HEAD TO HEAD
Cycode or Semgrep: agentic AppSec compared
Short answer
By The Pipeline Desk · Best Agentic AppSec · Published 2026-10-08
Desk research from public vendor pages, changelogs and standards documents. Vendor facts read in September 2026, updated 2026-10-11. Editorial assessment; we did not run the products.
How do they compare at a glance?
Cycode
Three named AppSec agents under Cycode Maestro
Rank 2 of 10
Semgrep
Agent hooks with published per-contributor pricing
Rank 9 of 10
Which scores higher on each criterion?
| Criterion | Weight | Cycode | Semgrep | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agent and MCP discovery | 10% | 9 / 10 The AI inventory and AIBOM cover code assistants (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Tabnine), MCP servers, models and AI secrets, with a three-state authorization of Needs Review, Authorized or Unauthorized. Source: Cycode blog: AI governance, AIBOM and MCP enforcement · Read 11 Oct 2026 | 3 / 10 No org-wide inventory of agents or MCP servers is described on the pages reviewed. Source: Semgrep Guardian · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Cycode |
| Agent policy enforcement and audit | 10% | 8 / 10 IDE hooks, starting with Cursor and Claude Code, enforce guardrails such as Block Unauthorized MCPs and Restrict MCP Execution to Localhost Only, with violations tracked; an endpoint agent and tamper resistance are not stated. Source: Cycode blog: AI governance, AIBOM and MCP enforcement · Read 11 Oct 2026 | 6 / 10 Guardian hooks on every file write block malicious dependencies, hardcoded credentials and vulnerable patterns inside individual agents. Source: Semgrep Guardian · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Cycode |
| Secret handling for agents | 5% | 9 / 10 IDE guardrails intercept secrets in prompts, file reads and MCP tool calls before they leave the IDE, and the AIBOM tracks AI secrets. Source: Cycode blog: AI Guardrails in the IDE · Read 27 Sep 2026 | 7 / 10 Guardian stops hardcoded secrets at generation time, and Semgrep sells a Secrets product. Source: Semgrep Guardian · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Cycode |
| Agentic remediation | 20% | 7 / 10 The AI Fix and Remediation Agent analyzes root cause and produces PR-ready fixes matched to the codebase's patterns; validation of the fix is not stated. Source: Cycode blog: AI teammates · Read 27 Sep 2026 | 4 / 10 Remediation guidance in PRs and IDEs; no agent that writes and lands fixes is described. Source: Semgrep homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Cycode |
| Agentic triage and prioritization | 15% | 9 / 10 The AI Exploitability Agent checks whether a CVE is reachable, under Cycode Maestro orchestration. Source: Cycode homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 | 8 / 10 Semgrep Assistant auto-triages findings and uses code context to cut false positives. Source: Semgrep homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Cycode |
| SDLC policy and supply chain posture | 10% | 9 / 10 CI/CD pipeline posture, source code leakage detection, secrets, SBOM and AI-BOM. Source: Cycode homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 | 7 / 10 Supply Chain and Secrets products, with malware detection and policy actions such as Jira tickets added on 24 Sep 2026; CI/CD posture is not described. Source: Semgrep blog: malware detection and response automation · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Cycode |
| Scanner coverage and orchestration | 10% | 9 / 10 Native SAST, SCA, secrets, container and IaC scanning plus 120+ connectors through ConnectorX. Source: Cycode pricing: 120+ connectors · Read 13 Oct 2026 | 7 / 10 Code, Supply Chain and Secrets scanning with AI-assisted analysis; ingesting other scanners' findings is not described. Source: Semgrep homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Cycode |
| Named coding agent reach | 10% | 7 / 10 Names 4 of the six agents we track: Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot and Windsurf. Source: Cycode: AI security · Read 27 Sep 2026 Source: Cycode blog: AI Guardrails in the IDE · Read 27 Sep 2026 | 5 / 10 Names 3 of the six agents we track: Claude Code, Cursor and Windsurf. Source: Semgrep Guardian · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Cycode |
| Pricing and trial transparency | 10% | 3 / 10 Tiers and the pricing basis (active developers and AI usage) are published; figures are not. Source: Cycode pricing · Read 27 Sep 2026 | 8 / 10 Free up to 10 contributors and 10 repositories with 60 AI credits; Teams at $30 a month per contributor for Code or Supply Chain and $15 for Secrets, with 20 AI credits per developer a month; Guardian pricing is not stated. Source: Semgrep pricing · Read 11 Oct 2026 | Semgrep |
How do they differ along the pipeline?
