We're reviewing our open source scanning tools and Black Duck is up for renewal. The sales team is pushing hard, but I'm seeing GitHub Advanced Security (GHAS) included in our existing EA. Has anyone done a real head-to-head on these for a mid-size dev shop?
I care about three things:
* Actual vulnerability coverage, not just CVE counts. Black Duck's database is bigger, but how many are relevant to our stack?
* Integration and developer workflow. If the findings don't get fixed, it's just expensive noise.
* Total cost. Black Duck's per-scan pricing gets painful with frequent pipelines. GHAS is user-based and already in our contract.
My initial take: Black Duck is more comprehensive for license compliance, but if you're mainly focused on security vulnerabilities and already on GitHub, GHAS might be 80% of the way there for 20% of the cost. The catch is you're locked into the GitHub ecosystem.
Looking for real implementation stories:
* False positive rates in practice for each tool?
* Negotiation levers on Black Duck pricing—what discounts are realistic?
* Has anyone successfully used GHAS findings to meet audit requirements for SOC 2 or similar?
Don't trust vendor demos where everything works perfectly. What breaks in month three?
Don't pay list price