# Checkov vs Cloud Custodian

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Checkov

| Attribute | Checkov | Cloud Custodian |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 64 (47% (low)) | 52.9 (41% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 17 | 45 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 138 | 80 |
| adoption.github_stars | 8,973 | 6,053 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 4,830,339 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Checkov scans infrastructure-as-code configurations across Terraform, Kubernetes, CloudFormation, Dockerfile, and other IaC formats to detect security vulnerabilities and compliance violations before deployment. | Cloud Custodian enables management of cloud resources through filtering, tagging, and policy-driven actions using a YAML DSL. It supports real-time compliance enforcement and cost optimization across AWS, Azure, GCP, and other cloud platforms. |
| features.capabilities | `{"cspm":true,"kspm":true,"iac_scanning":true,"cloud_coverage":"AWS, Google Cloud, Azure","open_core_scanner":true,"agentless_scanning":true}` | `{"ciem":false,"cspm":true,"cwpp":false,"dspm":false,"kspm":true,"iac_scanning":true,"cloud_coverage":"AWS, Azure, GCP (primary); Kubernetes, Tencent Cloud, OpenStack (beta)","open_core_scanner":true,"agentless_scanning":true,"runtime_protection":false}` |
| integrations.count | 13 | 1 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Google Cloud"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Terraform"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"CloudFormation"},{"name":"Dockerfile"},{"name":"Git"},{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Helm"},{"name":"Kustomize"},{"name":"Serverless"}]` | `[{"name":"Terraform"}]` |
| language.primary | Python | Python |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.checkov.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T12:10:26.082Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source and free under Apache 2.0 license","sourceUrl":"https://cloudcustodian.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T16:47:00.704Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 4 | 54 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.3.13","date":"2026-08-20T23:05:18Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.3.12","date":"2026-08-19T23:04:10Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.3.9","date":"2026-08-02T23:17:39Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.3.8","date":"2026-07-09T23:25:22Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.3.7","date":"2026-07-07T23:18:29Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.3.6","date":"2026-06-30T23:25:46Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.3.5","date":"2026-06-29T23:20:20Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.3.2","date":"2026-06-23T23:22:28Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.3.1","date":"2026-06-11T23:29:06Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.3.0","date":"2026-06-10T23:29:21Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.2.534","date":"2026-06-09T23:26:45Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.534"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.2.533","date":"2026-06-04T23:23:55Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.533"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.2.532","date":"2026-06-02T23:31:08Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.532"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.2.531","date":"2026-06-01T23:29:11Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.531"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.2.530","date":"2026-05-28T23:27:06Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.530"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.2.529","date":"2026-05-14T23:16:35Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.529"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.2.528","date":"2026-05-10T23:15:44Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.528"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.2.527","date":"2026-05-07T23:16:54Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.527"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.2.526","date":"2026-04-30T23:16:33Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.526"},{"url":"https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov/releases/tag/3.2.525","date":"2026-04-26T23:11:49Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.525"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.51.0","date":"2026-05-28T19:52:40Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.51.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.50.0","date":"2026-03-18T17:16:59Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.50.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.49.0","date":"2026-01-16T21:21:11Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.49.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.48.0","date":"2025-12-01T19:04:50Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.48.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.47.0","date":"2025-09-22T18:14:42Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.47.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.46.0","date":"2025-07-17T18:42:30Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.46.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.45.0","date":"2025-06-02T20:24:02Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.45.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.44.0","date":"2025-04-24T14:12:18Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.44.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.43.0","date":"2025-02-04T15:27:59Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.43.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.42.0","date":"2024-11-14T20:21:44Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.42.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.41.0","date":"2024-09-18T19:08:29Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.41.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.40.0","date":"2024-07-23T20:06:17Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.40.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.39.0","date":"2024-07-23T13:55:45Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.39.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.38.0","date":"2024-06-18T11:56:41Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.38.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.37.0","date":"2024-06-05T14:04:13Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.37.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.36.0","date":"2024-04-29T13:09:49Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.36.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.35.0","date":"2024-03-05T21:30:15Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.35.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.34.0","date":"2024-01-18T18:30:11Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.34.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.33.0","date":"2023-11-29T17:07:21Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.33.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian/releases/tag/0.9.32.0","date":"2023-10-03T15:46:00Z","type":"stable","version":"0.9.32.0"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7 | 8.7 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=checkov&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=c7n&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Cloud Security Software)

| Capability | Checkov | Cloud Custodian |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Posture** |  |  |
| CSPM (posture / misconfig) | ✓ | ✓ |
| KSPM (Kubernetes posture) | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Workload** |  |  |
| CWPP (workload protection) | - | ✗ |
| **Entitlements** |  |  |
| CIEM (entitlements) | - | ✗ |
| **Data** |  |  |
| DSPM (data posture) | - | ✗ |
| **Pipeline** |  |  |
| IaC / pipeline scanning | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Architecture** |  |  |
| Agentless scanning | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Runtime** |  |  |
| Runtime protection | - | ✗ |
| **Coverage** |  |  |
| Cloud coverage | AWS, Google Cloud, Azure | AWS, Azure, GCP (primary); Kubernetes, Tencent Cloud, OpenStack (beta) |
| **Compliance** |  |  |
| Compliance frameworks assessed | - | - |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Open-core scanner available | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:06:11.085Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*