Gitleaks

MIT secret scanner for git/dirs/stdin; CLI free, org Action needs free key

DevOps / Security · OSS/MIT · 30.2k

Reviewed 2026-09-04 · last push 2026-09-30 · repo checked 2026-10-21

What's Good

MIT CLI. Scan git history, directories, stdin. Pre-commit hook + GitHub Action. Huge rule set for API keys/tokens. No SaaS seat tax on the binary. ~29k stars, battle-tested in CI.

The Catch

Maintainer marks feature-complete (security patches; focus shifting to Betterleaks). Official Action for GitHub org repos needs a free license key from gitleaks.io — personal accounts exempt. Not a full ASVS/SAST suite. False positives need allowlists.

Verdict

MIT secrets CLI. Free forever; org Action wants free license key.

Embed

Maintainer? Add the badge to your README. It is free, links to this review, and there is no paid version.

Markdown

[![Reviewed on Stack Gems](https://stackgems.com/badge/gitleaks.svg)](https://stackgems.com/gems/gitleaks)

HTML

<a href="https://stackgems.com/gems/gitleaks"><img src="https://stackgems.com/badge/gitleaks.svg" alt="Gitleaks reviewed on Stack Gems" height="20"></a>

DevOps →

Related