GitHub Advanced Security

GitHub-native security scanning with CodeQL SAST, secret scanning, and Dependabot dependency management

ToolDeveloper SecurityCloudSelf-hosted

Pricing: See the vendor site for current pricing.

Reviewed by the CyberSecTool editorial team against the public sources cited below · Last reviewed February 2026 · How we review listings

What is GitHub Advanced Security?

GitHub Advanced Security (GHAS) is a native security suite built into the GitHub platform that provides code scanning (SAST via CodeQL), secret scanning, dependency review, and Dependabot for automated dependency updates. By embedding security directly into the GitHub pull request workflow, GHAS provides a seamless experience for teams already using GitHub as their source code management platform. GHAS is included free for public repositories and available as a paid add-on for GitHub Enterprise customers.

Best for: Development teams already using GitHub that want native, zero-friction security scanning integrated directly into their pull request workflow

Pros

✓ Zero-friction integration for GitHub-native development teams
✓ Free for all public repositories including SAST and secret scanning
✓ CodeQL provides deep semantic analysis with custom query capabilities
✓ Secret scanning with push protection prevents credential leaks proactively
✓ Dependabot automates dependency updates with minimal configuration

Considerations

• Only available for GitHub repositories, creating platform lock-in
• No container image scanning beyond basic Dependabot alerts
• No IaC security scanning capabilities
• Per-committer pricing can be expensive for organizations with many contributors
• SCA capabilities are less comprehensive than Snyk's purpose-built analysis

Reported in public reviews and vendor documentation. See sources below.