AI tool comparison
Semgrep vs Shannon
Which one should you ship with? Here is the side-by-side panel verdict, pricing read, reviewer split, and community vote comparison.
Security
Semgrep
Static analysis at the speed of thought
100%
Panel ship
—
Community
Free
Entry
Semgrep is a fast, open-source static analysis tool for finding bugs and security issues. Write custom rules or use community rulesets. Supports 30+ languages.
AI Security
Shannon
Autonomous AI pentester that proves exploits, not just finds them
75%
Panel ship
—
Community
Paid
Entry
Shannon is an autonomous AI security testing agent that does what most scanners can't: it actually proves vulnerabilities are real before reporting them. Built by Keygraph, it analyzes your source code and API endpoints, identifies attack surfaces, and then autonomously executes live exploits — SQL injection, XSS, SSRF, authentication bypasses, and more. The key differentiator is evidence-first reporting: Shannon won't flag a potential SQL injection unless it can demonstrate the exploit working in your environment. Under the hood, Shannon uses Claude to reason about code structure and attack chains, combining static analysis with dynamic exploitation in a feedback loop. It maps the application graph, selects attack strategies based on code patterns, attempts the exploit, and reports only confirmed vulnerabilities with full reproduction steps. It runs locally and can be pointed at any web app or API. The timing is pointed: AI coding assistants are shipping code faster than teams can review it for security. Shannon was born from that gap — an AI to check the work of other AIs. At ~$40-55 in API credits per full scan, it's priced for startups who can't afford a dedicated security team but can't afford a breach either. The AGPL open-source release makes it accessible to indie developers and security researchers.
Reviewer scorecard
“Fast, accurate, and the custom rule syntax is intuitive. Catches real security bugs without drowning in false positives.”
“This solves a real problem I face constantly: AI-generated code shipping faster than security reviews can keep up. Shannon catches what static linters miss because it actually runs the exploit — that's a fundamentally different class of tool. At ~$50 per scan it's cheaper than one hour of a security consultant's time.”
“The rule syntax is what makes Semgrep special. Writing custom rules for your codebase patterns is genuinely easy.”
“Every 'autonomous pentester' of the past decade has promised to replace human red teamers and delivered glorified CVE scanners. The AGPL license is also a poison pill for enterprise teams who need commercial contracts before running anything against production. Wait for a version with a proper SaaS tier and audit trail.”
“Custom static analysis rules will become standard in CI. Semgrep's approach scales from security to code quality.”
“We're entering an era where AI writes code and AI breaks code — Shannon is the first credible entry in the adversarial AI category for developers. The agentic loop of analyze-exploit-verify is the right architecture. This becomes infrastructure-grade once it integrates into CI/CD pipelines as a mandatory gate.”
“As someone who builds web tools and can't afford a dedicated security team, Shannon feels like a genuine safety net. The output is human-readable with full reproduction steps — not a wall of CVE numbers I have to decode. Exactly what indie builders need.”
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