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Developer Tools · head to head

Dagger vs Trivy

Dagger logo

Dagger

Developer Tools

Programmable CI/CD engine that runs your pipeline as containers on any runner

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Trivy logo

Trivy

Cybersecurity

Open-source vulnerability and misconfiguration scanner

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Dagger dagger is not a CI provider, so you keep paying for GitHub Actions or GitLab runners underneath it; the Dagger Cloud subscription is an addition to your CI bill, not a replacement for it.; Trivy reports what public advisory databases know, so coverage varies by ecosystem and unfixed CVEs create noise
  • They diverge on capability: Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Trivy covers Multi-target scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dagger and Trivy actually diverge.

Attributes where Dagger and Trivy differ
AttributeDaggerTrivy
Pricing modelPer month per team for Dagger CloudOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, Self-hostedLinux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Dagger

  • Pipelines as code
  • Local and CI parity
  • Content-addressed caching
  • Dagger Functions and modules
  • CI-provider agnostic
  • Dagger Cloud traces
  • GitHub Checks integration
  • Container-native execution

Only in Trivy

  • Multi-target scanning
  • Vulnerability detection
  • Misconfiguration checks
  • Secret detection

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Dagger

  • A platform team maintaining near-identical build YAML across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls insteadnot Trivy
  • An engineering organisation migrating off a CI provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migrationnot Trivy
  • A team whose engineers waste hours pushing commits to debug CI-only failures and needs to reproduce the exact run locallynot Trivy
  • A monorepo where most commits touch a small subset of services and cache-accurate step skipping cuts build minutes materiallynot Trivy

Trivy

  • Failing a pull request when a container image introduces a known CVEnot Dagger
  • Scanning Terraform and Kubernetes manifests for misconfiguration before applynot Dagger
  • Catching committed secrets as part of an existing CI stepnot Dagger

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Dagger

  • Dagger is not a CI provider, so you keep paying for GitHub Actions or GitLab runners underneath it; the Dagger Cloud subscription is an addition to your CI bill, not a replacement for it.
  • Writing pipelines in Go or TypeScript raises the barrier to entry: a release engineer who could edit a YAML step now needs to read code, and the people who can fix a broken build shrink to those comfortable with the SDK.
  • The engine runs as a container on the runner and needs a persistent cache volume to deliver its main benefit, so ephemeral CI runners give you correctness without the speed, and provisioning durable cache storage is extra platform work.
  • The Team plan caps at ten users and ten million events per month; an organisation of any size crosses that quickly and moves to Enterprise pricing that is not published, so cost at scale is unknowable up front.
  • The module ecosystem is young and thinly maintained relative to the marketplace of a mature CI provider, so integrations that exist as a one-line Action often have to be written yourself as a Dagger function.

Trivy

  • Reports what public advisory databases know, so coverage varies by ecosystem and unfixed CVEs create noise
  • No built-in triage or exception workflow, so suppressing accepted risk is managed in config files
  • Findings are point-in-time from CI, with no continuous runtime monitoring unless you add the commercial platform

Pricing, plan by plan

Dagger

Free
  • IndividualFree
    • One user
    • One million events per month
    • Workflow logs and function call traces
  • Team$50/month
    • Up to ten users
    • Ten million events per month
    • Module insights and module catalogue
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom user and event limits
    • SSO
    • Managed single-tenant deployment

Trivy

Free
  • TrivyFree
    • Full scanner
    • Unlimited scans
    • Community support

Which should you pick?

Choose Dagger if

  • You need pipelines as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
  • You also want local and ci parity.
Dagger review

Choose Trivy if

  • You need multi-target scanning.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want vulnerability detection.
Trivy review

Questions people ask

Is Dagger or Trivy better?
Neither clearly leads. Dagger starts at Free and Trivy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dagger or Trivy?
Dagger starts at Free and Trivy at Free.
Does Dagger or Trivy run on more platforms?
Dagger runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted. Trivy runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
Can I use Dagger for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Dagger best used for?
Dagger is most often used for a platform team maintaining near-identical build yaml across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls instead, an engineering organisation migrating off a ci provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migration, a team whose engineers waste hours pushing commits to debug ci-only failures and needs to reproduce the exact run locally, a monorepo where most commits touch a small subset of services and cache-accurate step skipping cuts build minutes materially. Of those, a platform team maintaining near-identical build yaml across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls instead and an engineering organisation migrating off a ci provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migration are not what Trivy is typically brought in for.
What can Dagger do that Trivy cannot?
Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Local and CI parity, Content-addressed caching, Dagger Functions and modules. Trivy covers Multi-target scanning, Vulnerability detection, Misconfiguration checks, Secret detection.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dagger: Does Dagger replace GitHub Actions?

No. Dagger runs inside GitHub Actions or any other CI. It replaces the YAML that describes your pipeline steps, not the trigger and runner layer.

Trivy: Is Trivy free?

Yes, open source from Aqua Security with no licence fee. Aqua sells a commercial platform around it.

Dagger: Is the engine open source?

Yes, the Dagger engine and SDKs are open source and free. Dagger Cloud, the observability product, is what costs money.

Trivy: What can Trivy scan?

Container images, filesystems, Git repositories, Kubernetes clusters and infrastructure-as-code, for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, secrets and licences.

Dagger: What is an event in the pricing?

Dagger Cloud meters pipeline telemetry events. One million per month is free; the Team plan at 50 USD per month allows ten million.

Trivy: Does Trivy need a server?

No. It is a single binary, which is a large part of why it became a default in CI.

Dagger: Can I run the same pipeline on my laptop?

Yes, that is the main reason teams adopt it. The dagger CLI executes the identical graph locally, so CI-only failures become reproducible.

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