BlogTools Comparison

Best Free SonarQube Alternatives (2026)

Looking for free code quality and security tools? Here are the best free and open source alternatives to SonarQube, from fully open source to generous free tiers.

10 min readUpdated December 2025

Why Look for Free Alternatives?

SonarQube Community Edition is free but limited. Enterprise features like branch analysis, security vulnerability reports, and SAST require expensive licenses. Many teams look for alternatives that offer more for free.

Open Source

Fully free, self-hosted tools with community support

Freemium

Free tiers with optional paid upgrades

Open Source Friendly

Free for open source projects

Free SonarQube Alternatives

#1

TigerGate Free Tier

Freemium

TigerGate offers a generous free tier that includes code scanning, secrets detection, and cloud security basics. Unlike SonarQube Community Edition, it includes security scanning and limited cloud security checks.

Features:

  • SAST scanning
  • SCA scanning
  • Secrets detection
  • Limited cloud security
  • GitHub integration

Limitations:

  • Limited scans per month
  • Single project
  • Community support
Best for: Small teams needing comprehensive securityTry Free
#2

Semgrep Open Source

Open Source

Semgrep is a fast, open source static analysis tool. The core engine is completely free and supports custom rules. Great for teams with rule-writing expertise.

Features:

  • Fast SAST scanning
  • Custom rule support
  • 30+ languages
  • CLI and CI/CD friendly
  • Large rule registry

Limitations:

  • No SCA in free version
  • No dashboard
  • Requires rule expertise
Best for: Teams needing custom security rulesLearn More →
#3

PMD

Open Source

PMD is a free, open source static code analyzer for Java, JavaScript, and other languages. It finds common programming flaws and code quality issues.

Features:

  • Java focused
  • Customizable rulesets
  • Copy-paste detection
  • IDE plugins
  • CI integration

Limitations:

  • Limited language support
  • No security focus
  • No dashboard
  • Manual setup
Best for: Java teams on a budgetLearn More →
#4

SpotBugs

Open Source

SpotBugs (successor to FindBugs) is a free static analysis tool that looks for bugs in Java programs. Focus on correctness and performance issues.

Features:

  • Deep Java analysis
  • Bug pattern detection
  • Maven/Gradle plugins
  • IDE integration
  • Custom detectors

Limitations:

  • Java only
  • No security scanning
  • No dashboard
  • Limited metrics
Best for: Java developers finding bugsLearn More →
#5

ESLint / TSLint

Open Source

ESLint is the standard linting tool for JavaScript and TypeScript. Completely free with extensive plugin ecosystem for code quality and some security checks.

Features:

  • JavaScript/TypeScript
  • Huge plugin ecosystem
  • Auto-fix support
  • IDE integration
  • Custom rules

Limitations:

  • JS/TS only
  • Limited security
  • No SAST/SCA
  • Code style focus
Best for: JavaScript/TypeScript teamsLearn More →
#6

Codacy Free

Freemium

Codacy offers a free tier for open source projects and small teams. Includes basic code quality analysis with a nice web dashboard.

Features:

  • Web dashboard
  • GitHub integration
  • Multiple languages
  • PR comments
  • Basic security

Limitations:

  • Limited to 4 users
  • Limited features
  • Open source only
Best for: Open source projectsLearn More →
#7

DeepSource Free

Freemium

DeepSource provides a free tier with AI-powered code analysis and autofix capabilities. Modern interface with good language support.

Features:

  • AI autofix
  • Modern UI
  • Fast analysis
  • 11+ languages
  • Security checks

Limitations:

  • Limited to 2 repos
  • Public repos preferred
  • Limited integrations
Best for: Small teams wanting AI featuresLearn More →
#8

SonarQube Community

Open Source

SonarQube Community Edition is free but lacks branch analysis, security reports, and many enterprise features. Good baseline for code quality.

Features:

  • Code quality metrics
  • 30+ languages
  • Quality gates
  • Self-hosted
  • Plugin ecosystem

Limitations:

  • No branch analysis
  • No security reports
  • No SAST/DAST
  • Complex setup
Best for: Teams with infrastructure resourcesLearn More →

Quick Comparison

ToolTypeSASTSCADashboardLanguages
TigerGate Free TierFreemiumMulti
Semgrep Open SourceOpen Source30+
PMDOpen SourceJava+
SpotBugsOpen SourceJava+
ESLint / TSLintOpen SourceJava+
Codacy FreeFreemiumMulti
DeepSource FreeFreemium11+
SonarQube CommunityOpen Source30+

Our Recommendation

For most teams, we recommend TigerGate's free tier as the best free SonarQube alternative. It provides more security features than SonarQube Community Edition, including:

What You Get Free

  • SAST code scanning
  • SCA dependency scanning
  • Secrets detection
  • Limited cloud security
  • GitHub integration

Upgrade When Ready

  • Unlimited scans
  • Full cloud security (576+ checks)
  • Runtime eBPF monitoring
  • Compliance automation
  • Priority support

Start Free Today

No credit card required. Get code security, secrets detection, and cloud security basics for free.

Get Started Free

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