgrep
Hacktron, the AI-native alternative to Semgrep
Attacks are getting smarter with AI, so your team should be too. Instead of using static, rule-based SAST like Semgrep, Hacktron's AI-native approach reviews every PR with codebase context and exploitability reasoning, outpacing attackers.
Most Hacktron customers find and fix real vulnerabilities missed by other scanners within 24 hours of onboarding.
How Hacktron compares to Semgrep
Hacktron operates at the speed your developers ship: continuous PR security review, automated whitebox workflows, and fewer rule backlogs.
Top-ranked CTF competitors, DEF CON-published researchers, and leading bug bounty hunters turn new attack patterns into real improvements.
The same methodology has found zero-day vulnerabilities in Next.js, Grafana, OpenAM, GitHub, GitLab, and BeyondTrust.
| Pricing | Hacktron Pro — Unlimited Developers $40/developer/mo | Semgrep Code $30/developer/mo | Semgrep Enterprise Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Included usage | 50 PRs per developer and unlimited scans per PR, unlimited repos | Up to 20 AI analysis findings per developer | Up to 50 AI analysis findings per developer |
| Overage / add-ons | $1 per additional PR after included usage | AI features stop working unless additional licenses are purchased | AI features stop working unless additional licenses are purchased |
| Pentest | Credit-based — from $2,000 for most applications | No first-party pentest product. | No first-party pentest product |
Where Hacktron is deliberately sharper than Semgrep
PR reviewer vs rule engine
Hacktron
Hacktron turns every pull request into a focused security review, surfacing exploitable risk with the context engineers need to fix it before merge.
Semgrep
Semgrep is powerful when a weakness can be represented as a rule, pattern, dataflow policy, dependency check, or secrets workflow.
Developer conversation
Hacktron
Hacktron treats the PR thread as the remediation workflow and learns from triage feedback.
Semgrep
Semgrep is more platform-oriented, with findings, policies, dashboards, and optional PR comments.
Less rule maintenance
Hacktron
Hacktron does not require your team to author a rule program before it can reason about risk.
Semgrep
Semgrep shines when AppSec has the time and ownership to tune rules at scale.
Gets sharper with every review
Hacktron
Hacktron learns from triage decisions, project rules, and repeated review cycles, so the signal gets more tuned to your attack surface over time.
Semgrep
Semgrep improves through rule, policy, and finding management across the platform, which is useful but broader than PR-specific learning.
Beyond pattern matching
Hacktron is strongest when the vulnerability depends on application-specific context, not just syntax.
Review-thread remediation
The finding, reason, and fix prompt stay attached to the pull request line that introduced the risk.
Lower policy overhead
Project rules and triage comments are lighter than building and maintaining a full rule program.
Evaluating Hacktron and Semgrep across key areas
| Area | Hacktron | Semgrep |
|---|---|---|
| SAST | Reviewer-style reasoningHacktron looks at changed code with repository context and asks whether the PR introduced something exploitable. | Programmable static analysisSemgrep is a mature SAST engine with custom rules, dataflow analysis, and platform triage. |
| Supply chain | Not the center of the productHacktron can reason about supply-chain risk in context, but it is not sold as a dependency inventory platform. | First-class SCA productSemgrep Supply Chain focuses on dependency reachability, transitive risk, lockfile/package scanning, and policy. |
| Secrets | Security context when secrets affect exploitabilityHacktron is focused on vulnerabilities in the PR path, including credential exposure when it changes real risk. | Dedicated secrets productSemgrep Secrets is a dedicated secrets detection and validation workflow. |
| Remediation | Fix context in the PRHacktron gives the vulnerable line, reasoning, and AI fix prompt where the developer is already reviewing. | Autofix and triage workflowsSemgrep Assistant and Autofix help triage and remediate supported findings at platform scale. |
| Governance | Lightweight project rulesHacktron favors repository-local rules and feedback over centralized policy management. | Policy and reporting layerSemgrep can pull teams back into dashboard and policy work before contextual PR risk is fixed. |
Add security review where rules stop.
Use Hacktron to catch contextual vulnerabilities in pull requests, with or without Semgrep already in the stack.
Frequently asked questions
What is Hacktron Review?
Hacktron Review is an AI security reviewer for pull requests. It reads code changes with repository context, reasons about exploitability, and gives engineers actionable findings directly inside GitHub.
How is Hacktron different from Semgrep?
Semgrep is strongest when risk can be represented as rules, patterns, dataflow policies, secrets, or dependency checks. Hacktron is focused on the PR review moment: did this change introduce a real vulnerability, and how should the engineer fix it?
Should Hacktron replace Semgrep?
Not necessarily. Many teams keep Semgrep for repeatable static rules and governance coverage, then add Hacktron where they need exploitability-first reasoning on risky pull requests.
Why not just write more rules?
Some vulnerabilities depend on product-specific auth, trust boundaries, and multi-step code paths. Hacktron is built for that reasoning layer without requiring AppSec to encode every case upfront.
How does Hacktron improve over time?
Hacktron learns from triage comments, project rules, trusted paths, and repeated review cycles, so findings become more tuned to your application and attack surface over time.
Where do findings appear?
Findings appear as inline pull request comments on the vulnerable lines, with proof context and fix prompts. When a follow-up commit fixes the issue, Hacktron can auto-resolve the finding.
What kinds of issues does it catch?
Hacktron is built for exploitable code-level issues like auth and access control flaws, business logic bugs, injection, SSRF, prompt injection, secrets exposure, supply-chain risk, and IaC exposures.
How fast can a team start?
Install the GitHub App, choose the repositories Hacktron should review, and put it on the next pull request. Teams often find and fix real vulnerabilities within 24 hours of onboarding.