SecPortal vs GitHub Advanced Security
GitHub-native code security vs pentest delivery
GitHub Advanced Security (GHAS) is the security suite that ships with GitHub Enterprise: CodeQL static analysis, secret scanning with push protection, and dependency review baked into the same platform that hosts the source code. SecPortal is a pentest delivery and findings platform for security firms, MSSPs, consultancies, and in-house teams that run scoped engagements, ship AI-generated reports through a branded client portal, and bill the work out of one workspace. The two address different parts of an application security programme and the choice depends on whether the buyer is hardening a GitHub repository tree or delivering security assessments to clients.
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| Feature | SecPortal | GitHub Advanced Security |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Pentest delivery and findings management for client engagements | In-repo code security for GitHub-hosted source |
| SAST scanning | Semgrep-powered, multi-language | CodeQL, multi-language |
| SCA / dependency scanning | Dependency review | |
| Secret scanning in source | Findings template coverage for hardcoded secrets | |
| Push protection on commits | ||
| External vulnerability scanning (16 modules) | ||
| Authenticated web application scanning (DAST) | ||
| Subdomain enumeration and attack surface discovery | ||
| Engagement model with scope, ROE, and deliverables | ||
| Client model with onboarding, contacts, and access control | ||
| Branded white-label client portal on your subdomain | ||
| AI-powered report generation (executive, technical, remediation) | ||
| 300+ finding templates with remediation guidance | CodeQL query results | |
| CVSS 3.1 vector parsing and auto-scoring | Severity classification | |
| Manual finding entry with full editor | Limited (alerts only) | |
| Scanner result import (Nessus, Burp Suite, CSV) | ||
| Retest workflow paired to original finding | Re-scan validates closure | |
| Repository connection model | GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket via OAuth | GitHub only |
| Compliance framework templates | 21 frameworks | Limited |
| Integrated invoicing and Stripe Connect payments | ||
| Activity audit trail with CSV export | GitHub audit log | |
| MFA enforcement on every workspace | Per-org GitHub policy | |
| Free plan available | Free for public repos only | |
| Pricing model | Free, Pro, Team | Per-active-committer add-on to GitHub Enterprise |
| Best fit for | Pentest firms, MSSPs, consultancies, and in-house teams that ship findings to clients or stakeholders | Engineering organisations standardised on GitHub that want SAST and secret scanning inside the same platform as their code |
SecPortal vs GitHub Advanced Security: pentest delivery against GitHub-native code security
GitHub Advanced Security (GHAS) is the security add-on that ships with GitHub Enterprise. It bundles CodeQL static analysis, secret scanning with push protection, and dependency review into the same platform that hosts the source code. The buyer is typically a platform team or an AppSec lead at an engineering organisation that has already standardised on GitHub and wants security signal pushed back into the developer flow: alerts on the pull request, secrets blocked at push time, and vulnerable dependencies flagged inside the dependency review tab.
SecPortal is a different category. SecPortal is the pentest delivery and findings platform for security firms, MSSPs, consultancies, and in-house teams that run scoped engagements and ship findings to clients or stakeholders. The engagement, the scoping, the manual and scanner findings, the AI-generated report, the branded client portal, the retest, and the invoice all sit inside one workspace. If the question is whether to protect a GitHub repository tree continuously or to deliver assessments as structured engagements, this page is the side-by-side.
Where the GHAS model stops for delivery work
These are not GHAS-specific criticisms; they are properties of an in-repo continuous protection model when the buyer compares it to running scoped client engagements on a platform built for delivery.
GitHub-Only Repository Coverage
GHAS is licensed and delivered as part of GitHub Enterprise. The code that GHAS protects has to live in GitHub. Consultancies, pentest firms, and MSSPs who work with clients on GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, or self-hosted Git infrastructure cannot use GHAS to deliver code security findings on those engagements without moving the source first.
No External or Authenticated Web Scanning
GHAS focuses on the source repository: CodeQL static analysis, secret scanning, and dependency review. It does not run external network scanning, subdomain enumeration, TLS or header testing, or authenticated DAST against a running web application. A pentest engagement that combines code review with external testing or web application scanning needs a separate platform for the dynamic side of the work.
No Engagement Model
GHAS is a continuous protection layer for a repository tree. There is no concept of a scoped engagement with a kickoff date, a rules-of-engagement document, a defined scope statement, or a deliverable that ships to an external client at the end. Firms that run client engagements have to model the engagement lifecycle outside GHAS and then map alerts back into the engagement on their own.
No Branded Client Portal
GHAS alerts live inside the GitHub repository they came from. There is no white-label portal that a consultancy can hand to a client on its own subdomain, where the client logs in, reviews findings, tracks remediation, and downloads reports under the consultancy brand. Sharing GHAS findings with an external client means exporting SARIF, building a custom integration, or giving the client direct access to the consultancy GitHub organisation.
No AI Narrative Reports
GHAS produces an alert per detected issue with severity and the relevant CodeQL query, secret pattern, or dependency advisory. It does not generate executive summaries, narrative technical reports, prioritised remediation roadmaps, or compliance summaries on demand from the engagement data. Reports for a client deliverable still need to be written manually outside the platform.
No Engagement Invoicing
GHAS is licensed per active committer as an add-on to GitHub Enterprise and the customer is billed by GitHub. There is no built-in invoicing for a consultancy to bill its own clients out of the platform, no Stripe integration to collect payment, and no invoice tied to engagement deliverables. Consultancies use a separate accounting tool to bill the work that GHAS supports.
What SecPortal adds to the picture
Engagement-Aware Workflow
Every scan, finding, retest, and report sits inside an engagement that has a client, a scope, a status, and a delivery date. The model matches the way pentest firms and consultancies actually deliver work: bounded engagements with a written scope, a kickoff, and a deliverable, rather than continuous protection of a repository tree.
