Anchore Secure vs Dockerscan: 2026 Comparison
Anchore Secure is a commercial container security tool by Anchore. Dockerscan is a free container security tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best container security fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, integrations, company size fit, here is our conclusion:
Mid-market and enterprise teams with strict vulnerability governance will get the most from Anchore Secure, specifically its ability to track historical vulnerability exposure without forcing rescans of every image each time a new CVE drops. The SBOM generation through Syft and policy-based compliance checks directly address NIST ID.RA risk assessment requirements. Skip this if your team needs runtime threat detection; Anchore is a scanning and inventory tool, not a behavioral enforcement platform.
Development teams running Docker in lab or early-stage environments should start with Dockerscan because it's free and requires no setup to scan your images and running containers for known vulnerabilities. The 1,531 GitHub stars indicate solid adoption among engineers who want quick local feedback before pushing to registry, not a replacement for runtime security in production. Skip this if you need network segmentation analysis or compliance reporting; Dockerscan does vulnerability scanning well and stops there.
