Comparison
Kolega vs Snyk
On the RealVuln benchmark, an open-source test of 676 real vulnerabilities across 26 production repositories, Kolega scores 92.4%. Snyk scores 16.7%.
That's a 5.5x gap, on the same code, measured the same way. The benchmark is public. The numbers are reproducible. You don't have to take our word for it.
This page explains what the gap actually means, where Snyk still wins, and how to decide between the two.
View the full RealVuln benchmarkThe headline number
| Metric | Kolega | Snyk |
|---|---|---|
| RealVuln F3 score | 92.4% | 16.7% |
| Rank (of 21 systems tested) | #1 | #20 |
| Better than every frontier model | Yes (ahead of GPT-5.5, Claude, Gemini) | No |
RealVuln tests 676 real vulnerabilities pulled from production codebases, not synthetic test cases. It measures whether a tool can actually find the bugs that ship to real users in real apps.
Snyk catches roughly 1 in 6 of them. Kolega catches more than 9 in 10.
Why the gap exists
Snyk and Kolega are built on fundamentally different approaches.
Snyk uses pattern matching. It compares your code against a database of known vulnerability signatures. This works well for the bugs Snyk has seen before — known CVEs, common SQL injection patterns, deprecated dependencies. It's fast and reliable for what it's designed for.
Kolega uses deep semantic analysis. It reads the data flow across your codebase the way a senior engineer would, understanding code intent rather than just shape. That means it catches the bugs pattern matching misses: broken auth flows, BOLA, race conditions, second-order injection, cross-boundary logic flaws.
Most of the bugs shipping today aren't the ones in Snyk's signature database. They're the ones written by AI tools and junior engineers that look fine syntactically but fail semantically. Kolega was built for those.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Kolega | Snyk |
|---|---|---|
| Pattern-based SAST | ✓ | ✓ |
| Semantic analysis | ✓ | ✗ |
| BOLA detection | ✓ | Limited |
| Race condition detection | ✓ | ✗ |
| Logic flaw detection | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI-generated code coverage | ✓ | Limited |
| Automated fix PRs with tests | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dependency scanning (SCA) | Coming soon | ✓ |
| Container scanning | Coming soon | ✓ |
| IaC scanning | Coming soon | ✓ |
| Free tier | 1 repo, scheduled scans | Limited |
| Starting price | $39/mo | $25/mo per developer |
| Setup time | Under 3 minutes | Under 10 minutes |
| Ephemeral scanning (no code stored) | ✓ | ✗ |
When to pick Snyk
We'll be honest about this.
If you need a full code-to-cloud security platform covering SCA, container scanning, IaC, and SAST under one license, Snyk has broader product coverage today. If your security program is structured around known CVE management, dependency vulnerabilities, and license compliance, Snyk is purpose-built for that. They've been doing it since 2015 and the product reflects it.
Snyk is also strong if you have a large security team that already has workflows built around their tooling. Switching costs are real.
When to pick Kolega
If your codebase is increasingly AI-generated, or your team is shipping fast and the security team can't keep up with reviews, or you've noticed your current scanner is finding noise but missing the bugs that actually matter, Kolega is built for you.
The honest one-line summary: Snyk catches the bugs that look like other bugs. Kolega catches the bugs that look like working code but aren't.
Most teams end up running both, and that's a reasonable answer too. But if you're picking one and the question is “which one is going to find the breach-grade vulnerability before the security researcher does,” the benchmark answers that for you.
FAQ
Is RealVuln a fair benchmark?
RealVuln is open source (github.com/kolega-ai/Real-Vuln-Benchmark). The 676 vulnerabilities come from real production repositories with verified CVEs and known fix commits. Every tool is tested against the same code with the same scoring methodology. We built it. We also publish every result, including the ones where we don't win.
Why does Snyk score so low?
Snyk's strength is dependency scanning and known-pattern SAST. RealVuln tests semantic vulnerabilities in application code — the kind pattern matching wasn't designed to catch. It's not that Snyk is broken. It's that the benchmark measures something Snyk doesn't try to do.
Can I use both?
Yes. Many teams run Snyk for SCA and dependency management alongside Kolega for deep code analysis. We integrate with the same Git providers and CI systems, so adding Kolega doesn't require replacing anything.
How long does setup take?
Three clicks: connect your Git provider via OAuth, select repositories, scan. Most teams have their first findings within 3 minutes. No CLI, no config files, no CI pipeline changes.
Does Kolega store my code?
Code is cloned into isolated, ephemeral containers for the scan and deleted immediately after. We don't store source code at rest. Enterprise customers can run self-hosted runners in their own infrastructure.
See it for yourself
The benchmark is the pitch. Connect a repo, run a scan, and compare what you find with what your current scanner is finding.
Scan a repo freeNo credit card required. 7-day Pro trial. Drops to a free tier afterwards.