What is Checkov used for?

Checkov scans cloud infrastructure configurations to find misconfigurations before they are deployed. It is a good fit for preventing cloud misconfigurations during build-time, analyzing infrastructure as code for vulnerabilities and embedding security checks into developer workflows.

Is Checkov open source?

Yes. Checkov is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at bridgecrewio/checkov and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. Checkov is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Checkov?

Yes. Checkov can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Checkov an alternative to?

Checkov is an open-source alternative to GitGuardian, HCP Terraform and Prisma Cloud. Other open-source alternatives to GitGuardian include KICS and Trivy.

Is Checkov actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Checkov was on 13 October 2026, and the latest release is 3.3.29, published on 13 October 2026. The project has 9.1k stars on GitHub.

Checkov: open-source alternative to GitGuardian

About Checkov

Checkov is a policy-as-code tool that scans cloud infrastructure configurations to find misconfigurations before they are deployed. It uses a common command line interface to manage and analyze infrastructure as code scan results across platforms such as Terraform, CloudFormation, Kubernetes, Helm, ARM Templates, and Serverless framework.

The tool supports attribute-based policies for scanning cloud resources at build-time and graph-based policies for analyzing relationships between cloud resources. It can be integrated into existing developer workflows and CI/CD pipelines to prevent misconfigurations from being deployed.

Key features

Scans cloud infrastructure configurations for misconfigurations before deployment
Supports Terraform, CloudFormation, Kubernetes, Helm, ARM Templates, Serverless, and AWS CDK
Attribute-based policies for scanning cloud resources at build-time
Graph-based policies for analyzing relationships between cloud resources
Extensible policy management for custom policies, providers, and suppressions
Integration with CI/CD and version control systems

Good fit for

Preventing cloud misconfigurations during build-time
Analyzing infrastructure as code for vulnerabilities
Embedding security checks into developer workflows

Built with: Python tools; Kubernetes tools
Tags: infrastructure as code; cloud security; policy as code; terraform; kubernetes; misconfiguration scanning

Checkov: questions and answers

What is Checkov used for?: Checkov scans cloud infrastructure configurations to find misconfigurations before they are deployed. It is a good fit for preventing cloud misconfigurations during build-time, analyzing infrastructure as code for vulnerabilities and embedding security checks into developer workflows.
Is Checkov open source?: Yes. Checkov is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at bridgecrewio/checkov and is written mainly in Python.
Is Checkov free?: Yes. Checkov is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Checkov?: Yes. Checkov can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Checkov an alternative to?: Checkov is an open-source alternative to GitGuardian, HCP Terraform and Prisma Cloud. Other open-source alternatives to GitGuardian include KICS and Trivy.
Is Checkov actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Checkov was on 13 October 2026, and the latest release is 3.3.29, published on 13 October 2026. The project has 9.1k stars on GitHub.