Sentrint vs Semgrep: which one if nobody on your team will write rules (2026)

The deciding question is whether you want to own a rule set. A team with someone who writes and maintains Semgrep rules gets a lot for nothing, since the Free Edition costs $0 for up to 10 contributors. If nobody on your team will ever open a rule file, Sentrint's Top-up is $10 for 6 scans and needs no setup.

Plan details for both tools were read from their own sites on 11 November 2026. Semgrep's paid prices are listed as starting points, so check the linked pages before you decide.

How they compare

Semgrep is a static analysis engine you shape with rules, its own Pro rules plus any you write. Sentrint is a hosted scan of a GitHub repository that writes up what it found. One is a tool you configure; the other is a report you read:

Choose Semgrep if

• Someone on the team will write rules for patterns only your codebase has. Custom rules are on every Semgrep plan, the free one included.
• You want a scan in CI and on every pull request, with cross-file analysis.
• You want your coding agent checked while it writes. Semgrep Guardian runs hooks on every file write and offers an MCP server the agent can call, and a banner on Semgrep's site says it is free for 30 days.
• You fit inside 10 contributors and 10 private repositories and want to pay nothing.
• Your code lives on GitLab as well as GitHub.

Choose Sentrint if

• Nobody will maintain a rule set, and you want findings sorted by what an attacker would reach first.
• You want a plain-English report with a prompt per finding for your coding agent. The sample report shows one.
• You want an MCP server your agent can reach at https://sentrint.com/mcp with nothing installed, or locally through npx -y @sentrint/mcp.
• You build on Supabase or Next.js, where Sentrint ships rules for row level security left off and for secrets placed in NEXT_PUBLIC_ and VITE_ variables.
• You would rather pay per scan than per contributor.

Pricing, as each vendor lists it

Semgrep's Free Edition has no charge for up to 10 contributors. It scans up to 10 private repositories, with public repositories unlimited, and includes Code and Supply Chain, cross-file analysis with Pro rules, and 60 AI credits. Secrets detection and the REST API are not in the Free Edition.

Teams is listed as starting at $30 a month per contributor for Code, the same for Supply Chain, and $15 a month per contributor for Secrets, with 500 private repositories and 20 AI credits per developer per month. The buy button is "Contact us". Semgrep counts a contributor as anyone who committed to a private repository it scanned in the past 90 days. Guardian's price after the trial was not on the page we read.

Sentrint's pricing page lists three plans. Free is 1 scan a month for a GitHub account at least 30 days old, Top-up is $10 for 6 scans, and Founder is $22 a month for 36 scans across 15 repositories. The MCP server and REST API come with all three, and the scan allowance is the only limit on them.

What Sentrint runs underneath

Sentrint has no engine of its own to sell you. It runs established open-source scanners with rules of its own on top, then an AI review drops findings it judges to be false positives. That is a packaging choice rather than a detection advantage, and nothing on this page claims Sentrint finds more than Semgrep does.

Where Sentrint is worse

Semgrep's free tier is far larger. Ten contributors and ten private repositories with a scan on every push is a different scale from one Sentrint scan a month.

Sentrint has no custom rules. If your codebase has a pattern only your team knows is dangerous, Semgrep lets you write a rule for it and Sentrint does not. It also has no pre-commit hook, editor plugin or pull request check, while Guardian aims to catch problems at the moment code is generated, before anything is pushed.

Sentrint is a code scan, not a pentest: nothing is executed, no login is tested, and no cloud account or running site is touched. It reads GitHub repositories only, and it has no SSO, roles or enterprise compliance features. Semgrep's Teams plan lists SSO and role-based access.

Trying both

The cheapest test is to run both on the same commit. Semgrep's Free Edition costs nothing and Sentrint's first scan is free, so read both outputs and keep the one your team acts on.

Is Semgrep free?

Yes, for small teams: nothing for up to 10 contributors and 10 private repositories. Secrets detection and the REST API need a paid plan.

Does Semgrep have an MCP server?

Yes, as part of Semgrep Guardian. Its MCP server exposes Semgrep scanning as tools the agent can call, and its hooks run a scan on every file write whatever the agent decides to do.

Can Sentrint run my own Semgrep rules?

It cannot. Sentrint does not accept custom rules today, so a team with its own rule library should keep running it in Semgrep.

Which one should a solo founder start with?

If you will not write rules and want a list of what to fix in plain English, start with Sentrint's free scan. If you enjoy tuning tools and want something running on every push, Semgrep's Free Edition will serve you longer at no cost.

Sources

Read on 11 November 2026:

• Semgrep pricing and plan comparison: https://semgrep.dev/pricing/
• Semgrep Guardian: https://semgrep.dev/products/semgrep-guardian/
• Sentrint pricing: https://sentrint.com/pricing
• Sentrint sample report: https://sentrint.com/sample