KICS vs DeepSource

KICS9.1Visit DeepSource8.3Visit

Higher score KICS #2 in IaC Security Scanners 9.1/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 5 features Visit KICS

vs

DeepSource #5 in IaC Security Scanners 8.3/10 Free plan · paid from $24/user/mo (annual) · 14-day trial Free plan✓ 0 of 5 features Visit DeepSource

• KICS fits best

  Free, broad open-source IaC scanning

• DeepSource fits best

  Teams combining IaC and code security

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Side by side

Feature	KICS 9.1/10 Visit ↗	DeepSource 8.3/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.1	8.3
Ranking	#2 in IaC Security Scanners	#5 in IaC Security Scanners
Best for	Free, broad open-source IaC scanning	Teams combining IaC and code security
Pricing model	Free	Free plan + paid
Starting price	Not published	$24/user/mo
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Windows, macOS, Linux	Web
Support	Email, Community, Docs	Email, Tickets, Docs
Integrations	16 integrations	8 integrations
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features KICS 2/5 · DeepSource 0/5
Custom policies	✓ (best)	Not published
CI/PR integration	Not published	Not published
Fix suggestions	Not published	Not published
Drift detection	Not published	Not published
Open-source option	✓ (best)	Not published
Specs
IaC frameworks	Not published	Not published
Our review
Pros	Scans Terraform, Kubernetes and CloudFormation configurations Detects security issues, misconfigurations, passwords and secrets Integrates with CI/CD, GitHub Actions and Visual Studio Code	Reviews Dockerfiles, Terraform, and Ansible alongside application code. Scans pull requests for secrets and dependency vulnerabilities. Connects with GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure DevOps.
Cons	Self-hosted deployment leaves runtime management to your team CLI or Docker operation may require engineering setup GitHub Actions provides the specifically documented PR annotations	Secrets detection is limited to Team and Enterprise plans. Team costs $30 per user monthly or $24 with annual billing. The Individual plan's repository limits are not stated.
Our verdict	KICS is a free, open-source static analysis tool for infrastructure-as-code projects. It is designed for teams that need security, compliance and misconfiguration checks across Terraform, Kubernetes and CloudFormation, with additional… Read the review →	DeepSource brings code review and application-security checks together for software teams that want infrastructure-as-code findings in the same workflow as code issues. It reviews Dockerfiles, Terraform, and Ansible, alongside static… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• KICS — where it wins

  • Scans Terraform, Kubernetes and CloudFormation configurations
  • Detects security issues, misconfigurations, passwords and secrets
  • Integrates with CI/CD, GitHub Actions and Visual Studio Code

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment leaves runtime management to your team
  • CLI or Docker operation may require engineering setup
  • GitHub Actions provides the specifically documented PR annotations

• DeepSource — where it wins

  • Reviews Dockerfiles, Terraform, and Ansible alongside application code.
  • Scans pull requests for secrets and dependency vulnerabilities.
  • Connects with GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure DevOps.

  Where it doesn't

  • Secrets detection is limited to Team and Enterprise plans.
  • Team costs $30 per user monthly or $24 with annual billing.
  • The Individual plan's repository limits are not stated.

• KICS9.1/10 · Free plan

  A free, broad scanner for IaC security, compliance, misconfigurations and secrets.

  Visit KICSFull verdict →
• DeepSource8.3/10 · Free plan · paid from $24/user/mo (annual) · 14-day trial

  Combines IaC checks with code, secrets, and dependency scanning in pull requests.

  Visit DeepSourceFull verdict →