Vigilance vs Endor Labs

What Endor Labs Does Well

Endor Labs is best known for reachability. Its site says it checks reachability from code to image, so vulnerabilities in packages your application never loads stay out of the queue. A team that drowns in alerts about known bugs gets a shorter list. The site presents this as the way to fix what is exploitable and skip what was never a risk.

The site also lists a Package Firewall that blocks malicious packages at install. It describes this as one control point for every dependency that enters the organisation. It also lists AI-based code scanning (SAST) that traces data flow across repositories and pull requests. Other listed parts are secrets detection with one policy from laptop to pipeline, and container scanning. Source: the Endor Labs site.

Endor Labs also lists governance for AI coding agents. It describes a check of every agent action against your policy before it runs, with the choices of allow, block or ask a human. Teams that let agents install and run code will find this relevant.

Endor Labs also offers a free Developer tier that works with AI coding agents. Its pricing page says the tier helps agents scan and fix vulnerabilities and exposed secrets as you work, with no account required.

Where It Falls Short

Reachability answers one question. It asks whether your code calls the vulnerable part of a dependency. That narrows a list of known bugs. It does not describe a check of what a new version can now do. A malicious update has no known bug to narrow.

The Package Firewall depends on Endor Labs knowing that a package is malicious. A brand-new attack is unknown at first. Vigilance asks a different question. It compares the version you trust with the new one and shows any file that gained a capability.

Pricing is by seat and needs a sales conversation for specifics. The unit is the contributing developer, so cost grows with your team and not with your machine count.

Endor Labs is a platform with many parts, and its value grows when you use several of them. A team that needs only one narrow check uses a small share of what it pays for.

Feature Comparison

Endor Labs ranks known bugs by reachability and blocks malicious packages, and Vigilance shows files that gained a capability. The table shows the split.

When Endor Labs Is the Better Fit

Choose Endor Labs if your pain is a long list of known-bug alerts. Reachability gives a team a way to put the exploitable items first.

Choose Endor Labs if you want one control point at install that blocks malicious packages for every team. The Package Firewall is built for that.

Choose Endor Labs if you also need AI-based code scanning, secrets detection and container scanning from the same vendor, with one policy.

Choose Endor Labs if you want governance for AI coding agents with allow, block and ask-a-human choices. Vigilance gives an agent a clear yes or no on a package it installs, but it does not set policy on every agent action.

Reachability and Capability Are Two Filters

Reachability filters known bugs by your code. It asks whether the vulnerable function is in a path your application runs. If not, the alert drops down the list.

Vigilance filters a different list. It looks at the files in an update and keeps only the ones that gained a capability. If none did, it says nothing.

One filter works on known bugs and the other works on new behaviour. A team can run both without overlap. Reachability makes the known-bug queue shorter. Vigilance adds a check for the case where no bug has been published.

Where Vigilance Adds a Check to an Endor Labs Setup

If you run the Package Firewall, a package that Endor Labs flags is blocked before install. Keep that. Add Vigilance at the step where an update is accepted.

Compare the old files with the new files before you ship. The axios case in the example above shows why. A new hidden install step appeared in a package.json file in one release. A diff shows that file by name.

Vigilance works on software that never passes through a registry as well. Vendor installers, zips and your own build output all work, because it reads files and not package names.

On the Pro plan it runs with no network connection at all, which suits a build host in a locked-down network.

What to Ask Before You Choose

Ask how long your known-bug list is today. If it is long and mostly noise, reachability pays off fast. If the list is short, the benefit is smaller.

Ask whether you want a firewall at install or a check after install. The Package Firewall blocks at install. Vigilance compares files after they land and never blocks.

Ask how you count developers. Endor Labs prices by contributing developer in the last 90 days. A team with many casual committers must count carefully.

Ask what you do with software that does not come from a registry. A vendor installer or a zip has no package record. A file-level compare works on it.

Pricing

Endor Labs prices by seat, with volume discounts. A seat is a contributing developer, meaning someone with commits in monitored repositories in the last 90 days. The pricing page lists a free Developer tier, a paid Core tier and a paid Pro tier. It states fair usage limits based on annual quotas. Endor Labs lists AWS, Azure and Google Cloud marketplaces, and Endor Outpost for on-premises deployments. Specific prices need a call with sales. Source: Endor Labs pricing.

Vigilance has a Free plan at $0 with the full scanner for up to 50 machines. Free needs a network and sends a signed report of hashes and capabilities only. A name, an email or a file is sent only if you opt in, and each one needs its own yes. Pro works with no network at all. It is flat for the whole company, starts at $999 CAD a month, and the price steps with company size, not with the machine count.

Which One Do You Need?

Endor cuts the known-bug list down to what matters. Vigilance catches the change no list has yet.

Read how the two sit among other options in software supply chain security tools, or see real attacks that Vigilance replays.

Known Risk versus New Risk