No. 12 of 27 ·Infrastructure Testing Tools

Checkov

Mac · Linux

Freedom report

Two barsScore 6.4

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely2 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

Checkov is ranked #12 of 27 in infrastructure testing tools on Freedom251. It runs on Linux, macOS. There is a free plan.

Checkov plans and pricing

All plans

Checkov Free Open-source CLI · Apache-2.0 license github.com · 29 Sept 2026

Compared on infrastructure testing tools

Free plan: Yes
Terraform analysis: Yes
Kubernetes analysis: Yes
CloudFormation analysis: Yes
Custom policies: Yes
Secrets detection: Yes
Pull request scanning: Yes
IDE integration: Yes

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The record

Purpose: Checkov scans infrastructure-as-code files for misconfigurations that can cause security or compliance problems.
Policy library: The Checkov documentation says it includes more than 750 predefined policies.
Supported IaC: Documented scan targets include Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM, Serverless, Helm, Kubernetes, and Docker.
Compliance: Checkov scans for common standards including CIS and the AWS Foundations Benchmark.
Secrets scanning: Checkov can detect common credentials such as AWS access keys, Azure service credentials, and private keys in IaC files.
CI integrations: The documentation describes integrations with Jenkins, Bitbucket Cloud Pipelines, GitHub Actions, and GitLab CI.
Developer tools: Checkov offers Visual Studio Code and JetBrains add-ons for real-time IaC scanning and inline fixes.
Prisma Cloud: Prisma Cloud extends Checkov with runtime scanning, visibility, native VCS integrations, drift detection, and pull request annotations.
Installation: The project documents installation through pip and Homebrew; Homebrew is specified for macOS or Linux.
Platform limitation: Checkov on Alpine requires Python 3.11 or later and is not officially tested or supported.
License: The Checkov GitHub repository identifies its license as Apache-2.0.
Python support: The repository says it supports Python 3.9 through 3.13 inclusive.
Support: The project directs users to its documentation for tutorials and examples and identifies Prisma Cloud as the maintainer.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Infrastructure Testing Tools in 2026#12 of 27
Best Infrastructure Policy as Code Tools in 2026#10 of 24
Best Infrastructure as Code Security Software in 2026#7 of 22

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Sources

checkov.io/1.Welcome/What%20is%20Checkov.html· checked 29 Sept 2026
checkov.io/2.Basics/Scanning%20Credentials%20and%2· checked 29 Sept 2026
checkov.io/1.Welcome/Feature%20Descriptions.html· checked 29 Sept 2026
checkov.io/1.Welcome/Quick%20Start.html· checked 29 Sept 2026
checkov.io/2.Basics/Installing%20Checkov.html· checked 29 Sept 2026
github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov· checked 29 Sept 2026