StackRadar vs Anchore Enterprise
Anchore Enterprise is an SBOM-centric SCA platform from the maintainers of Syft and Grype, focused on compliance-driven scanning of images in registries and CI, with an Anchore Score built from CVSS, EPSS and CISA KEV.
Facts last checked . Prices and features change — verify with the vendor before deciding.
What Anchore Enterprise does well
- Maintains Syft and Grype — the SBOM generator StackRadar itself uses.
- SBOM management and compliance reporting for regulated buyers (federal, defence, medical devices).
- Its Anchore Score combines CVSS, EPSS and KEV — the same three signals as StackRadar’s Radar Score.
- Strong policy engine for gating images against compliance standards.
How Anchore Enterprise and StackRadar differ
The differences are about how the two are built and sold, not a feature checklist. Each point below is a structural fact you can verify on the vendor's own documentation.
- Registry and CI centric: it scans images where they are stored, not what is running in a cluster, so there is no workload, namespace or Helm-release context.
- Sold quote-only to compliance-driven organisations; not a self-serve product.
- Self-hosted deployment with its own operational footprint.
- StackRadar puts the same scoring signals on a live inventory of running images and charges per cluster.
Side by side
| Axis | StackRadar | Anchore Enterprise |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | One Helm chart in the cluster; self-hosted (AGPL-3.0) or reporting to the cloud dashboard | Self-hosted; scans registries and CI |
| Kubernetes runtime inventory | Yes — every running image, with its workload, Helm release and ArgoCD application | No — scans images in a registry or CI, not what is running in a cluster |
| SBOM | CycloneDX 1.6 per running image (Syft), stored and re-checked as new advisories land | Core product (Syft-based) |
| Prioritisation | Radar Score — CVSS, EPSS and CISA KEV combined in a published formula | Anchore Score: CVSS, EPSS and KEV |
| History and trends | 1 year (Pro), 2 years (Business); 1 year self-hosted | Yes |
| Multi-cluster view | One cloud dashboard across every cluster in the organisation; self-hosted is one cluster | Not applicable |
| Scanner source | Open source: scanner Apache-2.0, server and dashboard AGPL-3.0; releases signed and version-pinned | Syft and Grype are open source; platform is closed |
| Pricing | Free to self-host · Cloud: 14-day free trial, then Pro $59/mo · Business $199/mo at beta price ($99 / $299 standard) | Quote-only |
| Data residency | Self-hosted: stays in your cluster. Cloud: EU only, and only the SBOM leaves the cluster | Self-hosted |
Pricing
Anchore Enterprise: Anchore Enterprise is quote-only and typically sold as an annual contract to compliance-driven organisations. Syft and Grype, its open-source tools, are free. StackRadar publishes per-cluster pricing from $0.
StackRadar: Free to self-host for one cluster (AGPL-3.0). The cloud starts with a 14-day free trial; then Pro at $59 per month for up to five clusters and one year of history; Business at $199 per month for up to fifteen clusters and two years. Those are beta prices, for the first 10 Pro and 5 Business subscriptions; after that Pro is $99 and Business $299 a month. Every plan scans every image you run. Full details on the pricing page.
Which should you choose?
Choose Anchore Enterprise if
- You need SBOM management for a compliance programme (FedRAMP, DoD, medical devices) more than cluster visibility.
- You want a policy engine to gate images in CI against standards.
- You are self-hosting by policy and have the operations team for it.
Choose StackRadar if
- You need the same CVSS/EPSS/KEV ranking applied to what is running in Kubernetes.
- You want a hosted product with a published price instead of an enterprise contract.
- You want Helm and ArgoCD context on every finding.
Frequently asked questions
Is Anchore free?
Syft and Grype, Anchore’s open-source tools, are free. Anchore Enterprise is a quote-only commercial product.
Does Anchore see what is running in Kubernetes?
Anchore Enterprise scans images in registries and CI pipelines. It does not run an agent in the cluster, so it does not know which images are deployed where.