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Cybersecurity · head to head

Syft vs Violentmonkey

Syft logo

Syft

Cybersecurity

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Violentmonkey logo

Violentmonkey

Browser Extensions

Open source userscript manager

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Violentmonkey smaller script ecosystem compared to Tampermonkey which has larger user base and more available scripts
  • They diverge on capability: Syft covers Multi-format output, Violentmonkey covers Userscript support.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Syft and Violentmonkey actually diverge.

Attributes where Syft and Violentmonkey differ
AttributeSyftViolentmonkey
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeUnknown
PlatformsmacOS, Linux, Windows, DockerChrome, Firefox, Edge
CategoryCybersecurityBrowser Extensions
FoundedUnknown2013

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 Syft

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

Only in Violentmonkey

  • Userscript support
  • Clean interface
  • Cloud sync
  • Script editor
  • Chrome support
  • Firefox support
  • Edge support
  • Opera support

What people use each for

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

Syft

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

Violentmonkey

  • Run open-source userscripts to customize or automate web pagesnot Syft
  • Import scripts compatible with Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey formatsnot Syft
  • Sync scripts and settings across browsers via Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, or WebDAVnot Syft
  • Batch import/export scripts as zip filesnot Syft

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Violentmonkey

  • Smaller script ecosystem compared to Tampermonkey which has larger user base and more available scripts
  • Less marketing and visibility results in lower adoption compared to more widely-known alternatives
  • Community maintenance model means slower feature development compared to commercial alternatives

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Violentmonkey

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Violentmonkey review.

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Violentmonkey if

  • You need userscript support.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Chrome, Firefox, Edge.
  • You also want clean interface.
Violentmonkey review

Questions people ask

Is Syft or Violentmonkey better?
Neither clearly leads. Syft starts at Free and Violentmonkey at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Syft or Violentmonkey?
Syft starts at Free and Violentmonkey at Free.
Does Syft or Violentmonkey run on more platforms?
Syft runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker. Violentmonkey runs on Chrome, Firefox, Edge.
Can I use Syft for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Syft best used for?
Syft is most often used for producing a bill of materials for a customer or regulator that requires one, feeding an inventory into a vulnerability scanner rather than scanning images directly, recording what shipped in a build so a future disclosure can be answered quickly, public sector work where an sbom is a contractual deliverable. Of those, producing a bill of materials for a customer or regulator that requires one and feeding an inventory into a vulnerability scanner rather than scanning images directly are not what Violentmonkey is typically brought in for.
What can Syft do that Violentmonkey cannot?
Syft covers Multi-format output, Broad ecosystem coverage, Binary classifiers, In-toto attestations. Violentmonkey covers Userscript support, Clean interface, Cloud sync, Script editor.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Violentmonkey: Is Violentmonkey open-source?

Yes. Violentmonkey is fully open-source and available on GitHub, making it free to use and community-maintained unlike Tampermonkey which has a larger proprietary ecosystem.

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.

Violentmonkey: What browsers does Violentmonkey support?

Violentmonkey works on browsers with WebExtensions support, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers.

Source
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.

Violentmonkey: How does Violentmonkey compare to Tampermonkey in performance?

Community benchmarks show Violentmonkey uses about 15 to 30 percent less RAM on Chrome compared to Tampermonkey when managing many open tabs.

Source
Syft: What does Anchore Enterprise cost?

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

Violentmonkey: What is the current version of Violentmonkey?

Violentmonkey reached version 2.46.0 as of July 31, 2026, with active ongoing development and regular updates to the open-source project.

Source
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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