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SonarScanner CLI vs CodeQL: catalog facts
SonarScanner CLI	CodeQL
Free The scanner is free and open source; the SonarQube server or cloud it reports to has its…	Freemium Free for research and open source code; other use falls under GitHub's CodeQL terms.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Command line
Works with any project when no build-specific scanner applies Designed for CI/CD pipelines	Queries follow data flow from source to sink across a codebase Finds every variant of a known bug pattern
Requires a SonarQube Server or SonarQube Cloud instance Results are viewed in SonarQube, not in the scanner	Free use is limited to research and open source code Writing custom queries means learning the QL language
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Closed source
License: LGPL-3.0-or-later	License: GitHub CodeQL Terms and Conditions
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Needs internet	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.