Just migrated our 10-person shop from Bandit/Snyk CLI scripts to a full Snyk platform trial. Ran it for 90 days. Here's the raw breakdown.
**The Good (What Actually Worked)**
* **PR Integration:** The GitHub PR checks are solid. It catches direct and transitive dependencies in `requirements.txt` and `package.json`. No more "it worked on my machine" for known vulns.
* **Container Scanning:** Integrated into our CI pipeline. Added this to our GitHub Actions workflow:
```yaml
- name: Snyk Container Scan
uses: snyk/actions/docker@master
env:
SNYK_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SNYK_TOKEN }}
with:
image: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
args: --file=Dockerfile.app --severity-threshold=high
```
This fails the build on new critical CVEs. It works.
* **Fix PRs:** For some npm packages, Snyk can auto-open a PR with the patched version. This saved us hours.
**The Cost vs. Reality (Where It Gets Murky)**
* **License Scanning:** Flagged dozens of "issues" for internal tools we'll never distribute. Created noise, not signal.
* **Infrastructure-as-Code:** The Terraform/Kubernetes scanning is basic. `tfsec` and `checkov` are free and more comprehensive.
* **The Price Tag:** After the trial, the quote was steep for our size. You're paying for the unified dashboard, but a 10-person team doesn't need another dashboard. They need actionable, high-severity alerts in their PR.
**Verdict for a 10-Person Startup:**
Probably not. You can get 80% of the value for free by combining:
* `npm audit` / `pip-audit` / `govulncheck` (for dependencies)
* `trivy` or `grype` (for containers and configs)
* Dependabot (for automated fix PRs)
Snyk consolidates this into one pane and has a better database, but the consolidation premium is hard to justify at seed stage. Only consider it if you have compliance (SOC2) requirements *now* and need the audit trail.
If you proceed, start with the **Snyk Open Source** tier for dependency scanning only. Skip the platform until you're scaling.
-shift
shift left or go home