Full-Stack Scanning
External domain scanning runs across 16 modules covering SSL, headers, DNS, ports, subdomains, technology fingerprinting, and CVE correlation. Authenticated web scanning runs DAST behind a stored credential. Code scanning runs SAST and SCA against a connected repository through Semgrep. One workspace covers the surface, the application, and the source.
Multi-Provider Code Connection
Connect GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket repositories through OAuth. The platform does not require the source to live on any single provider, so consultancies that work with clients on different Git platforms can still deliver SAST and SCA findings on every engagement from one workspace.
AI Report Generation
Generate executive summaries, full technical reports, remediation roadmaps, and compliance summaries from the engagement findings with a single click. The AI uses the workspace context: engagement scope, findings, severities, and CVSS vectors. The report becomes a draft the team edits, not a blank page they start from.
White-Label Client Portal
Every workspace gets a branded client portal on its own subdomain. Clients log in to review findings, track remediation, download reports, and communicate with the team under the consultancy brand. The portal is not a GitHub-branded alerts page; it is the consultancy brand the client paid for.
Integrated Invoicing
Stripe Connect-backed invoicing turns engagement deliverables into invoices a client can pay inside the workspace. Engagement scope and pricing become the invoice line items; the audit trail walks back from the payment to the engagement to the findings that supported it.
Who each platform is the right fit for
GHAS and SecPortal solve adjacent problems for different buyers. The honest framing is that the right tool depends on whether the primary motion is hardening an in-house GitHub estate or delivering assessments to external clients.
GitHub Advanced Security
Engineering organisations that have standardised on GitHub Enterprise and want SAST, secret scanning, and dependency review applied continuously inside the same platform as their code. The buyer is the platform or AppSec team that owns the GitHub estate; the user is the developer who fixes the alert in the pull request.
SecPortal
Pentest firms, MSSPs, consultancies, in-house red teams, and AppSec teams that run scoped engagements and ship findings to clients or stakeholders. The buyer is the firm or team that delivers assessments; the user is the tester who writes the finding and the consultant who delivers the report.
When the answer is both
A GitHub-Enterprise engineering org that runs internal AppSec on its own repos can keep GHAS for the in-repo protection layer and use SecPortal for the engagement workflow when the org runs scoped pentests, retests, or compliance assessments that need to be packaged as a deliverable. The two are adjacent rather than substitutes.
How SecPortal code scanning compares to GHAS code scanning
Both platforms run SAST and dependency analysis against connected repositories. Where they diverge is what surrounds the scanner. SecPortal treats code scanning as one input into an engagement workflow that also includes external scanning, authenticated web scanning, manual pentest findings, AI-generated reports, retests, and a client deliverable. GHAS treats the alert stream as the platform itself, with developer remediation in the pull request as the surrounding workflow.
The code scanning feature runs Semgrep-powered SAST and dependency auditing against repositories connected by OAuth from GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. The external scanning feature adds 16 modules covering SSL, headers, DNS, ports, subdomains, technology fingerprinting, and CVE correlation. The authenticated scanning feature adds DAST behind stored credentials so issues that only surface inside an authenticated session do not slip past anonymous testing. Together they cover the repository, the surface, and the running application that a pentest engagement actually inspects.
Why delivery teams pick SecPortal over a code-only platform
- Deliver code security findings to clients on GitLab and Bitbucket alongside GitHub, instead of being constrained to GitHub-only repositories
- Generate executive and technical reports from engagement findings instead of writing them outside the platform after every assessment
- Hand clients a branded portal on your subdomain instead of granting GitHub organisation access or exporting SARIF
- Combine code findings with external scanning and authenticated web scanning in the same engagement, instead of stitching together SAST output from a separate tool
- Capture manual pentest findings (business logic flaws, chained proofs, IDOR walkthroughs) alongside scanner output rather than tracking them in a side document
- Pair every finding with a retest cycle that closes the loop and updates the deliverable, instead of relying on a re-scan to confirm the fix
- Bill the engagement out of the same platform with Stripe Connect, rather than running invoicing in a separate accounting tool
- Start on a free plan and pay for the seats and storage you actually use, rather than committing to per-active-committer GHAS pricing on top of GitHub Enterprise
From scan to deliverable
The output of a code scanner is the beginning of a deliverable, not the end. SecPortal turns SAST and SCA results into draft findings, the tester triages and validates them, the findings management layer holds the consolidated record with CVSS, evidence, and remediation, and the AI reports feature generates the executive and technical narrative the client receives. The branded client portal is where the deliverable lands; the secure code review workflow is the engagement model that turns repeated SAST output into a recurring deliverable rather than a continuous alert stream.
For the operations layer that runs alongside delivery, the DevSecOps scanning workflow covers the scheduled-scan model used when code, dependencies, and the running surface all need recurring coverage; the pentest report delivery workflow covers how a finished assessment becomes a packaged deliverable a client signs off on.
Adjacent comparisons
If the evaluation is between GHAS and other code security or delivery platforms, the comparisons below cover the same buying decision from different angles.
- SecPortal vs Snyk for the developer-tool, multi-source SCA comparison.
- SecPortal vs Semgrep for the open-source SAST engine comparison (Semgrep powers SecPortal SAST).
- SecPortal vs DefectDojo for the self-hosted OSS appsec orchestration comparison.
- SecPortal vs Detectify for the external attack surface monitoring comparison.
- SecPortal vs Veracode for the enterprise AppSec platform comparison (SAST plus DAST plus SCA).
- SecPortal vs SonarQube for the code-quality console with security rules comparison.
Code security is one input, not the whole engagement
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