Aikido Secrets Detection vs KICS: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Aikido Secrets Detection: Scans code for exposed API keys, credentials, and tokens in repos and CI/CD. built by Aikido Security. Core capabilities include CI/CD pipeline integration for secrets scanning, IDE integration with pre-commit warnings, Live Secret Detection to verify if secrets are active..

KICS: KICS is an open-source Infrastructure as Code security scanner that detects vulnerabilities and misconfigurations through customizable queries and integrates with CI/CD pipelines..

Both serve the Static Application Security Testing market but differ in approach, feature depth, and target audience.

Aikido Secrets Detection is developed by Aikido Security. KICS is open-source with 2,588 GitHub stars. Vendor maturity, funding stage, and team size can be important factors when evaluating long-term viability and support quality.

Aikido Secrets Detection and KICS serve similar Static Application Security Testing use cases: both are Static Application Security Testing tools, both cover CI/CD. Key differences: Aikido Secrets Detection is Commercial while KICS is Free, KICS is open-source. Review the feature comparison above to determine which fits your requirements.