Syft vs Trivy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted developer tools & git options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Syft | Trivy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 99 · Excellent |
| Category | Developer Tools & Git | Developer Tools & Git |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, binary, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,604 | ★ 38,048 |
| First released | 2020 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Snyk | Snyk, Aqua |
What are Syft and Trivy?
Syft
Syft is an open-source tool from Anchore that generates a software bill of materials (SBOM) from container images and filesystems. It supports many SBOM formats for self-hosted supply chain workflows.
- SBOM generation
- SPDX and CycloneDX output
- Wide ecosystem support
- Pairs with Grype
Trivy
Trivy is an open-source vulnerability and misconfiguration scanner for containers, file systems, Git repositories, and Kubernetes. It can run as a CLI or a long-running server for centralized scanning.
- Scans containers and code
- Misconfiguration detection
- SBOM generation
- Kubernetes integration
Syft vs Trivy: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Trivy has the considerably larger community, at 38,048 GitHub stars versus 9,604.
Why pick each one
Choose Syft if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.6k GitHub stars
Choose Trivy if…
- Broad scan coverage
- Fast and easy CLI
- Huge vulnerability database
Watch out for
- Findings can be noisy
- DB updates need connectivity
Frequently asked questions
Is Syft or Trivy better?
Neither is universally better. Trivy has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Syft and Trivy free and open-source?
Yes. Syft is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Trivy under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Syft and Trivy with Docker?
Syft: yes. Trivy: yes.