| Control point | Cycode | Semgrep |
|---|---|---|
| Agent | Documented IDE guardrails intercept secrets, file context, prompts and tool calls before they reach AI services, with MCP enforcement; the AI-BOM tracks rule files, MCP servers and AI API keys with provenance. Source: Cycode: AI security · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Partial Guardian runs as an MCP server, hooks on every file write and skills in Claude Code, Cursor and Windsurf; no org-wide agent inventory on the pages reviewed. Source: Semgrep Guardian · Read 27 Sep 2026 |
| IDE | Documented AI Guardrails, launched 17 February 2026, intercept secrets in prompts, file reads and MCP tool calls before they leave the IDE. Source: Cycode blog: AI Guardrails in the IDE · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Documented VS Code and JetBrains support, with remediation guidance in IDEs. Source: Semgrep homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 |
| Pull request | Documented Agentic code scanning across SAST, SCA, secrets, container and IaC. Source: Cycode homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Documented Remediation guidance in pull requests. Source: Semgrep homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 |
| Pipeline | Documented CI/CD pipeline posture, source code leakage detection, SBOM and AI-BOM. Source: Cycode homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Documented Supply Chain and Secrets products; malicious package detection and policy actions such as Jira tickets and Slack alerts added 24 September 2026. Source: Semgrep blog: malware detection and response automation · Read 27 Sep 2026 |
| Triage | Documented The AI Exploitability Agent checks whether a CVE is reachable. Source: Cycode homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Documented Semgrep Assistant auto-triages findings. Source: Semgrep homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 |
| Fix | Documented The AI Fix and Remediation Agent analyzes root cause and produces PR-ready fixes. Source: Cycode blog: AI teammates · Read 27 Sep 2026 | Partial Remediation guidance in PRs and IDEs; no agent that writes and lands fixes is described. Source: Semgrep homepage · Read 27 Sep 2026 |
What do they cost?
Cycode
Not published Tiers are named (ADLC Security, Code Security, Software Supply Chain Security, Posture Management, Cycode Complete, Cycode AI). "Pricing is based on your active developer count and AI usage"; no figures are published.
Source: Cycode pricing · Read 27 Sep 2026
Free start: Free trial offered; no free tier.
Semgrep
Free for up to 10 contributors and 10 repositories (60 AI credits). Teams: $30 a month per contributor for Code or Supply Chain, $15 for Secrets, with 20 AI credits per developer a month. Enterprise custom (50 AI credits per developer a month). Guardian pricing is not stated.
Source: Semgrep pricing · Read 11 Oct 2026
Free start: Free for up to 10 contributors.
Which coding agents does each name?
| Agent | Cycode | Semgrep |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Named | Named |
| Cursor | Named | Named |
| GitHub Copilot | Named | Not named |
| Windsurf | Named | Named |
| OpenAI Codex | Not named | Not named |
| Kiro | Not named | Not named |
| Total | 4 of 6 | 3 of 6 |
Which should you choose?
Choose Cycode if you need agentic triage and prioritization and agent and mcp discovery. Cycode: Three named AppSec agents under Cycode Maestro.
Choose Semgrep if you need agentic triage and prioritization and pricing and trial transparency. Semgrep: Agent hooks with published per-contributor pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better for agentic AppSec, Cycode or Semgrep?
On our published weights Cycode scores higher overall, 7.70 to 5.95 out of 10. See the criterion table above for where each scores higher.
Which governs coding agents more fully, Cycode or Semgrep?
Cycode scores higher on the agent governance group (8.6 to 5.0). Cycode: IDE guardrails intercept secrets, file context, prompts and tool calls before they reach AI services, with MCP enforcement; the AI-BOM tracks rule files, MCP servers and AI API keys with provenance. Semgrep: Guardian runs as an MCP server, hooks on every file write and skills in Claude Code, Cursor and Windsurf; no org-wide agent inventory on the pages reviewed.
Do Cycode and Semgrep publish prices?
Cycode: Not published. Tiers are named (ADLC Security, Code Security, Software Supply Chain Security, Posture Management, Cycode Complete, Cycode AI). "Pricing is based on your active developer count and AI usage"; no figures are published. Semgrep: Free for up to 10 contributors and 10 repositories (60 AI credits). Teams: $30 a month per contributor for Code or Supply Chain, $15 for Secrets, with 20 AI credits per developer a month. Enterprise custom (50 AI credits per developer a month). Guardian pricing is not stated.