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Developer Tools · head to head

GNAT Pro vs Syft

GNAT Pro logo

GNAT Pro

Developer Tools

Software development environments and toolchains for Ada, C/C++ and Rust

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Syft logo

Syft

Cybersecurity

Generates a software bill of materials from images, filesystems and archives

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Syft has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: GNAT Pro no pricing published on website; requires contacting AdaCore directly for quotes; Syft lockfile parsing can drop packages silently. An open issue filed in August 2026 reports the yarn v1 cataloguer returning 118 of 745 packages with no error raised, which means a complete bill of materials and an 84 percent incomplete one look identical to the caller.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which GNAT Pro and Syft actually diverge.

Attributes where GNAT Pro and Syft differ
AttributeGNAT ProSyft
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebmacOS, Linux, Windows, Docker
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

Identical on both: 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 GNAT Pro

Nothing recorded that Syft does not also cover.

Only in Syft

  • Multi-format output
  • Broad ecosystem coverage
  • Binary classifiers
  • In-toto attestations
  • Library and CLI
  • Pairs with Grype

What people use each for

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

GNAT Pro

  • Building certified avionics software meeting DO-178B/C standardsnot Syft
  • Developing automotive embedded systems with ISO-26262 compliancenot Syft
  • Integrating Ada, C/C++, and Rust components in single codebasenot Syft
  • Managing software supply chain vulnerabilities and SBOMsnot Syft
  • Supporting long-lived software systems spanning decadesnot Syft

Syft

  • Producing a bill of materials for a customer or regulator that requires onenot GNAT Pro
  • Feeding an inventory into a vulnerability scanner rather than scanning images directlynot GNAT Pro
  • Recording what shipped in a build so a future disclosure can be answered quicklynot GNAT Pro
  • Public sector work where an SBOM is a contractual deliverablenot GNAT Pro

Where each one falls short

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

GNAT Pro

  • No pricing published on website; requires contacting AdaCore directly for quotes
  • Vendor indicates per-user, per-year subscription model but does not disclose specific costs

Syft

  • Lockfile parsing can drop packages silently. An open issue filed in August 2026 reports the yarn v1 cataloguer returning 118 of 745 packages with no error raised, which means a complete bill of materials and an 84 percent incomplete one look identical to the caller.
  • Fidelity varies sharply by ecosystem. Conan for C and C++, Haskell and Terraform get cataloguer support with no licence data, no dependency relationships and no file ownership, so a C and C++ shop gets the least from it.
  • Binary classification yields no licence or dependency metadata, and vendored or statically linked code is exactly where supply chain risk hides, so the blind spot and the risk overlap.
  • Incorrect CPE values and CPE collisions are recorded as open issues, and since Grype matches on CPE and PURL, an inventory error becomes a false negative in the security report downstream.
  • An inventory is not a risk assessment. Even a perfect bill of materials says a vulnerable version is present, never that the vulnerable function is called, and the triage burden lands entirely on the reader.

Pricing, plan by plan

GNAT Pro

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the GNAT Pro review.

Syft

Free
  • SyftFree
    • Apache-2.0
    • No usage limits
    • Community support
  • Anchore Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Policy enforcement and reporting
    • Federal and commercial tiers
    • Pricing not published, quoted on request

Which should you pick?

Choose GNAT Pro if

Nothing in the data separates GNAT Pro from Syft on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

GNAT Pro review

Choose Syft if

  • You need multi-format output.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
  • You also want broad ecosystem coverage.
Syft review

Questions people ask

Is GNAT Pro or Syft better?
Neither clearly leads. GNAT Pro starts at On request and Syft at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, GNAT Pro or Syft?
Syft has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for GNAT Pro and Free for Syft.
Does GNAT Pro or Syft run on more platforms?
GNAT Pro runs on Web. Syft runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
Can I use Syft for free?
Yes. Syft has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. GNAT Pro starts at On request.
What is GNAT Pro best used for?
GNAT Pro is most often used for building certified avionics software meeting do-178b/c standards, developing automotive embedded systems with iso-26262 compliance, integrating ada, c/c++, and rust components in single codebase, managing software supply chain vulnerabilities and sboms. Of those, building certified avionics software meeting do-178b/c standards and developing automotive embedded systems with iso-26262 compliance are not what Syft is typically brought in for.
What can GNAT Pro do that Syft cannot?
Syft covers Multi-format output, Broad ecosystem coverage, Binary classifiers, In-toto attestations.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

GNAT Pro: How much does GNAT Pro cost?

GNAT Pro pricing is not published on the website. Customers must request a pricing quote by contacting AdaCore directly or speaking with a GNAT Pro expert.

Source
Syft: Does Syft find vulnerabilities?

No. It produces an inventory. Grype, from the same company, matches that inventory against vulnerability feeds. They are separate tools and the distinction is frequently lost.

GNAT Pro: What is GNAT Pro licensing model?

GNAT Pro is sold on a per-user, per-year basis with no license locks. Customers can request pricing for their specific needs.

Source
Syft: Does anything in the Anchore stack do reachability analysis?

No. Neither Syft, Grype nor the commercial Anchore platform performs call graph or reachability analysis, so none of them tells you whether a vulnerable code path is actually invoked.

Syft: Is it a CNCF or OpenSSF project?

No. It is single-vendor open source owned by Anchore, with no foundation governance. That is a different licence risk profile from Sigstore.

Syft: What does Anchore Enterprise cost?

Not published. The pricing page is contact-sales only, with named but unpriced commercial and federal tiers.

Syft: How do I know my SBOM is complete?

You largely cannot, which is the honest answer. Silent partial parsing is a known open defect, so a bill of materials used for compliance should be spot-checked against a known dependency list.

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